A Comparative Study On The Two English Versions Of Na Han From The Perspective Of Polysystem Theory

The polysytem theory was firstly put forward by the famous Israel scholar Evan-Zohar in 1970s.The polysytem theory holds that the translators' selection for the translation strategies largely depend on the position of translated literature within the literary system.When the translated literature is at the center of the target language literary system,the translator usually breaks the traditional norms in the target language culture,focuses on the adequacy of the translation,so he adopts the foreignizing translation strategy.On the contrary,when the translated literature is at the periphery of the target language literary system,the translator often follows the existing patterns in the target language literary system,pays much attention to the acceptability of the translation,so he employs domesticating translation strategy.The polysystem theory provides a macro and descriptive perspective for translation study,which takes translation studies into a broad social and cultural background and at the same time it promotes the culture turn of translation.As a giant in the history of Chinese literature,Lu Xun has pioneered the vernacular novel and is known as the "Father of Chinese modern novels".Na Han represents the highest peak of Lu Xun's novels and it has been translated into more than fifties languages,which makes Lu Xun and his works enjoy a high reputation both at home and abroad.Yang Xianyi and Gladys'Yang's English version of Na Han and Lyell' s English versions of Na Han are the most representative ones and have attracted extensive attention at home and abroad.This thesis selects these two English versions of Na Han as the research objects and uses the descriptive and comparative analysis methods.Firstly,based on the polysystem theory,this thesis analyzes the concrete reasons why different translators select the same source text Na Han to translate in different times from the system perspective.Secondly,this thesis makes a comparative study on the translation strategies of the two English versions of Na Han employed by the two groups of translators according to the position which the translated literature occupies in target language literary system.It draws a conclusion that Yang Xianyi and Gladys'version tends to adopt the foreignizing translation strategy while Lyell tends to use domesticating translation strategy.Finally,this thesis carries out a comparative analysis on the linguistic features of the two English versions in terms of the adequacy and acceptability.It finds that Yang Xianyi and Gladys' Yang's English version is classical and elegant,concise and fluent,which gives the readers the edification of authentic British English while Lyell's American English version has a distinctive colloquial style,which makes it easy to be understood and read by target language readers.China is now vigorously promoting Chinese culture to the world,and the author of this thesis hopes that this study can provide certain guidance and reference for further study related on the English translation of Na Han and finally can speed up the pace of Chinese culture to the world.