A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of Chang Sheng Dian From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

This thesis is intended to elaborate that the differences between the two English versions of Chang Sheng Dian result from different manipulation patterns and correspondingly different translation strategies.Chang Sheng Dian,written by the famous Chinese playwright Hong Sheng,is one of the classic plays in China's history.As a masterpiece with rich cultural connotations,it has been among the literary texts frequented by translators.Of its three English versions,the translations of the Yangs(Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang)and Xus(Xu Yuanchong and his son Xu Ming)are much researched for their great popularity among the target recipients.Despite both of them enjoying a high level of acceptance,they are seen as different in quite some aspects.For example,the style in which Yangs translate this play is prose-like while that of Xus' version is a lot more poetized.Specifically,the language of the Yangs' translation is figurative and exotic while Xus tend to translate in an attempt to beautify the English version in sense,sound and form.Therefore,notable is that free verse and rhymed verse are respectively adopted by the Yangs and Xus as their strategy to rewrite the arias throughout the original text.In light of that,to figure out the in-depth reasons for these striking differences makes it necessary and worthwhile to conduct a comparative study of the two English versions of Chang Sheng Dian.Since the 1970 s,“cultural turn” has captured increasing attention from the sphere of translation studies,distracting their focus from the text itself to the super-textual elements(socio-cultural background).As one of the established representatives of cultural school,Belgian scholar Andre Lefevere sees translation as rewriting and puts forward the renown manipulation theory,regarding ideology,poetics and patronage as three manipulative forces in any rewriting process.To be specific,a translator is manipulated by ideology in terms of his choice of the source text,the translation strategies and specific problem-solving techniques during his translating process.Poetics exerts its manipulative influence on how the translator conforms to the standards of the dominant poetic system.Patronage manipulates the translator by supervising over the manipulated translating performances ideologically and poetically.Besides,it is not separately but in an interactive and restrictive manner that these three factors shape the whole translating process.With such a comprehension of manipulation theory,the author of this thesis,by conducting a comparative case study of the two English versions of Chang Sheng Dian,aims to find out how the two translation processes are manipulated by the three factors.Correspondingly,what sense they make to the two pairs of translators in terms of their adoption of the translation strategies.Through a comprehensive comparative analysis,it is found by the author of this thesis that the two versions are distinctly characterized by their different manipulation patterns.Ideologically,the two versions respectively occurred in the socio-cultural context of two distant periods with the Yangs' translated in the 1950 s and Xus' in the early 21 st century.As a consequence,their ideologies varied with the socio-cultural context of two different historical times.The Yangs bear the objective of maximizing its acceptability among the target readers through making the meaning as understandable as possible,thus less attention paid to replicating the form and sound of the original.In their opinion,it will boost the transmission of Chinese culture by increasing the comprehensibility of the rewritten work.When translating this play,Xus attach great importance to reproducing in the target language its preciseness in sense,beauty in sound,and accuracy in form.In this sense,Xus focus more attention on revealing the literary value of the play.Besides,the Yangs are more ideologically constrained than Xus by the target social norms with respect to the ways they translate the imperial items and handle the descriptions of feudal dross.Therefore,their differing emphasis on the methods of transmitting Chinese culture plays a big role in differentiating their handling the specific issues during their translation processes.Poetologically,impacted by the Chinese poetic factors,the Yangs rewrite the sexual expressions and taboos in varying degrees while under the influence of western poetics,their translation is more heterogeneous and appropriate adjustments are made in the translation of the imperial items,the culture-loaded expression and the characters' names.Through the use of rhymed verse,Xus' version is of great musical beauty and higher conciseness.With the aim to transmit the Chinese culture as well as maximize their acceptance in the recipient society,patronage also manipulates both versions by making the rewriting occur in conscious or unconscious conformity with the dominant ideologies and poetics.In view of the above comparative analysis about these two versions of Chang Sheng Dian,the research has conducted an in-depth comparative study and has generated these findings: there are many differences between the two English versions of Chang Sheng Dian;these differences result from the two pairs of translators adopting different translation strategies;they opt for different translation methods in response to different manipulations they are under;their manipulation patterns differ ideologically,peotologically and in terms of patronage.