Study On English Translations Of Wenxin Diaolong From The Perspective Of Toury's Translation Norm Theory

Wenxin Diaolong is China's first highly systematic literary criticism works.Its translation has a special meaning to the external communication of Chinese classics and its English versions have always been the model object for translation academic research.Vincent Yu-chung Shih's and Stephen Owen's translations of Wenxin Diaolong are the versions which widely recognized by the academic circle and have their own typical characteristics.There are few comparative studies on the two translations,and the comparative study of these two translations from the perspective of translation norms is more rare.Toury's translation norm theory is unique.He believes that there are three types of norms that will affect the translation results,namely,the preliminary norms,the initial norms and the operational norms.Taking Toury's translation norm theory as the framework,and through comparing Vincent Yu-chung Shih's and Stephen Owen's translations of Wenxin Diaolong,this paper adopts the descriptive approach to concretely analyze the two translators' translation norms and strategies reflected and adopted in their translations.Preliminary norms,initial norms and operational norms dominate the translators' different options at different stages of translation,including the choice of source text,target language,language and style of the translation,specific translation skills and so on,therefore have become the explanation of why different translations are so different.Vincent Yu-chung Shih and Stephen Owen did follow certain translation norms when they made the choice of the works from the start and the translation strategies at the macro level and translation methods at the micro level that they had used in their translations.For example,both translators are influenced by the source language culture and the target language culture,and they need to seek compromise and balance between the two strains.Vincent Yu-chung Shih's translation is a text prefers source language and adequacy which is more loyal to the source text and leaves a space for the target language readers to imagine Chinese language and culture.Stephen Owen's translation is a text prefers target language and acceptability which is easy to understand andconforms to the reading habits and understanding patterns of target language readers.But at the same time,there are some phenomena that is not conforming to the translation norms in both versions.Using Toury's translation norm theory to make comparative analysis of Vincent Yu-chung Shih's and Stephen Owen's translations of Wenxin Diaolong can not only raised the understanding and study of the two translations,but also can deepen understanding of Toury's translation norm theory,at the same time which can provide certain reference significance for the future of literary translation.