On The Reception Of Feng Tang's Translation Of Stray Birds

Stray Birds,one of the representatives of the Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore,is popular with readers and translators in China for its profound literary influence and enduring literary vitality.Apart from various translated versions,Feng Tang's translation came as a surprise.It was published in July 2015,and then removed off shelves for further review by Zhejiang Literature & Art Publishing House,which became a significant cultural and social event throughout 2016.People argued over the controversy of the content,wording and style of Feng's translation in which the boundary of translation has been stepped across,and some parts of the source text were distorted and may mislead young readers.Feng's translation has thus experienced an unprecedented reception dilemma.Besides,the development of the market economy and the popularization of the internet have made huge contributions to the voicing of the public and further heated the argument.Deconstructionism sheds light over this issue in several aspects including the translation methods employed by Feng in his translation of Stray Birds,the emphasis on readers as direct contacts with the translation,and the thinking to involve all social subjects like sponsors,book retailers and other stakeholders into the discussion on reception.To fully understand the reception dilemma of Feng Tang's translation of the Stray Birds,this thesis,combined with textual and extratextual analyses,employs deconstructionism in translation ideologies and translation ethics and norms to explain social factors affecting Feng's translation and keeps a wide perspective on the network of relationships throughout the translation process,from reading,interpretation,production,and modification by the translator,to reception by readers,and further influence of the work on the society.The main part of the thesis consists of two arguments: readers' involvement and social references.The former,under the guidance of the deconstructionist misreading theory,firstly defines and analyses two kinds of readers including translators as readers of the original text and public readers of the translation,then continues to classify the second type of readers into three categories including general readers,bilingual learners and literary enthusiasts,and scholars,to explore the connections and conflicts between them and understand the reception dilemma in a more direct manner.The latter,from the perspective of translation norms,illustrates the influence of the society on translation activities,the way Feng's translation was manipulated,negotiated,criticized and received by the society.Under various restrictions and expectations,the choices made by the translator are particularly important.Feng Tang rewrote some of the poems to meet the expectations of some young readers but failed to balance other main social subjects,which gave rise to a series of conflicts and problems.As a result,the publishing house recalled Feng's translation,online book retailers stopped the selling of Feng's translation,and many mainstream media held skeptical attitudes towards Feng's translation.These conflicts piled up and contributed to the complicated and difficult reception of Feng's translation of Stray Birds.It's always encouraging to conduct the research under the context where social factors including sponsor,professionals,publisher and the translators' relationships with various subjects which were neglected before are gaining more attention nowadays.It's hoped that this essay could fill the research gaps in the reception of Feng's translation of Stray birds.