On Relations Of Actors In The English Translation Of Taipei People

As one of the representative works of modern Chinese novels,Pai Hsienyung's short story collection Taipei People embodies the combination of modern writing techniques and features of traditional Chinese culture.The English translation of this work has its particularities.The exploration of it can deepen our understanding of the dynamic translation process and may as well offer an insight into the translation of the Chinese literature going global.This paper conducts a case study with the help of the key concepts of actornetwork theory,which highlights the dynamics of various human and non-human actors in their influence and formation of the society.The application of this sociological framework in translation studies can help us to see the normally hidden actors behind the scene of translation activities.Based on the reading of the bilingual texts,the translation drafts and related letters stored in the UC Santa Barbara Library,the study aims to investigate the main actors and relations to unfold the production and revision process of the English translation of Taipei People.In previous studies,due to the neglect of the translation manuscripts of Taipei People as well as of its particularities including the collaborative self-translation and the authorized self-translation,it is easy for some researchers to give acknowledgments to the self-translator Pai Hsien-yung alone without considering the role and influence exerted by other actors in their discussion of translation choices and strategies.Given this context,by probing into the actual translating and editing process of this work,this paper argues that the authortranslator relationship cannot equal to the conventional binary author-translator concept because the self-translator Pai Hsien-yung's participation makes it more complexed.The discussion of this part helps us to reach a more neutral understanding of the nature of the English translation of Taipei People.Furthermore,through the comparison of texts in different stages,several major relations are discussed including relations between the translation pair and other translators,relations between the translation pair and editor,and relations between final printed product and readers.It is argued that the English translation of Taipei People should be studied in the actual translating and editing process rather than with the simple two-end comparison between the source text and the target text.This paper concludes that the exploration of relations among major human actors including the author,the translators,the editor,and readers as well as non-human actors including the ST,the unpublished translation manuscripts,the final translation product can not only help us to know this translation practice better but also emphasize the crucial role of the first-hand materials in translation studies.Hopefully,the present study may shed some light on translation modes and translation strategies for future translation practices of Chinese literature.