On Literary Translation During The Cultural Revolution

As a special period in the Chinese translation history,the Cultural Revolution(1966-1976)was divided into two stages.The first stage falls into 1966 to 1971,during which most of the literary works were banned due to the criticism of feudalism,capitalism and revisionism,making it difficult to see them in the mainstream reading market.And the second stage is from 1971 to 1976,during which literary and artistic policies were adjusted and literary translation gradually changed.Some foreign literary works were translated and introduced into China,but still in restricted circulation.Zhaiyi: Wai Guo Wen Yi(Foreign Literature and Art),the research object of this thesis,is the product of the second stage of the Cultural Revolution,which provided precious materials for literary translation studies of this field.Taking Lefevere's manipulation theory as the theoretical framework,this thesis analyzes the English-Chinese translation texts from Zhaiyi: Wai Guo Wen Yi,explores the literary translation activities and translation process during the Cultural Revolution,and explains the objective passivity of translators under the influence of social-cultural context and strict manipulation of the dominant ideology,and expounds the subjective initiative of translators at the linguistic level.From the broader cultural and historical context,this thesis discusses the influence of the “three factors” of the manipulation theory on literary translation during the Cultural Revolution by expounding the political environment at home and abroad and changes of literary and artistic policies during that period.Due to the special background of the Cultural Revolution,the translation works during this period were dominated by mainstream ideology and superstructure,with distinctive “class nature”,which were reflected in the selection of translation materials,special signature of translators and and translation strategies.Microscopically,this thesis systematically sorts out all the English-Chinese translation works in Zhaiyi: Wai Guo Wen Yi,including their original titles,translators and the features of each work,and creatively summarizes the translation mode and characteristics of translation activities during this special period.According to the above analysis,this thesis holds that most of the English original texts published in Zhaiyi: Wai Guo Wen Yi are popular or best-selling works in the Western source language society,including works by Pulitzer Prize winners and Nobel Prize winners,which to a certain extent breaks the traditional view that literary translation during the Cultural Revolution was highly political and lacked aesthetic value.It also reveals the preference of “black literature” in the selection of translation materials during the Cultural Revolution.This thesis aims to improve the research status of the important translation journal Zhaiyi: Wai Guo Wen Yi,to learn from history,and hopes to promote the comprehensive and systematic study of literary translation during the Cultural Revolution.