The Examination Of Lin Shu's Patrons And Their Influences On His Translation

Although Lin Shu knew nothing about any foreign language,he translated nearly 200 foreign novels with the collaboration of foreign language experts,thus exerting great influences over the research of foreign literature and translated literature in China.How did he start and wrap up his translation career? How did he choose the novels to be translated or what strategies did he use in translating,restructuring and publishing his works? Why could he successfully transform from an official pursuer to a renowned translator and what made him earn a special translation brand? Furthermore,how did he pass through the ups and downs as a translator? Who did on earth act as the patrons of his translation? In answer to those questions,the thesis aims to examine the patrons of Lin Shu's translation and their roles in Lin's translation career and specific practices.The thesis comes to the following conclusions that(1)Lin Shu's translation patrons include social personages such as Wei Han and Zhang Yuanji,collaborators like Wang Shouchang,and Chen Jialin,persons from the Tongcheng School headed by Wu Rulun,the Reformers represented by Liang Qichao,the New Culture School activists centered by Cai Yuanpei and Fu Sinian,and the newspaper and magazines initiated by the Commercial Press.(2)Based on the different functions patrons have performed,Lin's translation patrons fall into three categories,namely economic patrons,ideological patrons and poetological patrons.(3)The social personages and publishers constitute Lin's economic patrons who either provided Lin Shu with remuneration or facilitated the publication of his translated novels.The ideological patrons refer to Lin's collaborators and the Reformers who had influences on his translation attitudes,his choice of original novels,and his works' quality and quantity through collaboration or manipulation of social ideologies.The peotological patrons originate from the Tongcheng and New Culture School.They advocated either the simple and elegant classical Chinese or the vernacular,and then impacted the language styles,text layouts and social acceptance of Lin's translated novels.In short,the thesis diachronically and synchronically analyzes the economic,ideological and poetological patrons of Lin Shu's translation from the perspective of Lefevere's patron theory.The findings help broaden the horizons of Lin's translation study and provide some reference for modern translators.The thesis falls into five parts.The first part gives a brief introduction of Lin's relative deeds,all studies of Lin Shu's translation conducted previously and the significance of this study.The next part mainly interprets Lefevere's translation patron theory,including definitions,functions and classifications of the patron.The third part is committed to identifying and classifying the patrons of Lin's translation.The fourth part further explores how these patrons perform their functions on his translation process.The final part offers the review and reflections on this study.