Manipulation And Anti-manipulation:A Case Study Of The English Translation Of Xi Xiang Ji

Xi Xiang Ji written by Wang Shifu in the Yuan Dynasty dramatizes the tale of a caizi-jiaren(a talented scholar and a beautiful maiden)couple,describing the passionate love story of Zhang Junrui and Cui Yingying(Oriole),who finally are united in wedlock with the help of Hongniang(Crimson),the smart maidservant.This drama has been translated into many languages and disseminated abroad.Other translators choose Jin Shengtan’s recension as the source text,but Stephen H.West and Wilt L.Idema choose the Hongzhi recension,which is the earliest completely preserved edition of Xi Xiang Ji,and precede their translation with a one-hundred-page introduction.From the selection of the source text to translation,translators’ manipulation and anti-manipulation are manifested in Xi Xiang Ji,also known as The Story of the Western Wing.Lefevere’s Manipulation Theory demonstrates that the translated literature always communicates with the social system in which it lives.But this theory overemphasizes the manipulation of dominant ideology,poetics,and patronage and ignores the translator’s subjectivity as an independent individual.Considering the limit of the manipulation theory,this thesis,therefore,suggests that both manipulation and anti-manipulation should be examined at the same time.As a mediator,the translator not only is manipulated by ideology,poetics,and patronage but also exerts resistance to them.Manipulation and anti-manipulation are two different actions of translators.The former suggests the translator’s conformity to the target culture while the latter indicates the translator’s preservation of the source culture.The descriptive study is carried out in this thesis.From the perspective of ideology,poetics,and patronage,the author analyzes the English translation of The Story of the Western Wing,concluding that any translated text is the product of manipulation and anti-manipulation and these two always coexist and interact with each other.According to the study,ideology can influence translation strategy and the selection and interpretation of the source text.In respect of translation strategies,on the premise of readability,translators mainly adopt foreignization,keep the foreignness of the source text,and challenge the manipulation of the dominant ideology.But at the same time,resulting from the constraint of the target culture,translators also use domestication to reduce the foreignness of the source text.In respect of the selection of the source text,translators conform to the dominant ideology and choose classical Chinese literature,but they have their considerations in the choice of recensions of the source text.In respect of the interpretation of the source text,unlike other translators’ intentional indifference to sexual innuendoes and erotic images,translators make footnotes and lists to explain them in detail.Poetics can function in the genre,motif,and reduplicative words.In respect of genre,translators follow the academic trend and choose a representative of classical Chinese dramas,but they translate the complete text,unlike other western translators’ deletion of the last act to rewrite the tragicomedy for a tragedy.In respect of motif,the progressive nature of The Story of the Western Wing accords with the motif of American dominant values.In respect of reduplicative words,translators use five translation methods:full translation,synonym pair,onomatopoeia,grammatical transformation,and retention of meaning.Among these methods,only repetition in full translation has the same poetic effects as reduplicative words.Even if repetition is not widely used in English,statistics show that translators still use repetition to translate about a quarter of reduplicative words.Patrons can be divided into ideological,poetological,and economic patrons.Translators are part of ideological patrons.Their limited understandings of Chinese culture may lead to making some mistakes.Literary reviewers,as poetological patrons,believe that the delicacy and lovesickness of the genius in The Story of the Western Wing run counter to the toughness and hardness of the hero in Western literature.But translators do not rewrite the characterization of Zhang Junrui.The American government and several foundations are direct economic patrons.They influence translators’ selection and translation of the source text.Target readers are indirect economic patrons.In order to meet the needs of target readers including common readers and professionals or students who are interested in Chinese literature,translators are as faithful to the source text as possible,make an academic introduction and add many footnotes.It is hoped that to some degree this thesis could enrich the studies on the English version of The Story of the Western Wing and that the comprehensive studies on manipulation and anti-manipulation and studies on The Story of the Western Wing from the aspects of ideology,poetics and patronage could provide a theoretical and practical reference for other researchers.