A Study On Translation And Dissemination Of British And American Detective Novels In China(1896-1916) From The Perspective Of Medio-translatology

The period from 1895 to 1920 is the era of transition in the intellectual history of modern China.As a literary genre advocating science and the legal system,it was during this period that the British and American detective novels were introduced into China in large numbers.From 1896 to 1916,the translation of British and American detective novels in China reached a climax,offering opportunities for Chinese people to know about and learn from the West as well as promoting China’s social development,which deserves a further study.This thesis focuses on the translation and dissemination process of British and American detective novels in China from 1896 to 1916.Based on Medio-translatology Theory,it explores the concrete operation of this process,with Lasswell’s Communication Model as the analysis framework.According to Medio-translatology,“translation and dissemination” equals to communication.It is a complex cultural dissemination activity,which transcends the literal equivalence and transformation of two languages and thus needs to be explored from a macroscopic perspective.Lasswell’s 5W Communication Model has conducted a description of the entire communication process,which can be applied to translation and dissemination research to examine how a particular type of text enters and then influences the target language and culture.However,it has not yet been used to study the translation and dissemination of British and American detective novels.This thesis,based on Lasswell’s Communication Model,proposes the Translation and Dissemination Model of British and American Detective Novels in China: what to translate,how to translate,in which channel,translate to whom,and with what effect,and conducts the corresponding analyses,which manifests a different approach to a further study of this genre’s translation and dissemination.Based on the Translation and Dissemination Model of British and American Detective Novels mentioned above,this thesis tends to analyze the process from five aspects: the source texts,translation strategies,dissemination channels,readers,and effects,to explore the translation and dissemination process of British and American detective novels and the effects of this process from 1896 to 1916.Firstly,the source text analysis sums up the publication of translated detective novels and their characteristics in terms of form and content.Secondly,based on the theory of creative treason in Medio-translatology,the translation strategy analysis deals with some typical translation strategies,such as temporally characteristic translation,mistranslation,adaptation,and omission.Thirdly,the dissemination channel analysis investigates the role of publishers in dissemination,including their marketing strategies and manipulation of translation.Fourthly,the reader analysis examines the readers’ attitudes towards British and American detective novels and their influence on translation.Finally,the effect analysis explores the results of translation and dissemination manifested in literary modernity and cultural modernity,to clarify the impact of the translation and dissemination of British and American detective novels in China.This thesis holds that in the translation and dissemination of the detective novels,the features of the source texts,the selection of translation strategies,the role of publishers in the dissemination,the readers,and the interaction among these elements all exert an influence on the translation and dissemination effect.The uniqueness of the detective novels different from the traditional Chinese legal case novels is an important factor for readers to turn to read and accept this foreign genre and is also one criterion for publishers to choose for publication.In the particular historical context,the translation strategies characteristic of creative treason help promote the popularization and acceptance of detective novels.The publishers’ marketing strategies highlighting features of detective novels ensure the wide spread of detective stories,and the publishers’ goals also determine the choice of source texts and the translation strategies.The curiosity of ordinary readers and the professional readers’ pursuit of national enlightenment work together to determine the selection of source texts,the dissemination and reception of the translated texts,and consequently the development of the publishing industry.As for the effects,the translation and dissemination of British and American detective novels give birth to Chinese detective novels,change the traditional ways of narration of Chinese stories,and start the transition of written language from Classical Chinese to Modern Vernacular Chinese,thus promoting the development of Chinese literary modernity.British and American detective novels also help popularize concepts of science and democracy and transform the Chinese legal concepts,which promotes the development of Chinese cultural modernity.Therefore,the translation and dissemination of British and American detective novels in China from 1896 to 1916 have a significant cultural value.