The Reception Of All Men Are Brothers In The English-speaking World

Pearl S.Buck’s translation All Men Are Brothers has never been free from disputes since its first publication in 1933.On the one hand,critics and scholars cannot agree on whether the translation is good or bad.On the other hand,the translation is well received by the English-speaking world.Since its first publication,it has been reprinted many times,making it the most influential translation of the Chinese classic Shui Hu Zhuan in the English-speaking world.Even after the publication of the more recognized version,Outlaws of the Marsh,translated by Sidney Shapiro,the status of All Men Are Brothers has not been shaken.The reception of All Men Are Brothers in the English-speaking world is a special case worth investigating.The current thesis aims to explore the factors that have influenced the reception of All Men Are Brothers in the English literary system,including the textual factors,non-textual factors,and their fluctuations.The scope of research mainly includes factors in the American literary system,with factors outside the American literary system that could indirectly influence the reception of All Men Are Brothers,such as the production and consumption repertoire of ST,British sinologists,and the Swedish Nobel Prize,serving as compliments.The time frame of the current study is 19291973.The current study employs a mixed method combining historical research and case study and adopts Even-Zohar’s poly system literary framework to discuss the roles of the six factors that came up by Even-Zohar-producer,consumer,institution,market,repertoire,and product-in the reception of All Men Are Brothers.After an investigation of the production repertoire and consumption repertoire,the author has two findings:For one thing,Buck failed to reproduce the ST production repertoire at the language style level and the lexical level in the target text.However,due to the lack of a proper consumption repertoire for deciphering the translated text’s language style and lexicons,most consumers tended to recognize Buck’s translation.As such,Buck’s deficiency in translation did not influence the reception of the translation.For another thing,because the ST consumption repertoire at the cultural level was introduced into the target literary system,consumers could understand the culture in the translation,which benefited the reception of the translation.Through a diachronic study of contextual factors,the author has found that,in different periods,different contextual factors had different effects on the reception of All Men Are Brothers.From 1929 to 1937,the most influential factor in the reception of All Men Are Brothers was the success of Buck as a novelist.Buck’s success made her literary production repertoire accepted by the American literary system,and the corresponding consumption repertoire accumulated.Buck’s translation,All Men Are Brothers,conformed to her literary production repertoire,making it easier to be accepted by the target literary system.The reception of All Men Are Brothers in the second period,from 1937 to 1945,was marked by up and down.In 1937,consumers’interest in China and its literature was temporarily raised by the onset of the full-scale Sino-Japanese War.As a result,in 1937 alone,four publishers reprinted the translation.However,in 1938,Buck’s literary reputation was damaged because of the Nobel Prize in Literature.Consequently,All Men Are Brothers was not reprinted in the following years.From 1945 to 1973,Buck’s impact on All Men Are Brothers waned.However,the translation has been accepted by higher education institutions and included in their reading materials.Moreover,the translation approached consumers in various forms.As such,the translation continued to be reprinted even after Buck’s influence had waned.Finally,the author concluded:The reception of All Men Are Brothers in the English-speaking world was not a result of the influence of one single factor.Instead,its reception was driven by a joint force of different factors,and different factors function differently in different periods.From 1929 to 1937,the producer’s success and her accumulated institutional resources might be the most influential forces behind the reception of the translation.From 1937 to 1945,the reception of the translation was temperately boosted by consumer interest but soon dampened by the disaffection of some institutional entities and the producer’s damaged reputation.From 1945 to 1973,the translation’s reception benefited from the expansion of potential consumer groups,which resulted from the recognition of some institutional entities and the multiple forms of the product.In the current case study,the six factors proposed by Even-Zohar in his polysystem cultural framework,producer,consumer,institution,market,repertoire,and product,could have different functions and function differently from time to time.They could influence each other and be influenced by factors outside the literary system.As a result,the reception of a certain translated work should be viewed from a dynamic and diachronic perspective.