A Contrastive Study Of Na Han From The Perspective Of Eco-Translatology

Na Han is a collection of 14 short stories written by Lu Xun,including Diary of a Madman and The true Story of Ah Q.Symbolizing the beginning and also the maturity of modern Chinese story writing,Na Han has,upon its publication,drawn numerous translators’ attention and has been translated into many languages.The English translation of Na Han began in the year 1926,when the American Chinese George Kin Leung published his translation of The Real Story of Ah Q.Since then,18 translators have joined in this great endeavor of translating Lu Xun’s short stories into English,with Yang Xianyi& Gladys Yang and Julia Lovell as representatives who have translated the full text of Na Han.Taking Yang’s and Lovell’s versions as its study object,this thesis sets out to make a comparative study of them from the perspective of Eco-translatology..Eco-translatology emphasizes the central role of the translator.It argues that all translation activities take place in one(or several)Eco-environment(s).Translational Eco-environment refers to the worlds of the source and target languages and comprises the linguistic,communicative and cultural aspects of translating as well as the author,the client and the reader.The process of translation is basically a process of the translator’s adaptation and selection in relation to the source and target texts,and the task of the translator is to select and adapt source text from the linguistic,cultural and communicative dimensions.Yang’s translation of Na Han,initiated by Foreign Language Press,is an example of outward translation of Chinese literature sponsored by the Chinese government.Lovell’s translation,initiated by the Penguin publishing group,is an example of inward translation of Chinese literature sponsored by a western commercial publishing house.The translators worked under different conditions,and the translations “live” in different Eco-environments,which account for the different adaptations and selections of the two versions,in three dimensions.Comparative study of this thesis shows that Yang’s version stays closer to the original in terms of the linguistic dimension.Yang prefers long sentences and pays close attention to the logical relationship in his target text.In the cultural dimension,Yang tends to adopt methods of literal translation to retain and transmit cultural information in the source text.He seldom uses footnotes and endeavors to preserve the literary qualities of the original text in the target language.In the communicative dimension,Yang’s version was translated at a time when Lu Xun was interpreted more as a revolutionary,so the translators laid emphasis on the ironic nature of Lu Xun’s language and the revolutionary side of Lu Xun himself.In contrast,Lovell’s version stays closer to the target language in terms of the linguistic dimension.She tends more to simplify the complex expressions of the source text,reorganize sentence structures and insert supplementary information in the target text to achieve better readability.In the cultural dimension,Lovell tends to insert explanations and use slangs to aid understanding.Yet her status as a British sinologist has not yet granted her sufficient knowledge in the original culture and in Lu Xun’s short stories,which account for some inevitable losses in her translation in the cultural dimension.In the communicative dimension,Lovell takes good care of the reading habits of the target readers,and tends to strive for the readability of the target text at the expense of the original information.Additions and deletions are noticeable in her version.How did the translators adapt to their translation environment and in what way did this adaptation find expression in the translator’s selection of translation strategies? To sum up,Yang’s version excels in the cultural dimension yet the overuse of long sentences makes his version less successful in the communicative dimension.Lovell’s version excels in the linguistic dimension,yet the loss of cultural information makes her version less successful in the cultural dimension.With this comparative study of the two versions of Na Han from the perspective of Eco-translatology,this thesis aims to sum up and account for the differences between the two,hoping to deepen researches on the English translations of Lu Xun’s short stories and shed light on Chinese culture and literature going global.