A Study On The English Translation Of Louis Cha’s Lu Ding Ji From The Perspective Of Bourdieu’s Sociology

Louis Cha(1924-2018),or Jin Yong,the grand master of martial arts fiction,who created fifteen household works,which represent the greatest achievement of contemporary Chinese martial arts novels and have become the most distinctive popular culture among the Chinese.Up to now,four of Louis Cha’s novels have been translated and introduced into the West,including Lu Ding Ji,the last full-length novel written by Jin Yong.The English version of the novel The Deer and the Cauldron was rendered by sinologist John Minford(1946-)from England and first published in 1997,which caused a great sensation in Western academia and was praised as one of the world’s bestselling books in 1998.Socio-translation studies have been developed since the1990 s and aim at revealing the operational mode of translation as social activities.Among the sociological theories,the reflexive sociology of Pierre Bourdieu(1930-2002)has been gradually applied in translation studies and has also opened up a new direction for the research of rendering martial arts novels.The thesis makes a comprehensive study of The Deer and the Cauldron translated by Minford and explores the reasons for the success of the translation and dissemination of The Deer and the Cauldron in Western countries on the basis of the three core concepts in Bourdieu’s sociology: “field” “capital” and “habitus”.From the macro perspective,the thesis first puts translation activities of John Minford into the social and cultural environment and analyzes the influences of external field factors,the original author’s and translator’s capital,such as the field of power,literary field,economic field,cultural field,the symbolic capital of the author,the economic capital,cultural capital,social capital and symbolic capital accumulated by Minford.Then the paper discusses Minford’s translator habitus formed in his unique social trajectory.Based upon this,the thesis analyzes the influences of Minford’s translator habitus on the English translation of Lu Ding Ji in terms of his translation concepts as well as selection of original texts.On the micro level,drawing on translator habitus,the thesis probes into the translation strategies adopted by Minford in the translated version,which are specifically embodied in the translation of martial arts elements and xia culture,so as to analyze the influences of translator habitus on the translation of The Deer and the Cauldron.The findings of the research are listed as follows:(1)Under the background of the constraint of the field of power in the West and the predominance of British and American local literary field,the successful translational migration of martial arts fiction to the West was faced with a certain difficulty.However,the literary field of England,America and Chinese Hong Kong to some extent have promoted the English translation and dissemination of Chinese literature,the university presses in the UK and the university periodicals in Chinese Hong Kong have provided a good environment for the translation of The Deer and the Cauldron,laid a foundation of broad overseas readership,and built a bridge of cultural exchange between China and the West.The noted overseas commercial publishing houses have also endowed the translation of Chinese literature and culture with more diversified platforms.In addition,the cultural field in China and Western countries have improved the reception of The Deer and the Cauldron in the West.(2)Jin Yong and his works have generated a great deal of symbolic capital both at home and abroad,which enhanced the status of the translator and translation in the Western literary field.Meanwhile,Minford himself has already accumulated rich economic,cultural,social and symbolic capital from his academic research and translation works,so that Minford has possessed autonomy and discourse power in Western translation and literary field.(3)Minford has formed his scholar habitus of devotion to,specializing in and deeply familiar with Chinese literature and culture,and translator habitus of balancing faithfulness and readability of the translation,and bringing pleasure to Western readers in the socialized process of receiving education,academic career and translation practice,which are finally reflected in the main features of The Deer and the Cauldron,such as adding paratext,the emphasis on the content arrangement and cover design of the English version,and the flexible integration of domestication and foreignization strategies according to the cultural characteristics of China and the actual reception of foreign readers,thereby transforming The Deer and the Cauldron into an excellent translation successfully entering into the English-speaking world.