Study Of George Kao’s Editorial Practice In The Manuscripts Of Taipei People From The Perspective Of Rewritting Theory

In the late 1960 s,Pai Hsien-yung successively published a series of short stories in Modern Literature,later compiled and published as the book Taipei People.In 1982,Indiana University Press published its first English translation,Wandering in the Garden,Waking from a Dream—Tales of Taipei Characters.The translation took collaborative effort of Pai Hsien-yung himself and his colleague at the University of California,Patia E.M.Yasin,with renowned editor George Kao as the chief editor.The translation manuscripts collected by the University of California,Santa Barbara Library faithfully records the extensive revisions made by George Gao to the translation,which demonstrate the involvement of the editor in the translation process and serve as valuable first-hand materials for relevant studies.From the perspective of rewriting theory and using the core concepts of “professional” and“poetics”,this study systematically examines George Kao’s editorial practice found in the translation manuscripts of Taipei People.It was found that George Kao had a significant influence on the final translation in the published version.His revisions covered aspects such as the completeness and accuracy of the transfer,the logic and facts of the content,the fluency of the language,customization,sub-language,idiomaticity,mechanics,and typography in the presentation of the translation.Furthermore,this study takes into consideration paratexts like the editor’s preface and letters to the translators to analyze George Kao’s poetics preferences.It is proposed that he pursued implicit literary expression at the personal poetics level while emphasizing concise expression and diverse vocabulary as a result of the internalization of the target poetics.He focused on the overall fluency of the translation and the dramatic nature of the novel genre.In terms of translation strategy,George Kao maintained a subtle balance between“faithfulness” and “readability”.Being highly faithful to the original text,he managed to correct some mistranslations,and adapted the translation style to be more fluent and coherent,in line with the mainstream poetics of the target language.Additionally,George Kao took into account the cultural discrepancy of the target language readers,filling in the possible gaps of cultural background knowledge through the unification of proper nouns,explanatory translations,and the addition of footnotes.To examine the effect of Kao’s editorial practice on the acceptance of the translation,this study collected and analyzed the evaluations of professional and general readers on the translation.Overall,the translation was highly recognized,with George Kao ensuring the overall quality of the translation,making it more coherent and fluent,and adapting to the habits of the target readers.The main issue,however,was that the editor’s stance on footnotes and dialect translation might hinder readers’ reading experience.The number of footnotes was slightly insufficient,making it difficult for non-professional readers to understand unique references in Chinese culture.The experimental translation in American Southern dialect was too innovative for some readers,leaving them detached from the Chinese story background.However,George Kao’s editing efforts ensured the overall quality of the translated version.His recommendation also contributed to the publication of the bilingual edition of Taipei People,making it possible for the translation to meet more readers to this day.