| Three-Body Problem is a science fiction epic composed by Liu Cixin,a famous Chinese novelist,and has won many international awards.The achievement of the great work has surpassed any other Chinese sci-fi novel.It is meaningful for writer himself,yet it signifies a shifting of the Chinese sci-fi novel community from regarding the Western sci-fi novels as unattainable to keeping up with them.For a long time,science fiction has been on the margin of the literary genre in China,with few readers and lesser influence,domestically and internationally.One of the main reasons for the long-term stagnation of domestic science fiction novels in the world lies in translation.However,in recent years,by virtue of the policy of“cultural exporting”,more and more people have paid attention to the overseas dissemination of literature including science fiction.Translator Liu Yukun,or Ken Liu,a Chinese-American who grew up in the United States,has a deep understanding of literature and has won many domestic and international awards including the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award.With mastery of both Chinese and American cultures,he was able to translate Liu Cixin’s ThreeBody Problem series from different angles,which contributed to the series’ overseas popularity.The thesis selects the English version of Death’s End,part three of Three-Body Problem series as study material,and uses the Truth-seeking-Utility-attaining evaluative model of continuum put forward by professor Zhou Lingshun as the study model,to conduct a study on the Translator Behavior from critical perspective of texts and behavior.The Truth-seeking-Utility-attaining evaluative model of continuum,as an important component of Translation Behavior Criticism,could be applied to the descriptive study of translated text in terms of translation techniques and strategies.It plays an important role in expanding the research path of translation.This thesis uses the model to conduct an in-depth analysis of Ken Liu’s translation of The Three-Body Problem: Death’s End,analyzing the translator’s efforts and achievements in the successful overseas dissemination of the novel.The thesis aims to make a humble contribution to future translation research in genres such as science fiction.Considering the linguistic and social nature of translator,this thesis analyzes the role shifting of the translator and the socialization of the texts by examining the traces left by the translator.As stated by Translator Behavior Criticism theory,when translating,a translator must be in accordance with his linguistic nature.By the logic,the thesis examines the translated text in dimensions such as words,phrases,sentences,etc.using Truth-seeking-Utility-attaining evaluative model of continuum to analyze the translator’s Truth-seeking efforts.Apart from linguistic nature,a translator embraces social property at the same time.Given the fact,the thesis examines the translator’s role shifting in his translation,and analyzes the translator’s“utility-attaining” efforts reflected in the translation.Considering that a translator has both two properties,the thesis uses Truth-seeking-Utility-attaining evaluative model of continuum to flexibly evaluate the translated text in order to discover translator’s balanced efforts between Truth-seeking and Utility-attaining.By analyzing the traces left by translator in the translated text,the thesis examines balance achieved between catering to target reader and conveying original thinking.The thesis aims to provide reference for future Sci-fi literature translation study and explores a new path for better overseas spreading of more Chinese Sci-fi literature. |
