A Comparative Study on Two Translations of Lao She’s Black Li and White Li
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1311.05Keywords:
Lao She, patronage, professionals, translation solutionsAbstract
This paper employs Manipulation Theory and Skopos Theory as theoretical foundations to understand why and how external and internal constraints have affected translators in using translation solutions. This paper has chosen Lao She’s Chinese short story, Black Li and White Li, and compared the two translations from Wang Chi-Chen and Lyell A. Williams. A comparison of “patronage”, “professionals”, and translation solutions shows that the two translators produced remarkable translation works at their time and their translation solutions are worth learning.
References
Guan, X. Z. (2016). Wang Chi-Chen Yingyi Zuopin Zaihaiwaide Chuangbo he Jieshou [The overseas dissemination and acceptance of Wang Chi-Chen's English translation works]. Foreign Language Education, 37(3), 104-108.
Lao She. (2009). Luotuo Xiangzi Heibaili [Rickshaw Boy Black Li and White Li]. Fudan University Press.
Lefevere, A. (2004). Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Lyell, W. A. (Trans.) (1970). Lao She. Cat Country. Penguin Books.
Lyell, W.A. & Chen, W. S. (Trans.) (1999). Lao She. Blades of Grass: The Stories of Lao She. University of Hawaii Press.
Pym, A., Bei, H., Hao, Y., & Hu, K. (2020). A typology of translation solutions for Chinese-English. (Unpublished manuscript) doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.26968.44809
Reiss, K. and Vermeer, H. J. (1984, 2013) Towards a General Theory of Translational Action: Skopos Theory Explained, translated by C. Nord. St Jerome Publishing.
Wang, Chi-Chen (Trans.). (1944). Contemporary Chinese Stories. Columbia University Press.
Wang, H. L. (2000). Geda Yu Xiandai Zhongguo [Columbia University and Modern China]. Shanghai Literature & Art Publishing House.
Zhang, M. (2016). A Study of Lao She’s Translated Literature. Shanghai Jiaotong University Press.
Zheng. Z. L. & Huang, Q. (2019). American Sinologist William A. Lyell’s View of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature Translation. Foreign Language and Literature Research, 5, 60-68. DOI:10.16651/j.cnki.fllr.2019.0064.
