History of Translation Theories

History of Translation Theories

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1 李瑞洋 A Brief Introduction of Contemporary Chinese Translation Theories--from 1949 to Present

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_1

2 陈心怡 History of Translation Theories of Russia after the collapse of Soviet Union

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_2

3 张扬 An Introduction of Contemporary American Translation Theory——The American Translation Workshop

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_3

4 曾俊霖 An Overview of the Development of Western Translation Theories

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Introduction

From the overall historical development process, Chinese and western translation theories have an indissoluble bond with aesthetics from the beginning. However, the development of translation theory in the west is different from that in China. Western translation theory and Chinese translation theory are in very different historical and social conditions, in very different national cultural soil and social ecological environment. They have very different philosophical and aesthetic origins, and provide them with theoretical ideas as the driving force of evolution and development. Therefore, western translation theory and Chinese translation theory must move forward along their respective development tracks. No matter from the diachronic vertical or synchronic section, the dependence between western translation theory and philosophy aesthetics is far less than that of Chinese traditional translation theory. We can first analyze it from the historical development. Western translation theory can be roughly divided into four periods: classical translation theory period, ancient translation theory period, modern translation theory period and modern translation theory period.

Period of classical translation theory

This is the initial period of western translation theory. According to the textual research of Rosetta Stone (discovered in 1799) by Western Egyptologists, western translation activities may have started in 2000 BC. Due to the long history and lack of historical evidence, it is impossible to test whether there were translation theories in 1900 before Cicero. There are four main translation theorists in the period of classical translation theory. The first three are Cicero, Horace and Jerome, who is the source of the development history of western translation theory for 2000 years. The western translation theory in the classical period is mainly based on the ancient Greek philosophers, especially the rhetoric and poetics written by Aristotle. These are two classic works that have a deep impact on Western literary aesthetics. Rhetoric expounds oratory by using the methodology of ancient psychology. Its main purpose is to emphasize the power of language infection and the means to achieve the effect of language infection - language style, and points out that only a beautiful article style can have the power of sensing and imparting. Therefore, speakers must abide by the principle that the use of language should strive to be clear and appropriate, and should not be artificial, so as not to damage the momentum of language due to affectation, and the conditions to ensure the momentum of language are accurate and relevant. In addition, Aristotle believes that the momentum of the article is also closely related to the form of writing. Speakers should adopt prose form. They should neither rhyme, nor ignore the rhythm, nor ignore the vividness of the words. No matter what style is adopted, or slow or high, the writing is naturally the first important meaning. Aristotle is the first classical aesthetic master in the west to affirm "the perceptual reality of beauty".

Under the influence of ancient Greek philosophers such as Thales, Plato and Aristotle, Cicero put forward the naturalism and momentum theory of translation, opposed the translation of "word for word" and advocated the translation of "sense for sense". This argument has a profound impact on western translation studies. In philosophy, Cicero was influenced by Plato to maintain "reason", but in translation theory, he opposed to damaging the natural beauty and momentum beauty of the translation with "rigid application of reason". Horace agrees with Cicero's proposition, opposes the standard of "rigid notes of" fidelity "as the translation, opposes the translator becoming a slave translator who only follows the mandate of the original text, and advocates the use of" aesthetic criteria "in translation. It can be seen that what is valuable is the methodological dialectical view of Xi and Huo. Jerome was the first translator to translate the Hebrew Bible into Latin, the translator of the Vulgate, and the successor of Cicero's translation style. Jerome advocates the natural theory of translation and maintains Cicero's legacy. He believes that the translator has the right to break through the formal constraints of the original syntax, but must abide by the correspondence of words at the morpheme level and be faithful to the original text. Therefore, Jerome was a popular translation theorist in the 5th century. Augustine, the fourth representative figure in the classical period, plays a connecting role, that is, from Cicero, Horace and Jerome to Thomas Aquinas (c1225 – 1274ad), the most important scholastic philosopher in the middle ages. As a classical ancient translation theorist, Augustine's first achievement is to inherit and develop Aristotle's semiotic theory. When discussing "symbols", Aristotle aims to develop its rhetorical function. For "free word order languages" such as Latin, the beauty of symbolic form obviously has rhetorical visual value. Augustine expanded Aristotle's symbolic formal framework from the signifier function of the symbol to the signified layer, and pointed out that the "signifier", the human psychological structure, is derived from human's "perception of reality", and the "signifier" is a "sound set" associated with it (the group of vocal sounds); as far as words are concerned, it only represents the sign of the reference, which is arbitrary. It can be seen that Austen's views on symbols pointed out the direction for the modern semiotic theory in the early 20th century. Unfortunately, Austen's research was not valued by the translation theorists until the second half of the middle ages. Augustine's second achievement is that he put forward aesthetic propositions such as "beauty is suitability", "order", "harmony" and "unity". Based on his aesthetics, he advocates the advantages of translation. He pays more attention to the problem of form than Jerome. At the same time, he is persistent in the correspondence of semantics at the level of semantic morpheme or sememe. Augustine is a transitional figure entering the Middle Ages in the history of European aesthetics, as well as in translation theory.

The period of classical translation theory is a very important period in the history of western translation studies. At that time, the focus of translation circles was to introduce the culture of ancient Greece, which is called "Hellenization" in history. Classical "Greek culture" is as bright as stars, which makes translators and translation theorists energetic and aspire to it. This is different from Chinese classical translation theory (Buddhist Scripture Translation in China). The introduction of Greek culture by the ancient Romans has nothing to do with religion, but involves epic, lyric poetry, philosophy aesthetics, architecture, rhetoric, literature and art (Poetics), drama, history, war history and so on. Its similarity with Chinese classical translation theory is that they all turn to aesthetic ideas and principles. As far as aesthetic ontology is concerned, Western classical aesthetics involves a wide range of categories, and there are a large number of talents. Thales is the first Western philosopher to replace mythological thinking (ignorant thinking) with rational thinking. He advocates the theory that "the most beautiful is the universe" and advocates nature. Pythagoras (c580 – c500bc) is regarded as the discoverer of the golden section and advocates the "beauty of harmony". Herakleitus (c540 – 470bc) put forward the subjective aesthetic view of "looking for oneself", holding that "harmony comes from opposition", which is the germination of Classical Dialectics. Hester also raised the issue of the relativity of beauty, advocated rationality, and advocated thinking, understanding and the control of the mind. Demokritus (C460 – 370bc) is the first natural science philosopher in the West and the first aesthetician to demonstrate sensory experience and image. These four people are the so-called "pre Socrates" in ancient Greece. Together with Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, they form the origin of western academic thought. Of course, it is natural that the sprouting of translation studies is attached to the theory of sages.

Period of ancient translation theory

The second period of western translation theory, the ancient period, lasted a long time, from the "post Augustine" period at the end of the 5th century to the eve of the European industrial revolution, that is, the late 18th century, covering the whole Middle Ages and about 300 years later (500-1795). Translation theory in this period was accompanied by two great historical achievements: the Renaissance and the religious reform. Therefore, the translation theory in this period is characterized by cultural literary translation and religious (Scripture) translation. The prelude to the European Renaissance (which began in the 14th century, peaked in the 15th and 16th centuries and ended in the mid-17th century) is the flourishing of Christian civilization, marked by the so-called "edict of Milan" issued by Constantine I (C280 – 337ad). The imperial edict authorized Christianity to obtain legal status in the Roman Empire. Since then, Christianity has become more and more popular through the influence of the Holy See. The Scriptures have been proofread and translated by Jerome and Augustine. Christian civilization has flourished all over Europe in the early Middle Ages.

At the same time, European social economy also appeared commercialization and handicrafts under the framework of medieval Christian civilization, leading to the emergence of city-state politics and urban landscape, which was the initial light of the Renaissance. By the 13th century, there were many European literary and artistic masters, including Dante (1265 – 1321, the author of Divine Comedy), Boccaccio (1313 – 1375, the author of Decameron), Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) and raffaelo Sanzio rapheal (1483 – 1520), who awakened European national consciousness and the so-called "all talent ideal"（ The worship and pursuit of "the well-sound personality" had a profound impact. What went hand in hand with the prosperity of literature and art and the development of city-state politics was the popularity of social and political theories and new social trends of thought at that time. Europeans scrambled to study the famous works discoveries on Levy (1531) by Nicolo Machiavelli (1569 – 1527). All this made The "translation industry" has developed unprecedentedly. Translation practice has promoted translation research. At this time, there are different translation theories, and the scope of discussion has gone beyond the vision of classical translation theorists, with a strong color of verification. One of the best, which can be said to be the first Western philosopher to comprehensively attack translation, is Roger Bacon (C1214 – 1292) Bacon was a pioneer in the field of Natural Science in the 13th century. He condemned the translation between Greek, Hebrew and Latin as full of semantic distortion "with the philosophical insight of natural scientists", which reduced the translation to a "hodgepodge of errors and misunderstandings". It was driven by Bacon's call to put things right that the Bible appeared John Wycliffe (c1330 – 1384), a religious reformer, translated the first English translation of the Bible of Wycliffe. His influential translation of the Bible of Wycliffe reflects the spirit of verification of Bacon's later progressive translation theory, which was invaluable in the ignorant middle ages. Wycliffe believed that Christ was the master of mankind and opposed the church's "orthodox doctrine" (the orthodox church doctrine) arbitrarily interpreted the meaning of the Bible, denounced the "papal infallibility", refused to accept the Vatican's arbitrary interpretation of the Scriptures and adhered to the semantics of the original language, thus posing strong doubts and challenges to the translation. In fact, this is a religious reform movement advocated by Martin Luther on the European continent (the reform, C1520 – c1525) has a far-reaching impact on the history of translation in Britain and even Europe. Social criticism and scholars' verification have greatly improved the level of translation. This period is a productive period in the history of European translation.

Period of Pre-Modern translation theory

This is the third period of western translation theory, or "pre modern period", that is, from the religious reform (1517-1648) of wilcliff and Martin Luther in the mid-17th century to the end of the 19th century, the argument began to gradually turn to classical philology and language philosophy. The major historical events during this period were the European Industrial Revolution (1750's – 1830's) and the French Revolution (1788-1799), as well as the germination and evolution of European middle-class economy and its ideology before and after this period. The most important phenomenon affecting translation theory in culture is the development of ancient philology and Hermeneutics in the enlightenment. After the Renaissance, the focus of European language research was still Latin and Greek, which had been in a secondary position. The social and economic development since the enlightenment and the industrial revolution obviously put forward many problems for multilingual communication. The first ones are etymology, semantics and historical comparative linguistics. Especially after wilcliff and Martin Luther, translators increasingly doubt the interpretation of language by the Holy See, the church and scholastic philosophy in the long middle ages, and doubt the "Deviation", misunderstanding and even intentional distortion of "translation" to the "signified". Rousseau's democratic thought had a strong and profound impact on European conservatism.

Understanding this historical background, we can clearly understand why when Taylor put forward the famous "three principles of translation" at the end of the 18th century (1791), he first pointed out that "translation should completely convey the idea of the original text, supplemented by the natural fluency of the expression and style of the translation". Almost at the same time, tattler and George Campbell, who proposed that "the beauty of the translation can be discussed only if we are loyal to the original meaning", marked the end of the era when the western traditional translation theory mainly relied on classical aesthetics and literature and art. On the other hand, although the Chinese School represented by Goethe is fully mature, it can not solve many major problems raised by the spread of Christian civilization and the unprecedented development of translation practice in breadth and depth since the Renaissance and the industrial revolution. Among these problems, the first and most important is the problem of meaning, that is, the so-called "transfer of the truth value of meaning" in translation.

Exploring "semantic truth" is the basic proposition of the hermeneutic school. The representative of the hermeneutic school in modern translation theory is Friedrich D. E. Schleiermacher (1768 – 1845). Ancient hermeneutics believed that the task of interpretation was to interpret the "oracle", which originated in ancient Greece and was derived from the name of "Hermes", the messenger who conveyed the gods. Before Schleiermacher, hermeneutics was full of religious mysticism in the middle ages, which believed that people's "understanding" or "not understanding" of text (at that time mainly refers to holy scripts, i.e. the Bible) was "all based on divine will", and both of them were "theological subjective phenomena". Schleiermacher's merit lies in pointing out that the so-called "incomprehension" is actually a "misinterpretation", and "the true meaning of the text lies entirely in what it 'seems' to say. If we want to rediscover the true meaning of the text, we must carefully reconstruct the life reality generated by the historical background or meaning at that time."  Schleiermacher also further put forward the means to obtain the true meaning ("original meaning", i.e. philosophical "Sein"), that is, the so-called "theory of hermeneutic circle" and more than 40 norms of "grammatical interpretation" and "psychological interpretation" (1). There is no doubt about the significance of this to the development of European translation practice. It was driven by the school of hermeneutics that Friedrich Schlegel (1772 – 1879), Samuel T. Coleridge (1772 – 1834), William Morries (1834 – 1896), Thomas Carlyle (1795 – 1881), Matthew Arnold and Dante D. Rossetti (1828 – 1882) were formed European Romanticism (mainly in Germany) and the corresponding wave of critical realism (mainly in Britain) as a response to the French Revolution. During this period, the mainstream of the translation theory forum was the Chinese school with literary masters as the backbone and the hermeneutic school that later kept pace with it. There is no doubt that this is one of the important development periods in the history of European translation.

Period of Modern translation theory

The fourth period is The Modern Period. This period can actually be divided into two stages. The first stage is from the end of the 19th century to the 1950s. It can also be called the "Pre-Modern Linguistic Period". Parallel to it is The Pre-Modern Linguistic Period. The Swiss linguist Saussure The study of modern linguistics was the starting point (1891), which marked the publication of the first scientific linguistics book "Cours de Linguistique Generale" (Cours de Linguistique Generale, 1916). The second stage started from the 1960s to the present, which can also be said to be the period of contemporary translation theory. During this period, modern science and technology developed rapidly. Natural sciences and social sciences were directly or indirectly driven by The Systems Theory, Control Theory or Cybernetics, and Information Theory. Advance. Modern linguistics has developed from structuralism as the mainstream to a situation where there are many new disciplines and schools. Among them, the French functional linguistics, the London school, the transformational generative grammar, sociolinguistics, and modern stylistics ( Functional stylistics), pragmatics, psycholinguistics and other emerging disciplines and schools of applied linguistics.

In the period of modern translation theory, the development of language science is very closely related to Western translation theory. Roman Jacobson (Roman Jacobson, 1896–1982), a translation theorist at the early stage of modern translation theory, is one of the founders of the Prague School and a well-known phonetician. Obviously, Jacobson's discourse on translated poems is based on phoneme analysis. Two prominent translation theorists in the 1950s, Jean Paul Vinay and Jean Darbenet, mainly relied on scientific linguistics to discuss translation rhetoric from the perspectives of functional stylistics and contrastive linguistics. After entering the 1960s, JC Catford clearly quoted the founder of the London School Firth (JR Firth, 1890–1960) and Firth's successor MAK Halliday's basic linguistic theories to solve the bilingual conversion. problem. E. Nida and G. Mounin mainly analyze the translation process from the perspective of structural linguistics. Among them, Nida's research results are the most eye-catching. During the 1970s and 1980s, Nida began to notice the weakness of linguistics that emphasized formal transformation and insufficient semantic research. Around the issue of "meaning" and cultural issues, many more books came out, and proposed "dynamic equivalence" (dynamic equivalence). , 1984), emphasizing the meaning view of social semiotics. In the second half of the 20th century, Western postmodern thoughts spread throughout Europe and the United States. Deconstructionism, in particular, has the deepest influence on cultural thoughts and academic thoughts. Western translation theories have also turned to "postmodernism" (especially comparative literary theory) to absorb theoretical ideas, and the great limitations of "postmodernism" have also emerged. Contemporary Western translation theory can be said to have entered a comprehensive use of various disciplines of linguistics, postmodern literary theory, semiotics, rhetoric, philosophy of language (including semantics), logic, aesthetics and other social sciences, as well as information theory, computer science, etc. The "comprehensive development period of translation theories" is a period of full bloom to solve translation problems. It seems that this is also the general trend of Western translation theory in the 21st century.

5 张怡然 History of Translation Theories from early Russia to the Soviet Union

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7 尹媛 A Brief Introduction of Contemporary American Translation Theory——Examplified mainly by Nida

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_8

9 李双 History of translation theory of France from 20th century to the present

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_9

Abstract

Translation activities have a long history in France and its theories occupy an important position in the West. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the emancipation of the mind, the progress of science and technology and the transformation of society have reinvigorated the study of French translation theory and entered its heyday. This paper first summarizes the development of French translation studies from the 20th century to the present, then discusses the main translation theories of this period from the perspectives of translation and interpretation, and analyzes the influence of the society and other disciplines on the formation of the theories. Finally, it aims to have a clearer and comprehensive understanding of the development of contemporary French translation theories.

Key word

history of translation theories, France, contemporary

Introduction

Language is one of the symbols of human civilization and an important feature of every nation. Language exchange is accompanied by the beginning of translation activities, which has a long history. Translation theory that comes from practices guides and refines translation activities in turn. As a big western country, France has made a mark in its history both in terms of politics and economy and in terms of culture and ideology. Its translation activities were initially concentrated in the Latin works at the end of the Middle Age, but there were no articles or works devoted to translation theory at this time. With the rise, development and gradual maturity of translation, more and more experts and scholars began to study systematically the translation and put forward their own theoretical propositions. The 20th century has been the heyday of French translation theory. The characteristics of French translation in this period are as follows: the practice of translation was unprecedented prosperous, covering politics, economy, military affairs, culture, literature and other aspects. The study of translation theory was unprecedented, and theorists who had great influence on the history of translation in the world have emerged. It was in the 1970s that ‘translatology’ began to formally exist as an independent discipline. In addition to the traditional study of theories focusing on traslation, France has made great achievements in the field of interpretation theory. The International Association of Interpreters is based in Paris.

The study of French translation theory in China is relatively late, and basically began in the 1990s. One of the main achievements is The Contemporary French Translation Theory compiled by Xu Jun and Yuan Xiaoyi, which systematically reviews the theories of translators in the second half of the 20th century, led by Georges Mounin, and makes important comments on various translation schools. Yang Jiangang from Wuhan University also sorts out the three stages of French translation studies in the 20th century and briefly introduces several major translators and their theories in the article French Translation Theory. Chen Shunyi from the School of Foreign Studies of Guangzhou University has also combed French translation theory, which he divided into five stages: origin, development, maturity, silence and prosperity. He has briefly summarized the history of French translation and introduced the famous translators and their thoughts or theories in different periods.

Based on the previous work, this paper aims to study the origin and development of the translation theories that have emerged in France from the 20th century to the present, taking into account translation practice, and to make a better summary of the relationship between various schools of thought and theories.

Chapter 10:French Translation Theories From 16th Century to 18th Century

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"十六世纪至十八世纪法国翻译理论"

杨堃 Yang Kun,Hunan Normal University,china.

Abstract

The history of translation is as ancient as the history of language. Since human beings have the ability to communicate with language, translation has begun. It can be said that human translation activities evolve and develop together with human culture and civilization. Whether a culture can survive or not is closely related to translation.French translation theory plays an important role in western translation theory.However, due to various reasons, compared with translation theories in the United States and The United Kingdom, there are very few studies on French translation theories in China, and the only studies are mainly limited to some famous French translators.This paper gives a brief overview of the development of French translation theory from three periods: French translation theory from 16th century to 18th century, combining with some famous French translators and their theories.Stones from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one.It is hoped that this paper will provide some reference for the development of Translation theory in China.

Key words

French Translation Theory;The Renaissance;16th century;17th century;18th century

Introduction

The history of western translation originated in the third century BC. The earliest translation is the Seventy Greek texts of the Old Testament, the Bible, translated by seventy-two Jewish scholars in Alexandria, Egypt.But strictly speaking, the first translation in the West was a Latin translation of The Greek Homer's epic Odyssey.Therefore, western translation activities have been going on for more than two thousand years.Since the reform and opening up, China has made great achievements in the study of western translation theories, but the main achievements are English and American translation theories, and there is not much research on the translation theories of France, Germany and other "small language" countries.As Professor Xu Jun said, "Due to various reasons, we have not made a systematic introduction to the translation studies of many countries, let alone an in-depth study.For example, we have little understanding of the translation studies of France."However, it is undeniable that these countries have also made great achievements in translation studies, such as Etienne Dore, Charles Barth, George Munan and the Interpretive School.Therefore, a brief introduction to French translation theory will help us better understand the history of French translation and the history of western translation theory, and also contribute to the in-depth and development of translation theory research in China.The following will be discussed from 16th to 18th century.（Xu Jun,Yuan Xiaoyi 2001:1）

1.Translation theories in 16th century

The Renaissance movement in Europe from the 14th century to the 16th century was a great movement of ideological and literary innovation as well as a great development in the history of western translation.Especially in the 16th century and the following century when the Renaissance movement was widely carried out in Western Europe, translation activities reached an unprecedented peak.Translation activities went deep into the fields of ideology, politics, philosophy, literature and other fields, involving the major works of classicism, and produced a large number of outstanding translators and a series of excellent works in translation.The translation of this period has three characteristics: first, the focus of translation from religious works to classical literature works;Second, the national consciousness of translators of various countries has been strengthened, and they have shifted from mechanically imitating Latin to attaching importance to the unique style of national languages.Third, the translation of national languages in Western Europe has developed in parallel and independently.

In the 16th century, there was a boom in translation in France. As a new genre, the translation of literary works is different from the previous religious translation, and translators are faced with many new problems, so the translation theory arises at the historic moment. Etienne Dolet and Jacques Amyot are the most prominent representatives of translation theory in this period. They are both translators and translation theorists, and the latter is especially successful in translation. Both of their translation theories come from translation practice, so they are convincing to some extent.

Etienne Dolet

Etienne Dolet (1509-1546) established himself as a translator, humanist and linguist in the history of French translation.He was born in 1509 in Orleans, France, studied in Paris, travelled to Italy and returned home at the age of 21.In the field of French translation, he is honored as "the father of French translation theory" and "the first one who put forward translation theory systematically in the modern History of Europe".Dolet returned to France at a time when the Renaissance was sweeping Western Europe and he actively participated in the humanist movement.During this period, the study of Greek and Latin flourished in the country, and ancient Greek and Latin writers were respected and valued.Translation activities became more frequent and the focus of translation shifted from religious works to classical literature works. Erasmus,a contemporary Dutch translator, exerted a certain influence on the formation of Dolet's translation thoughts, such as his emphasis on language and style.At the same time, Dolet was also deeply influenced by his contemporary German translator Martin Luther, who stressed that the translation should use the language with its own characteristics so that the general public can accept it.When it comes to specific translation skills, they all agree that the desired effect can be achieved by adjusting the word order.

Dolet's translation principles were his translation thoughts which were put forward in his article How to Translate Well from One Language to Another in 1540. He listed the following basic principles of translation: a.The translator must understand perfectly the content and intention of the author whom he is translating;

b.The translator should have a perfect knowledge of the language from which he is translating and equally excellent knowledge of the language into which he is translating;

c.The translator should avoid the tendency to translate word for word, for to do so is to destroy the meaning of the original and to ruin the beauty of the expression;

d.The translator should employ the forms of speech in common sense;

e.Through his choice and order of words the translator should produce a total overall effect with appropriate “tone”.（Etienne Dolet 1540）

The first principle is aimed at the meaning of faithfulness to the original work, which is the fundamental principle that can not be ignored in translation.The second principle is the language requirement for the translator. Dolet believed that an excellent translator must be proficient in both languages. In principle, there is no primary or secondary distinction between the two languages, and the translator should be a language expert who is good at reading and writing in the target language.The third principle shows that Dolet did not advocate literal translation or word-by-word dead translation, but advocated free translation and live translation.In the fourth principle, Dolet, like all humanists, stressed the importance of using national languages and idioms to serve the general audience so that the translation can be understood by the common people.The last principle refers to the style, which requires the translation to be consistent with the original text in style through various rhetorical devices. The translation itself must be natural, smooth and harmonious, so as to give readers "aesthetic enjoyment".

Dolet's translation theory is quite modern in its principles.It involves the basic principles and problems of translation put forward by the later theorists.Gallix, a famous contemporary French translator, believes that Dolet's principle is "concise and clear, he was the first person who really put forward the theory of translation art in Europe".Ballard, another famous French translation theorist, believes that Dolet's translation propositions constitute the embryonic form of French translation theories, and his principles are of universal significance (Tan Zaixi, 2004:71),(Xu Jun, Yuan Xiaoyi, 1998:228).

However, due to the brevity of Dolet's articles, he did not elaborate on the principles after they were put forward, and he did not write or have time to write more similar works or papers to reiterate his views, so he did not form a school of theory, and did not have a great influence at that time.

Jacques Amyot

Jacques Amyot (1513-1593) was another outstanding French translator of the Renaissance.Born into a small merchant family, Amyot studied ancient Greek and Latin languages and literature at the French School.He was appointed professor at Bourges University on the royal recommendation and served as tutor to two princes.His later years were bleak because of the religious wars.Amyot's achievements are mainly the translation of several ancient Greek and Roman literary classics, but because of the great influence of the translation and the pursuit of "trying to be comparable with the original work" in the translation of the lofty ambition, he is generally regarded as a writer in the history of literature.

Amyot's first translation, Heliodorus's novel, Theagnes and Calicerea (Aethiopica), was completed in 1547. Later, he translated Diodorus Siculus's seven-volume History Series (Bibliotheca Historica), Longos's pastoral novel Daphnis and Heloa in 1559, Plutarch's Moral Treatises (Moralia) in 1572,Before that, he also translated Plutarch's The Lines of The Noble Grecians and Romans (Vies des hommes illustrus ) in 1559, which is Amyot's most famous work. In the process of translating The Lines of The Noble Grecians and Romans, Amyot was always supported by the king and had favorable conditions.In 1542, When Francois I assigned him the task of translation, he chose to translate The Noble. Undoubtedly, this choice played an important role in the success of the subsequent translation.In order to ensure the accuracy of the content and clarify the ambiguous areas in the translation, he went to Venice and Rome to collect and study the manuscripts of ancient books, and compared various versions.It is not a very long book, but it took 17 years to translate from the time it was commissioned in 1542 to its publication in 1559. His translation was a success, providing material for contemporary and later writers in France and other western European countries, such as Racine and Shakespeare.Montaigne, a famous contemporary French writer, once spoke highly of Amyot's achievements, believing that without his translation, no French would have known how to write. He said, "If this book had not pulled us out of the mire, we ignorant people would have been over."

Amyot's principles in translation are :

a.The translator must understand the original text thoroughly and work hard on the transfer of the content;

b.The translation must be simple and natural, without embellishment.

In his opinion, "the task of a competent translator is not only to faithfully restore the author's meaning, but also to imitate and reflect to some extent the mood of his style."It can be seen that he emphasized the unity of content and form, free translation and literal translation.Under the guidance of this principle, he fused the language of the people and the language of scholars into one furnace, and paid attention to the simple beauty of the text, so that the style of the translation is independent.As a result, some people commented that Amyot adopted creative free translation, and The Noble became Amyot's The Noble, rather than someone else's "The Noble".In his translation, he borrowed from Greek and Latin and simultaneously created a large number of words in politics, philosophy, science, literature, music and so on, thus greatly enriching the French vocabulary.At that time, the French language was still in a state of confusion, the country has not a unified French language.The famous Seven-Star Poetry Society (La Pléiade) and other humanists made great efforts to unify the French national language. But there is no doubt that Amyot also made an indelible contribution to the purity and standardization of French through his translation.The unique literary style of the translation later became the object of imitation by Montaigne and other writers at the end of the 16th century. It also played a great role in the form of classical French prose and in improving the literary literacy of readers.

2.Translation theories in 17th century

After the Renaissance, translation practice and theoretical research in France continued to develop.In the 17th century, classicism occupied the mainstream position of French literature, and writers took ancient Greece and Rome as models in their writing practice and theory.This trend of thought not only swept the field of literary creation, but also swept the field of translation.Influenced by it, translators engaged in the translation of classical works on a large scale.However, compared with the Renaissance period, the background of translation at this time has changed significantly.

At that time, France was under the rule of Louis XIV, with strong national strength, development of production and economic prosperity. The number of educated people kept increasing, and more and more people had the requirement of reading, writing and translation, which created favorable conditions for the development of translation activities.At the same time, France became the ideological center of Europe, and The status of French as a national language continued to rise, even on a par with Latin, a religious and cultural language, and its influence radiated throughout Europe.The strong cultural confidence of the French made the French literary creation model gradually replace the ancient Greek and Roman model.In addition, the famous "struggle between historicism and presentism" in the history of literature divided the French translation circle into two schools: presentism who admires free translation;and historicism who advocates accurate translation.The historicism believes that the translation of classical works involves the attitude towards the ancient writers and works (that is, whether to respect the classical writers and works), and they regard the translators who are not faithful to the original works as their number one enemy. However, presentism believes that modern translations can and should surpass those of the ancients and be comparable to the original texts as society continues to progress. In French translation circles at that time, the free translation method dominated, especially famous for Perrot d'Ablancourt's "les belle infideles" .

Perrot d'Ablancourt

In the 17th century, France was in vogue for "rewriting the original work according to the aesthetic requirements of that period and the standards of classicism", even at the expense of "damaging the characteristics of the original work", which was called "les belles infideles" by the translation critic Gilles Ménage at that time.He used this metaphor when he was commenting on the translator Perrot d'Ablancourt. He said that when d'Ablancourt's translation was published, "many people complained that it was unfaithful," and that "it reminded me of a woman whom I had been very fond of in Tours, who was beautiful but unfaithful" and "whom I called 'la belle infidele'".Since then, "les belles infideles" has become a synonym for "beautiful and unfaithful translation", and has become a weapon used by translators and critics who advocate literal translation to attack free translation.(Andrei Fedorov,1968:48)(Gilles Ménage,1715:186)

Perrot d'Ablancourt was a famous French translator of the 17th century. He was famous for his erudition, his knowledge of Latin, and his succinct and vigorous translation, which was neither crude nor difficult to understand.In terms of methodology, he was the general representative of liberal translation, and the debate between free translation and accurate translation in France in the 17th century was mainly based on his translation principles and methods.

D'Ablancourt was born in 1606.After he finished school, he became a lawyer.Instead, he traveled to Holland (1634-1635) and England (1636).After returning to France, he established close contacts with French scholars such as The first permanent secretary general of the French Academy.In 1637, on the recommendation of Valentin Conrart, he translated Felix Marcus Minucius' Octavius, and was elected a member of the Academy of France that year.From then on, d’Abelancourt devoted himself to translation and became "the translator most admired by the French" for the next thirty years.

D'Ablancourt's career as a translator can be roughly divided into three stages: the first stage (1636-1638), mainly translated some speeches, for example, in addition to Felix Marcus Minucius' Octavius, he also translated Cicero's Eight Speeches.In the second stage (1639-1651), he spent thirteen years working on the translation of historical works, including Publius Cornelius Tacitus' "Collected Works", Xenophon's "Long March", Gaius Julius Caesar's "Gaul Wars", etc.The third stage (1652-1664) mainly translated books on ethics, such as The Collected Works of Lucian and Thucydides.In addition to the authors mentioned above, d'Ablancourt translated a number of ancient Greek and Roman writers, including Arrian, Frontinus, Homer, Plutarch, Polyaenus, etc., during a career of nearly thirty years.

D'Ablancourt wrote a total of eight prefaces to his translated works, explaining and defending the principles and methods of translation, from which we can see his thoughts on translation.

In his preface to the translation of Tacitus's The Annals (1640), he expressed three views: first, differences between the original language and the target language lead to differences between the original and the translation;Secondly, The Annals is vague in expression, loose in structure, lacking in order and inconsistent, which reflects the author's poor writing style.Thirdly, in order to maintain the overall style and effect of the work, the translator has the right to make free treatment of the original work: "What I translate is not a text, but a work, and each part of the work must constitute a whole."

In 1654, d’Abelancourt translated Lucian's True History.It was this translation that gave rise to Ménage's comment about the "les belles infideles" and gave the prevailing liberal translation method its permanent name.D'Ablancourt's introduction to the translation clearly answers two criticisms: the author's unrestrained style and the translator's own translation methods.In response to the first criticism, d'Ablancourt points out that translators should delete the original text if necessary because of the original text.He defended himself by saying, "I am not to blame, and it is the dirtiest sentences that I cut out, the overly indulgent passages that soften ..."(see preface to the book).For a second attack,d'Ablancourt spent a lot of ink, and expounds the translator can't according to the original, or at least need to change the original several circumstances, namely: when the content of language form in category (e.g., word games), when the original content against time code of ethics, when author use outdated or reference trite text rhetoric means.

D'Ablancourt translation thoughts, therefore, - the core is the core of "les belles infideles " - is to please readers: "take an original, seize the effect, regardless of the original style, as long as the translation be literature and readability, make contemporary readers love, popular, is desperate to add or delete any content, can modify the modification, can play to play,Without any regard for the accuracy of the translation." He had done to the original all cuts, change, the objective is to make it more beautiful and elegant, clear and easy to read, more in line with the taste of the age: "I don't always focus on the author's expression and ideological content, but according to the author wants to achieve, to deal with the original, and the way to make the translation conform to our age.Different periods require not only different expressions of language, but also different ideas [...] (preface to True History).

D'Ablancourt's beautiful and unfaithful translation was praised by many.The famous orator and translator Patru said: "D'Ablancourt initiated the translation method which is admired by all the masters of our time, he proposed the true goal of a good translator....""His French style is more elegant than the Latin style."Likewise,d'Ablancourt's translation principles have attracted many followers.Under his influence, many translators blindly pursued the beauty of the translation, made arbitrary changes to the original work, and covered the plain and simple classical works with elegant and gorgeous coat.In the 17th century, "Les belles infideles" became the mainstream concept of French translation, and its influence even crossed the border and spread to other European countries.

3.Translation theories in 18th century

In the 18th century the force of France was much weaker and so as the culture. During this period, France began to look to other powerful countries such as Britain for advanced culture. Although the number of translations in this period is quite large, the quality is generally not high. There were few translation theorists in this period and their influence was not great. Notable among them is the literary theorist Charles Batteux.

Charles Batteuxt

Charles Batteux (1713-1780) made the greatest contribution to the study of translation theory in France in the 18th century.He was a professor of philosophy at the Royal Academy of France and one of the most influential figures in literary theory and translation theory in France and throughout Europe in the 18th century.He edited and published a variety of translation books, translated Aristotle, Horace and many other classical works of ancient Greece and Rome, wrote Principes de litterature and Cours de belles-lettres,etc.Among them, Cours de belles-lettres was translated into English less than 10 years after its publication in 1750, and Principes de litterature is a work of great influence in the field of translation.Batteux elaborated his thoughts and views on translation in this book. His original views and excellent exposition made this book an important milestone in the development of western translation theories in the 18th century.

Principes de littérature has six parts and the fifth part deals with translation problems.Batteux's theory obviously has the characteristics of philosopher, linguist and translation.In other words, Batteux discusses the principles of translation mainly from the perspective of general linguistic skills, rather than literary creation.For example, one of the main points of his discussion is the treatment of word order in translation.He believed that there is a natural word order prevailing in language, and the "natural word order" depends on "human characteristics".The universal element of language is not grammar, but word order, and grammatical structure is dominated by sentence order.Therefore, if there is a contradiction, grammatical structure should give way to sentence order.He proposed the following 12 rules for dealing with word order in translation:

a.The order in which we place the things stated in the original, whether in fact or inference, cannot be altered; for the order of things is the same in all languages, and depends not on the personalities of different nations but on the generalities of men.

b.The sequence of ideas in the original text should also be preserved.There must be a reason why the original author uses one way of expression rather than another, so the translator should not easily destroy it.

c.No matter how long the original sentence is, it should be kept intact in the translation, because a sentence is a thought, and the different elements in the sentence are related to each other, and their correlation constitutes a kind of harmony.If we mix up the phrases in a sentence, or break them up, we may get the idea of the original, but not the coherence of the original ideas.

d.All junctions in the original text should be retained.It is these conjunctions, so to speak, that hold the sentence elements together.The translator shall not change their meaning or their position, and shall delete conjunctions only when they may affect the understanding or hinder the sorting out of the phrase relationship in the sentence.

e.All adverbs should be placed next to the verb, either before or after it, depending on the harmony and momentum of the sentence.

f.Symmetrical sentences should be translated into symmetrical sentences.The symmetry of the expression form can be expressed as the symmetry of sound, the symmetry of the number of syllables, the symmetry of the boundary or length of words, the symmetry of the arrangement of sentence elements, etc., and the symmetry of the original text must be maintained, which is what the translation must strive to achieve.

g.Colorful ideas should be expressed in as much space as possible in the translation so as to maintain the same brilliance.Shorter pages may make the translation difficult to understand, while longer pages may dull its luster.

h.The figures of speech and the forms of speech by which thoughts are expressed must be preserved in translation, for thoughts are the same in all human brains: they can carry everywhere in the same order, in the same arrangement, in the same posture.Because of this, we can translate questioning, duality and so on.As for rhetorical devices and forms of expression, such as metaphor, repetition, and cadence of nouns and verbs, it must be noted that different languages differ: in general, equivalents can be used to express them.If the figurative usage in the original text cannot be translatable, or cannot be replaced by an equivalent, then we must turn to the natural form of expression and convert the original figurative into other forms with similar meanings, so that the translated sentences will not lose the charm of the original text on the whole.

i.We must use proverbs to translate short and pithy sayings that people like, or translate them into words that are natural and can be used as proverbs.Proverbs are translatable in almost all cases because they involve things that people use repeatedly in communication occasions, and many proverbs are common among different nations, even if they are not the same in the form of language expression, at least in terms of meaning.

j.Interpretation is incorrect and incomplete because it is no longer a translation but a comment.However, if there is no other way to convey the meaning of the original text, the translator has no choice but to use interpretation.For this deficiency, the problem lies either in the original language or in the target language.

k.For the sake of meaning, we must abandon all forms of expression in order to speak intelligibly;Abandon emotion in exchange for a lively translation;Give up harmony for the pleasure of translation.

l.Under the condition that the essence of the original text remains unchanged, it can be expressed in different forms, can be combined or decomposed by the words used to express it, can be expressed by verbs, adjectives, nouns and adverbs.We should let the translator use the scales, let him put the form of expression on either side of the scale and balance the scales in every way.The translator can make changes, but only if he keeps the original thought the same essence, the same life.The translator is only a traveler, sometimes exchanging a piece of gold for a few pieces of silver, sometimes exchanging a few pieces of silver for a piece of gold.

To sum up, Batteux' basic idea of translation is: translation is a process of expressing things, ideas, words and styles in one language in another;In this process, the translator shall not add or subtract anything from the original text or change the meaning of the original text.Ideologically, the translation should keep the color, degree and nuance of the original.In style, the translation should keep the passion, humor and anger of the original;In terms of diction, the translation should be natural, vivid and persuasive, and rich, beautiful and elegant words and phrases should be selected.The original author is the absolute master of thoughts and words, and is free to write according to his own talents and the materials he has gathered.Material gave him a basis for his imagination, which he could accept or reject at will;If one idea or expression does not suit him, he can find another.But the translator is not the master but the "servant" of the original author, who must follow the original author everywhere and reflect the original author's thoughts and style faithfully.Otherwise, the translator ceases to be a translator and becomes an author.Obviously, this view is consistent with the thought of Tande in the 17th century, which can be regarded as the inheritance and development of Batteux' previous thoughts.

Batteux not only put forward the theory, but also put it into practice, which is fully reflected in his translation of Aristotle's Poetics.The translation has always retained the original word order, and the sentence length is close to the original, achieving formal equivalence.Batteux's theory of valuing form over content is biased, but its grammatical principles have exerted a certain influence on the translation circles of not only France but also other western European countries.

Conclusion

The change of French translation theory is closely related to the development of the period. Whether French translation theory was influenced by the thought of Renaissance in the 16th century or by the thought of classicism in the 17th century, it is closely related to the background of that period. Although translation theory was a comprehensive reflection of political, economic and cultural factors in literary and translation circles at that time, it also reflected people's different views on language, culture and translation philosophy. In the eighteenth century, although French translation theory was not as rich as that of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it was still in a developing trend and did not stagnate. As the saying goes, "Take history as a mirror, we will know how the things rise and fall." In the context of globalization and pluralism, the study of the history of French translation theory from the 16th to the 18th centuries can serve as a reference for Chinese translation theory.

References

[1].Andrei Fedorov, Introduction à la theorie de la traduction，mémoire réalisé à l'Ecole Superieure de Traducteurs et d'Interprètes de Bruxelles, 1968, tapuscrit de 544 pages, p. 48.

[2].Etienne Dolet.La manière de bien traduire d'une langue en autre.France,1540.

[3].Gilles Ménage, Menagiana,Paris, Fl. Delaulne, 1715, 3 vol.，p.186.

[4].Henri Van Hoof, Petite histoire de la traduction exi Occident, Cabay Louvain-la-neuve,1986,pp.42-43.

[5].Roger Zuber, Introduction,notices,notes et lexique pour l'edition deNicolas Perrotd Ablancourt.Lettres et préfaces critiques,Paris,Didier,1972.

[6].Roger Zuber,”Les belles infideles” et la formation du gout classique, nouvelle edition revue et augmentee, Paris, Albin Michel, 1995.

[7].Tan Zaixi谭载喜.西方翻译简史[M].A Short History of Taranslation in the West.北京:商务印书馆.2000年,第110页.

[8].Tan Zaixi谭载喜.西方翻译理论[M].Translation Theories of West.北京:商务印书馆.2004:70-71.

[9].Xu Jun,Yuan Xiaoyi许钧、袁筱一.当代法国翻译理论[M].Contemporary Translation Studies In France.武汉:湖北教育出版社,2001,第1页.

11 刘运心= History of Translation Theories in Ancient Rome

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12 魏兆妍 The Humanistic Trend in Western Translation Theory from the 14th to the 19th Century

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13 吴婧悦 History of Translation Theories in the Soviet Union

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杨爱江 Chapter 14: History of Chinese Translation Theories from 1919 to 1949

中国1919年至1949年翻译理论历史

杨爱江 Yang Aijiang,Hunan Normal University, China

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Abstract

Before and after the May Fourth Movement, there is an unprecedented cultural revolution in the field of ideology and culture, the New Culture Movement. The main purpose of this movement is to enlighten the public and spread advanced idea and culture. Many literary societies are created during this period. The members of these literary societies translate many books which are written in foreign countries. The translation theories are developed gradually in this process. The aim of this paper is to give a systematic analysis about the translation theories raised by those famous writer in the literary societies, such as Lu Xun and Guo Moruo. Then we will have a comprehensive understanding about the translation theories from 1911 to 1949.

Key Words

Translation theories, Translation standards, Translators, Literary societies

摘要

在五四运动前后，于思想文化领域曾发生过一场规模空前的文化革命运动，即新文化运动。这场运动以启迪人们，传播先进的文化思想为目的。这场运动中还涌现了许多文学社团。这些文学社团的成员翻译了许多国外著作。在翻译著作的过程中，他们逐渐形成了自己的翻译思想。本论文将系统介绍和分析文学社团成员提出的翻译理论，如鲁迅和郭沫若。我们能更好的了解这些翻译理论。

Introduction

The New Culture Movement is also an important milestone in the history of Chinese literature. The literature changes greatly from form to content in this period, surpassing the literary changes of any past era.With the vigorous development of the New Literature Movement, literary translation has also entered the most glorious period in the history of translation. The journal “New Youth” which was founded by Chen Duxiu translated and introduced many foreign literature works, so did other journals created by other literary societies.(Wang 2004:95)#

During this period, literary translation had two significant characteristics: First, the May Fourth New Literature translation was another translation climax following the climax of translating Western works. In Comparison with the climax of translating Western works, fundamental changes have taken place in the number of translation works as well as the quality of these works. The important sign is that the leading forces of translation in this period are revolutionary writers such as Lu Xun and Guo Moruo, who are first-rate literary translators. Under the active advocacy and hard work of these people, Chinese literary translation has achieved extensive and in-depth development, forming a positive translation style. At the same time, a large number of outstanding professional translators emerged, such as Zhu Shenghao and Fu Lei. Second, in comparison with translation of other foreign countries’ literature works, Russian literature works’ translation dominates in the society. In addition, translating works about Marxism is another important aspect in that period.(Wang 2004:94)#

Some Debates in this Period

The prosperity of translation in the New Culture Movement brought about the vitality of translation theory, which made new advances on the translation work. Different translation methods were raised by different scholars. During this period, the vigorous literary revolution and the development of the vernacular literature movement promoted a thorough transformation of the translation style, boosting the transition of the traditional translation theories.

Literal Translation and Free Translation

The language structure and stylistic structure of English and Chinese have the same side. When translating the source texts, we can translate it according to the structure of the original text, which is the so-called "literal translation". The content of the original text is put in the first place, faithful to the original text the second. The smoothness of the target text is of the least importance of all. It is not only faithful to the original content, but also in line with the language and stylistic structure of the original text. On the contrary, free translation emphasizes that the content of the source text should be in the first place. What matters most is to express the meaning of the source text faithfully. Besides, the translator can be free from restriction of the form of the source language. But the target translation is required to be natural and smooth.(Fang 2011:101)#

The first problem encountered in the development of the translation theory is the relationship between vernacular, classical Chinese, literal translation and free translation. Some thinks that literal translation should be used in vernacular, while free translation should be in classical Chinese. Using classical Chinese in free translation can reveal the beauty of Chinese to the most. Others deem that literal translation and free translation should be in vernacular. While the third view is that literal translation or free translation has nothing to do with vernacular or classical Chinese.(Fang 2011:101)#

The common method in the translation process is to combine literal translation with free translation. Any good translation work will not just use a single translation method throughout the whole passgae. And the two translation methods are used together in the same translation work to maintain the accuracy of the original content and avoid ambiguity.

Faithfulness or Smoothness

From the late 1920s to the early 1930s, there was a debate about translation standards in the translation field. Many famous scholars were involved in this debate, which lasted for eight years and shocked the entire literary field. In 1929, Liang Shiqiu criticized Lu Xun's translation method of “rigid translation”, saying that "it is better to be smooth than to be faithful." Zhao Jingshen also believed that translating books should satisfy the needs of the target readers; In other words, we should put the readers in the first place. Then we could consider whether the translation was correct or not. The most important thing is the smoothness of the translation. Therefore, Zhao Jingshen said that it should be expressiveness, faithfulness and elegance according to the importance of the three standards put forward by Yan Fu. The main leaders of this controversy, the representatives of “Faithfulness” are Lu Xun and Qu Qiubai. The representatives of“Smoothness” are Liang Shiqiu and Zhao Jingshen. The two parties discussed the following topics: the issue of faithfulness and smoothness, literal translation and free translation, Europeanization and domestication and the issue of retranslation. These are the four central points of this debate. Consensus was reached in many aspects through this debates. This debate acts as a catalyst for the development of the traditional Chinese translation theory.(Wang 2004:106)#

The literary Societies in this Period

During the May fourth movement, many famous literary societies which were specialized in the translation of foreign literary works emerged. More than one hundred literary societies and several hundred periodicals were founded between 1921 and 1925. Focusing on different aspects, they translated many famous works in other countries. Some organizations specialized in the translation and translation of foreign literature appeared in China. For example, the Literature Research Academy was initiated by Shen Yanbing and Zheng Zhenduo, the Creation Society organized by Guo Moruo and the Crescent Society formed by Hu Shi, Liang Shiqiu and Xu Zhimo. These new literary societies shouldered the responsibility of translation and made great contributions to the development of translation. Their works offered a window on the advanced thoughts in the foreign countries at that time.(Li 2016:132)#

The Creation Society

The Creation Society (Chuangzao She) is one of the most crucial literary societies in the 1920s in China, which was formed in Tokyo, Japan in June 1921 and closed down in February 1929 thanks to the oppression from Kuo Min tang government. In the early stages, its members were Chinese students who studied in Japan, such as Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu, Cheng Fangwu, Zhang Ziping, Tian Han and Mu Mutian. Later new comers joined in this society, such as Hong Weifa, Deng Junwu, Wang Duqing, Teng Gu, Xu Zuzheng, Zhang Dinghuang Tao Jingsun, Jing Yinyu and He Wei. In 1924, it had about thirty members. The purpose of the Creation Society is to build new literature under the slogan of “Creation” and to eliminate some poorly produced translation works in the new literature school. (Tan 2006:1)#

In addition, the creation Society also has its own important promotion tool, such as Creation Quarterly and Creation Weekly. And most of its translation activities were reflected in these periodicals. Creation Quarterly was the earliest journal of the Creation Society, which was edited by Guo Moruo, Cheng Fangwu and Yu Dafu. It started publication on March 15, 1922 and ended in the late February 1924, having totally published 2 volumes, the first volume with 4 issues and the second one with 2 issues. Creation Weekly, its second joumal, was also edited by Guo, Cheng and Yu. It began in May 1923 and came to its end in May 1924, with the total number of 52 issues. Both Creation Quarterly and Creation Weekly were published by Shanghai Taidong Publishing House. Creation Daily was the last publication of the early Creation Society, which was edited by Cheng Fangwu, Yu Dafu and Deng Junwu. It was the literary supplement of a newspaper called New China Daily. Its first publication was on July 21, 1923 and the last on November 2 of the same year, totally 101 issues. (Tan 2006:2)#

Apart from its outstanding writings, the translation works of its members played an important role in the translation history of China since their translation activities covered a wide range, including fiction, poetry and drama. Besides, the members of the Creation Society were concentrated on introducing persuasive literary schools in the western countries, such as Romanticism, Aestheticism and Symbolism. It was generally acknowledged that the Creation Society laid the foundation for the translation of romantic literary works. The source texts in these three periodicals mainly were written in England, France and Germany. The famous English writers or poets the early Creation Society introduced included Oscar Wilde, Shelley, Thomas Grey, Wordsworth, Dickens. Besides, they also translated some works written by French and German writers, such as Hugo and Heine.(Tan 2006:3)#

As mentioned before, the Creation Society mainly focused on translating romantic works. Romanticism was a broad intellectual and artistic movement disposition that arose toward the end of the eighteenth century and reached its zenith during the early decades of the nineteenth century. The ideals of Romanticism included an intense focus on expressing human subjectivity, an exaltation of nature, human passion and emotion. Underlying nearly all Romantic views of literature was an intense individualism based on the authority of experience. (Tan 2006:3)#

Reason from historical background

During the May Fourth movement, the society in China needed urgently revolution to build a more prosperous future. Percy Bysshe Shelly who is a romanticist also creates many poems about revolution. He loved people and hated oppressors and exploiters. Shelly called on the people to overthrew the rule of tyranny and injustice and prophesied a happy and free future for mankind. He remained in this social and political ideal and fought for it all his life. We can have a look at his poems which can help us to understand the reason why Guo Moruo is so fond of Shelly’s poems. Shelly 's Political Poems “Queen Mab” is a long poem of great importance, which contains almost all Shelley’s major social and political ideas. It is written in the form of a fairy-tale dream. Through the mouth of the fairy queen the poet presents his own views on philosophy, religion, morality and social problems. Queen Mab is a revolutionary poem condemning tyranny and exploitation and the unjust war lunched by the rich to plunder wealth. (Li 2019:47)#

The Revolt of Islam is another important poem of Shelley’s. The poem tells of a brother and a sister, Laon and Cythna, who are united in their common ideal of liberty, equality and fraternity. They arouse the spirit of revolt among their Is lm people against their tyrants. Heroic struggle for the liberation of mankind and union with a sister-comrade were inseparable elements of Shelley’s idea. Prometheus Unbound stated that the figure of Prometheus has been symbolic of those noble-hearted revolutionaries. In this poem Prometheus represents mankind itself and Zeus, a symbol of all reactionary institutions. Though chained to the rock, Prometheus has great allies in the work. He is supported by innumerable forces. Thus inspired with a firm confidence in the final triumph of his just cause. Prometheus is perfectly calm in his sufferings. Finally, in spite of desperate resistance, Zeus is overthrown by the huge spirit Demogorgon, the symbol of change and revolution. Prometheus is released by the hero of great strength. The image of Prometheus unites four noble qualities: mans shaping intellect, his heroic endurance, the defiance against tyranny and the love of mankind. Prometheus bound becomes Prometheus unbound This symbolizes the victory for man's struggle against tyranny and oppression.(Li 2019:48)#

From the analysis above we can come to a conclusion that both Shelly and Guo Moruo live in the same of revolution. They have the same revolutionary thoughts and emotional background. Guo Moruo also was devoted to the cause of revolution and trying to build a bright future for the public. In this case, it is no wonder that Guo Moruo has a fancy for Shelley’s poem. Moreover, Guo Moruo is able to understand the inner meaning of Shelley’s poems well thanks to their similar aspiration. Guo Moruo thinks highly of Shelley and considers Shelly as a “true poet”. (Xiong 2012:92)#

Reason from personal background

At the beginning of this paper, it is mentioned that the Creatioin Society is mainly created by Chinese students who studied in Japan where they were influenced greatly by romanticism. Zheng Boqi presented his view about the reason why the members of the Creation society tend to be romantic. It is no wonder that the writers of the Creation Society tended to romanticism. First, they have lived abroad for a long time. As a result, they are familiar with the defects of the capitalist and the decaying and corruptions of those in power. They know the weakness of the domestic society clearly. The members of the Creation Society feel extremely disappointed and suffer a lot. The oppression imposed on them by domestic and foreign countries only strengthened their rebellious mood. (Xiong 2012:95)#

Second, after returning to China, they, faced with the society where the public leads a difficult life, feel at a loss about what they should do so that they can save people from the abyss of suffering. In this case, they need to find a way to express their emotions. The most fundamental philosophical disposition of Romanticism has often been seen as irony, an ability to accommodate conflicting perspectives of the world. Therefore, romantic works are very suitable for them to air their unhappiness and their sorrows. (Xiong 2012:96)#

Third, the persausive ideas in Japan at that time would naturally affect them for they have lived in Japan for many years. Through the Japanese literatures, they read a large number of western literary works and theories. They have been involved in various western literary schools. The Japanese literature acts as an important guiding role. Some well-known writers are promoted through Japanese translators. The members of the Creation Society fall under the spell of the thoughts of western writers, such as Shelley and Whitman. In the 10 years since the members of the Creation Club studied in Japan, the translation and introduction of works created by western romantic writers has not stopped in the Japanese literary world. Some scholars pointed out: "Most of the works translated and introduced in Japan at that time belonged to romantic works. Although the western critical realism and naturalist works played a dominant role in literature at the time. However, they were paid little attention." (Xiong 2012:97)#

Besides, the Chinese students can learn a variety of foreign language courses in the universities in Japan. Generally, Japanese teachers often use literary works as teaching materials. This lays the foundation for the members in the Creation Society to understand western literature. All in all, Japanese literary world builds the bridge between Chinese students and western romantic works. Through contact with a large number of western literary works, the members of the Creation Society have a preference for romantic works, which is inseparable from the impact of the translation and introduction of Japanese literature.

The Literature Research Academy

The Literature Research Academy was formally established in 1921. The initiators were Zheng Zhenduo, Shen Yanbing (Mao Dun), Ye Shaojun (Ye Shengtao), Zhou Zuoren and so on. With the development of this society, other famed writers joined the Literature Search Academy successively, including Xie Wanying (Bing Xin), Zhu Ziqing, Shu Qingchun (Lao She), Xu Zhimo etc, totaling more than 170 people. As a new literature society whose enormous contributions spans several areas, such as literature, politics and translation, during the May Fouth period, the power of the media significantly anticipates the development and success of the Literary Research Academy. First and foremost has been the impact of "Novel Monthly". From 1921 to 1922, Mao Dun served as the editor-in-chief of the "Novel Monthly". The "Novel Monthly" become a crucial tool for the Literature Research Academy to voice their thoughts and promote their translation texts. The members of this society translate and introduce a large number of foreign literary works, mainly focusing on realistic works in Russia, France and Northern Europe. Besides, they also introduce the trends of the literature around the world, literary theories and literary schools. At the same time, attention is paid on some famous foreign writers such as Andersen, Maupassant, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, and Roman Roland. According to statistics, from the first issue of Volume 12 published in January 1921 to Issue 12 of Volume 17, the translations of Russian literature and French literature occupied a dominant position.(Wang,2019:15)#

The Weiming Society

Weiming Society was founded in Beijing in August 1925 and initiated by Lu Xun. Along with the movements in literature and translation, the Weiming Society were a group of writers who flourished during the period of the New Culture Movement. An important concern of the members of the Weiming society was to get the works and translations of young writers published. Short though the time of its existence may have been, it nonetheless exerted a powerful attraction through their introduction to the foreign literary works. Lu Xun thought that the Weiming society “work surefootedly and never brag about itself”. It is this kind of attitude that helps this society to build a good reputation among the readers. The Weiming Society is called that one of the only three literary groups whose influence on China's literature continues to the present day. (Zhang 2013:28)#

As mentioned above, what underlies the creation of the Weiming Society is an awareness that the writers should translate literary works in foreign countries as much as possible. Therefore, the translation of other foreign works played an important role in the activities of theWeiming Society. From 1925 to1930, the members of the Weiming Society at least would translate a book. In some years, they published three or four books. Among these books, some were translated completely. And they sometimes only chose a part of the book to translate.(Zhang 2013:28)#

The Translators in these Literary Societies

Guo Moruo from the Creation Society

Guo Moruo is a well-known Chinese writer, poet, dramatist, historian as well as an outstanding translator. Like Lu Xun, he is a great pioneer in the history of modern Chinese thought and culture, and a master of Chinese new literature. The influence of his thought on many fundamental areas including literature, art, philosophy, Marxist theoretical works and foreign literature translation continues to the present day. He is worthy of the 20th century Chinese cultural giant and world cultural celebrity.

The Purpose and Significance of Translation

In the 1920s, the two major literary societies of Chinese new literature, namely, the Literature Research Academy and the Creation Society, which hold two different literary schools of realism and romanticism respectively, had a debate on translation, especially on the purpose of translation. The Literature Research Academy advocated the translation of 19th century Russian literature, oppressed national literature, and critical realist works of other countries. They paid little attention to the famous western classics. Mao Dun who was the main figure of the "Literature Research Academy" said that the translation of Faust and other books was not the most important thing to do at that time. When introducing works to the public, one should evaluate the situation and get one’s priorities right. Earlier, he published a piece titled "Blind Translator", saying that translating western classics is uneconomical. (Tan 2012:45)#

Besides, Mao Dun also made a list of books that were not the first priority to translate, including Dante's "The Divine Comedy," Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and Geothe's "Faust." Guo Moruo's opinion about the motivation and effect of translation was put forward under such background. It was at that time that Guo Moruo was working on the translation of Faust. Guo Moruo raised the opposite opinion, claiming that as long as a the work was a good translation one, then it was necessary at any time and economical for any readers which also highlighted the difference between the Creative Society and Literary Research Academy in choosing works to translate. Guo Moruo decried those who had the mentality of speculation and wanted to make a living and catch fame by translating books, asserting that it was the irresponsible attitude of some translators at that time which led to the occurrence of abuse of translation and works of low quality. These irresponsible translators rushed to translate before thinking clearly about the necessity of translation. (Tan 2012:45)#

Then what is the correct translation motivation? Guo Moruo said: “We need to awaken our intrinsic cultural spirit by taking the essence in the western culture."(Guo Moruo, 1990:157) It can be seen that Guo Moruo's original translation motivation was to awaken the people and the spirit of Chinese culture, to get rid of the inherent defects of being lazy and idle and to liberate people's minds. He stated the relationship between the motivation and the effect. He said: “If, before translating, he invests the work with creation spirit, makes a thorough study of the translated work, obtains a correct understanding and feels the compulsion in the process of translation, the translations that he produces, of course, can be effective and arouse readers' interest. The translations of such translators are necessary at all times and economical for all readers.”(Gao 2017:55)#

Graceful translation

In nearly half a century of translation activities, he devoted a great deal of his own efforts and translated a large number of works. He called his method of translation "Graceful Translation". He thinks such a translation is an ideal one.

He wrote: “ We believe that the ideal translation must not deviate from the original words, the meaning of the original and especially must hold the spirit of the original.The words of the original text should be kept. But there should be no need to translate word for word. Either before or after, it can be freely transferred for the sake of “Gracefulness” to the extent that it does not damage the meaning. In order to keep the words, meaning and gracefulness of the original text, it needs the following conditions:(1) the translator should be a master of using words. (2)understand the original book clearly, (3) to study the author, (4) have the ability to use the native language freely to express his ideas. Of course, these conditions are not easy to obtain, relying on years of study. Not only should we study language diligently, but we should be familiar with all the local customs of a country; We should dabble in the knowledge mentioned in the original book; It is necessary for us to know the life of the author.(Gao 2017:55)#

Zheng Zhenduo from the Literature Research Academy

Born in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, Zheng Zhenduo studied in Beijing Railway Management School in 1917 when he read a lot of western social science works and Russian literature, which inspired him intellectually. He was the leader of the students in the school during the May Fourth Movement. In October 1920, he initiated the preparation for establishing the Literature Research Academy, and later served as the secretary of this society. Zheng Zhenduo has made great contributions in many fields, so does in translation theory. On March 20, 1920, he wrote the preface to the Famous Russian Short Novel Series translated by Geng Jizhi and others. In this preface, he introduces the great significance of introducing Russian critical realism literature, which, he thinks, is conducive to create Chinese new literature. At the same time, he also viewed the shortcomings of the previous translation as sporadic, messy and not systematic, advocating original and systematic translation. He supports that translating directly from the original text is more explicit than translating other intermediate works.(Liu 2005:73)#

The translatability of literary works

Zheng Zhenduo’s first formal monograph on translation, which was also the first monograph on translation published by the Literature Research Academy after its establishment, was an article called "The Three Problems in Translating Literary Books". The first question put forward by Zheng Zhenduo was: "Can literary books be translated?" This was really the problem that needed to be solved. Since the launch of the New Literature Movement, some people openly doubted whether the translated works could hold the thoughts and artistic beauty of the original works for people’s understanding about the nature of the literature was deepened considerably. What’s more, some people even insisted that literary works were absolutely untranslatable. Especially in the translation of poetry, this idea what the literary books were absolutely impossible to translate was more popular.(Liu 2005:75)#

Obviously, it was imperative to explain this problem clearly for the development of the translation. Zheng Zhenduo said that translating literary books was absolutely feasible. Not only could the thoughts expressed by the original literary book be completely transferred into the target text, but also the artistic beauty of the original text could be fully shown in the target text. A mere glance at the works of other translators could also tell us that literary books was translatable. “He emphasizes that the transfer of the thoughts could be“complete" and the transfer of artistic beauty could be“sufficient". He is very cautious about the choice of words in the target language text. Both the theory (the ideal) and the practice can illustrate this fact.” (Duan, 2008) The opinion that "literaturary books were untranslatable" was derived from the old narrow concept of literature. Zheng Zhenduo pointed out that if we deny the possibility of translation, we actually neglect the international communication of literature and the meaning of world literature. An overemphasis on the inseparability of "thought" and "words” means the negation of the vitality of literature itself.(Zahng 2014:73)#

Translation and creation

In 1920s, translation was considered to be of little importance, believing that creation should be put in the first place. The view that "translation is just a matchmaker and what we should make a lot of efforts is creation" once dominated the lierature circle at that time. Zheng Zhenduo thought totally different. He wrote an article to highlight the importance of translation. There is no denying that creation is very crucial. However, viewing translation as a matchmaker is to belittle the benefits of translation. From the perspective of literature, translation which introduces some renowned foreign literary works is conducive to enrich our traditional literature. For people, it can enhance people's spiritual world. As mentioned above, Zheng Zhenduo further proposes that translating a literary work is like creating a literary work; Both of them should be put great value.(Fang 2011:73)#

Lu Xun from the Weiming Society

Lu Xun’s translation theory was formed on the basis of critically inheriting the translation theory of translating Buddhist scriptures as well as the theory formed in the process of translating social science and literary books in the late Qing Dynasty. Lu Xun is an outstanding translatior who puts forward many influential translation theories. In addition, he published a large number of articles concerning translation theories and translation thoughts to expound his views and fought relentlessly against various erroneous ideas and unhealthy trends and tendencies in the translation industry at that time, which developed traditional Chinese translation theories and thoughts significantly. (Pei 2019:156)#

Lu Xun said that we must first settle a question before writing that we try to use domesdication or foreignization. A Japanese translator tends to support the former method. He believes that the translation of source text should first be easy to understand. The easier it is to understand, the more effective the translated work will be. Lu Xun holds the opposite opinion. There is no need for the writer to translate if they only pursue the lucidity of the text. Creating a work is much easier to understand. For translation, not only should we transfer the emotion hidden behind the words, but also the translated work should puzzle, at least letting the readers know the time and the place of a specific event, which is very similar to traveling abroad. The translated work should be exotic, which is the so-called foreignization. In fact, there will not be a completely domesticatedtranslation in the world. All translatiors must take into account both sides, one of course to make it easy to understand, the other meaning the preservation of the original charm. Lu Xun deemed that he would rather not translate smoothly in order to be faithful.(Pei 2019:156)#

What should mention is that the standard of "faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance" is different from Lu Xun's theory of "two sides" : "make every effort to be easy to understand" and "preserve the beauty of the original work", in other words, to be smooth as well as faithful. In essence, Lu Xun’s faithfulness requires the translated text to be faithful from content to form, including Yan Fu’s faithfulness and elegance. In other words, it is to be faithful to the content and form of the original work which is an inseparable unity in an original work, including linguistic elements, hyperlinguistic elements and artistic elements etc. This is the true meaning of Lu Xun's double standard of "easy to understand and faithful in form and content". Qu Qiubai also said: "Since it is called translation, it must be completely based on the original text, and the translator has no inherent ability to change the original text.(Cui 2006:34)#

Conclusion

The early twentieth century brought a new awareness of promoting the foreign literary theories in China. Guo Moruo, Zheng Zhenduo and Luxun, the central figures in the creation of the literary societies! not only play an important role in introducing foreign literary theories and works, but also make great contribution to the development of translation. During the process of translating book, they gradually formed their own translation theories.

References

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[7]王春雨 (Wang Chunyu). 2019. 日本浪漫主义文学对中国创造社的影响[D] The influence of Romantic Literature in Japan on Chinese Creation Society .辽宁大学Liao Ning University

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