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 Overview 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

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_4

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

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_5

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

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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.

杨堃 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"

11 刘运心= History of Translation Theories in Ancient Rome

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_11

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

Hist_Trans_Theo_EN_12

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)#

The New Culture Movement was a distinct turning point in which the literature changed greatly from form to content. With the flourishing of the New Literature Movement, literary translation has also entered the most glorious period in the history of translation. During this period, many literary societies founded magazines to introduce foreign literary works. For example, the journal New Youth founded by Chen Duxiu, provided a platform for literary translation.(Wang 2004:95) --Li Ruiyang (talk) 12:58, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

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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