Re-Evaluation of Lin Shu (the Chinese Translator) - National ...

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158 Re-Evaluation of Lin Shu (the Chinese Translator):A Systemic Approach to Literary Translationin China. Under the circumstances, Lin Shu chose fictionaltranslation to contribute to the strengthening of China, and to “boostChinese patriot aspiration” (ibid: 124).Tongcheng School was opposed to the bagu (eight-part)essay (stereotyped writing) with stereotyped form and hollowarguments. The school preferred simple but graceful style and theexpression of genuine feelings. The literati of the school were alsoinfluential figures in the late Qing society. As a member oftongcheng School, Lin Shu produced his translated works byfollowing the doctrines of the school to cater to the taste of theschool’s literati and to gain their support. Thus Lin Shu frequentlyadopted simplification. A case in point is that Lin Shu put elevenChinese characters to describe the doctor whose gentle character wasexaggerated by Dickens in one hundred and twenty-seven words inChapter I in David Copperfield.“Fictional Revolution” in the late Qing Dynasty made thepublisher print and sell novels publicly without worrying aboutbeing exiled. Talking about novels had become a new social trend(Chen, Pingyuan, 2003: 18). Consequently, large number of peoplebecame readers of fiction. In the meantime, the great headway madein the development of the printing industry made it easy to printbooks and newspapers (ibid: 255). Literary periodicals andnewspaper supplements which mushroomed greatly promoted thetranslation of fiction. From 1902 to 1916, fifty-seven kinds ofliterary periodicals emerged (ibid: 258). Tanslation of fiction sharedsome sixty percent of some periodical’s content. These literaryperiodicals needed writers and translators to produce more novels.Thus authors of creative fiction came to be highly paid. Lin shuearned such a large amount of money by having his translated workspublished that his bookroom was called a “mint” by his friends. It’strue that Lin Shu quitted pursuing official position through imperialcivil examinations due to the political circumstances obtaining in
Xu Jianzhong 159China. Another undeniable fact was that Lin Shu could livecomfortably by translating fictions. Moreover, Lin Shu’s translatedworks were printed again and again, from which Lin Shu benefited alot financially.The third element of patronage is concerned with the statuscomponent. In early modern China, patronage of fictional translationwas differentiated. On the one hand, prevalent social ideology wascontrolled by capitalist reformists who regarded fiction producers asthe persons rendering outstanding service to enlightening thepopulace. From this point of view, the status of fiction producersincluding translators was greatly promoted in Chinese literaryhistory. On the other hand, the income of fiction translators wasdependant on private publishers, unlike science translators sponsoredby the Qing government. Patrons of fictional translation were weakin political and economic power, which led to the humble status offiction translators. Lin Shu was no exception. When the version ofLa Dame aux Camelias came out, his true name was not printed onthe front cover. Instead, it was published in his literary name, LengHong Sheng.Poetics and Lin Shu’s TranslationLefevere conceives literary system as a subsystem within asociety which is a conglomerate of systems. A literary system isgoverned by a dual control mechanism. Besides ideology andpatronage, the factors governing the literary system from the outside,poetics keeps order within the literary system (Hermans, 2004: 126).Poetics is “the dominant concept of what literature should be, or canbe allowed to be, in a given society” (ibid: 127). This part goes on toprobe into the influence inflicted by poetics of Chinese literature onLin Shu’s translations from three aspects: the language system,narration modes and literary style.
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Page 3 and 4: Xu Jianzhong 151Obviously, more ext
Page 5 and 6: Xu Jianzhong 153The Era Background
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