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

164 Re-Evaluation of Lin Shu (the Chinese Translator):A Systemic Approach to Literary TranslationOwing to the influence of huaben (script for story-telling inSong and Yuan folk literature in China), Chineseclassical fictions were written in omniscient narration and from thethird person’s point of view (ibid: 73). In other words, Chineseclassical fictions are all told by an omniscient storyteller. However,it is usual for Western fictions to be narrated from the first person’spoint of view. So Lin Shu, in his translating, changed the firstperson’s into the third person’s.Traditional Chinese literature is characteristic of lineal andchronological narration. The narration in chronological order can tella story from the beginning to the end, to which Chinese readers wereaccustomed in early modern China. On the contrary, flashback andinsertion are often used in Western fictions. Lin Shu dealt withflashback or insertion in Western novels by adding someinformation to indicate the narrative time for readers.The narrative structure of Chinese classical novels basicallyfocuses on characters and plots, but the narrative structure ofWestern fictions emphasizes not only characters and plots but alsosettings. Chinese readers in early modern China were fond ofreading novels with cleverly structured and complicated plots. Theypaid little or no attention to descriptions of natural environment orthe characters’ psychology (ibid: 109). Considering readers’ readinghabit, translators at that time including Lin Shu usually deleteddescriptions of settings which Chinse readers did not expect to read.C. The influence of Traditional Chinese Literary Style on LinShu’s TranslationsIn early modern China, the inner structure of the Chineseliterary world changed a lot. As the result of this change, fiction