Bridging the political and the personal : a descriptive study of literary translation in contemporary China

With the development of Descriptive Translation Studies (e.g. Even-Zohar, 1978; Toury, 1995), and more importantly, with the ‘cultural turn’ and the subsequent ‘power turn’ in Translation Studies (e.g. Bassnett and Lefevere, 1990; Tymoczko and Gentzler, 2002), it is now generally recognized that translation is not a mere linguistic phenomenon, but a complex social and political process involving competing values and ideologies. This thesis aims at presenting a manifold and multifaceted vision of literary translation in contemporary China, while at the same time, remaining critically aware of our own positions and perspectives. Derived from the researcher’s personal experiences in and observation of China’s highly politicised literary milieu, the current study of literary translation is carried out from two different perspectives. The first is related to the social and political dimension of translation, which is concerned with the general context of translation, translation practices, literary norms as well as the structures that support them. The second perspective focuses on the more personal dimension, which is influenced by personalities and dispositions of the individuals involved in translation. Moving along the spectrum with political coercion and pressure on one end and personal decisions and responsibilities on the other, this thesis asserts that the political and the personal are two sharply different yet intimately intertwined domains of translation. In conclusion, it is recommended that future research should place greater emphasis on the dialectical relationship between lived personal experience and structural power relations in translation. This emphasis, as is demonstrated in this thesis, will provide a base for us to recognize the centrality of human agency and the possibility of resistance through translation, to understand translation as a site of power struggle and potential change, and finally, to strive for translation research and practice that is more socially relevant and personally meaningful