On the English Translation of Bianchengthe Perspective ofBourdieus Sociology 布迪厄社會學視角下《邊城》英譯研究

1、蘇州大學本科生畢業(yè)論文蘇州大學外國語學院本科畢業(yè)論文（2018屆）On the English Translation of Biancheng from the Perspective of Bourdieus Sociology布迪厄社會學視角下邊城英譯研究專業(yè)：翻譯姓名：胡悅指導教師：王曉偉論文提交日期：2018年4月Contents ContentsIIAbstractIII摘要IVChapter 1 Introduction11.1 Research BackgroundSignificance11.2 Research QuestionsMethodology11.3 Organi

2、zation of the Thesis2Chapter 2 Literature Review32.1 Introduction to Shen Congwen and his Biancheng32.2 Previous Studies on the English Translation Activities of Biancheng4Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework53.1 Pierre Bourdieu and his Sociology53.2 Three Core Concepts of Bourdieus Sociology53.2.1 Field

3、63.2.2 Capital63.2.3 Habitus63.3 The Applications of Bourdieus Sociology to Translation7Chapter 4 An Analysis of the Translation of Biancheng from the Perspective of Bourdieus Sociology104.1 Field and its Influence on the Translation of Biancheng104.1.1 Field of Power104.1.2 Literary Field114.1.3 Tr

4、anslation Field114.2 Capital and the Translation of Biancheng124.2.1 The Cultural Capital of the Two Translators124.2.2 The Social Capital of the Two Translators134.2.3 The Symbolic Capital of the Two Translators144.3 Habitus of Different Translators of Biancheng154.3.1 Gladys Yangs Habitus Formed b

5、y the Government Policy154.3.2 Jeffrey C. Kinkleys Professional Habitus164.4 The Analysis of Translation Strategies Affected by Habitus164.4.1 Translation of idioms174.4.2 Adding Notes184.4.3 Deletion and Extra Information21Chapter 5 Conclusion22References24Acknowledgments26文獻綜述報告27AbstractBiancheng

6、 is a masterpiece of Shen Congwen. It is set in a border town named Chadong in the 1930s. It portrays the unique local customs of western Hunan and presents the pure love and nice quality of Cui Cui. Its unique artistic charm has attracted many readers at home and abroad, and it has a unique positio

7、n in the history of modern Chinese literature. Until now, many studies on the English translation of Biancheng are from the perspectives of aesthetics, skopos theory, etc., but few of them is from a sociology perspective. This thesis attempts to apply three core concepts of Bourdieus Sociology, name

8、ly, field, capital and habitus, to discuss the social factors behind translation activities and how those factors influence and form the translation versions. This thesis chooses the English versions of Biancheng by Gladys Yang and Jeffrey C. Kinkley and carries out concrete analysis and comparative

9、 study according to the three core concepts. The study finds out that when translating, different fields and capitals of the translator will form his or her translation habitus, and habitus influences the translators choice of translation strategies. To be specific, when translating Biancheng, Glady

10、s was in a translation field which was controlled by the power field, and she was devoted to spreading Chinese culture and shaping the image of China. Kinkley was in an American literary field where many sinologists had began to study Chinese literature and tried to bring the real Chinese culture an

11、d literature to foreign readers. Benefiting from Gladyss early education experiences and affluent Chinese literature translation experience, her cultural capital and symbolic capital contribute a lot to the English translation of Biancheng. As an experts studying Shen Congwen , Kinkleys cultural cap

12、ital and symbolic capital make his translation of Biancheng professional and accurate. All the factors form the translators habitus, and then the choices of translation strategies. Because of her intercultural living environment and habitus affected by the field of power, Gladys tends to adopt free

13、translation and flexibly apply deletion and adding footnote. Kinkley tends to adopt literary translation and apply methods like adding endnote to point out the cultural information, because of his professional habitus.This thesis tries to discuss the differences of the two English versions of Bianch

14、eng from the perspective of Bourdieus sociology and study the sociological factors behind the translation activities, hoping to offer inspiration for Chinese literature going out.Keywords: Biancheng, Bourdieus sociology, field, capital, habitus摘要中篇小說邊城是沈從文的代表作，它以20世紀30年代川湘交界的邊城小鎮(zhèn)茶峒為背景，描繪了湘西地區(qū)特有的風土人情

15、，展現(xiàn)了主人公翠翠的純潔愛情和美好人性。其獨特的藝術魅力吸引了海內(nèi)外眾多讀者，在中國近代文學史上具有獨特的地位。到目前為止，對邊城英譯的研究多從美學、目的論等角度進行討論，但少有從社會學角度的。本文嘗試借助布迪厄社會學的三個核心概念，即場域、資本和慣習，討論不同翻譯活動背后的社會因素及其對譯本的影響和塑造。本文選取戴乃迭和金介甫的邊城英譯本作為研究對象，從三個角度進行具體分析以及對比研究。研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在翻譯某項作品的過程中，譯者所處的不同場域以及所持的各種資本將塑造其在翻譯此項作品時的慣習，而慣習則影響著譯者對翻譯策略的選取。具體來說，戴乃迭在翻譯邊城時，所處的翻譯場域受到權力場域的制約，致力于

16、傳播中國文化以及塑造中國形象。而金介甫所處的美國文學場域當時已有許多漢學家開始研究中國文學，旨在將真實的中國文學與中國文化帶給外國讀者。由于其獨特的早期教育經(jīng)歷和豐富的中國文學翻譯經(jīng)歷，戴乃迭擁有的文化資本和象征資本對其邊城的英譯活動在中國的影響做出了貢獻。而金介甫作為沈從文的研究專家，他一路積累的文化資本和象征資本也對其邊城譯本的專業(yè)性和準確性做出了貢獻。上述因素都在無形中塑造著譯者的翻譯慣習，具體體現(xiàn)在譯者對翻譯策略的選擇上。戴乃迭的跨文化生活環(huán)境以及權力場影響下的慣習使其多采用意譯的翻譯策略，并靈活運用省略和腳注的手段。金介甫作為沈從文研究專家形成了一種趨向于專業(yè)化的慣習，多采用直譯的方

17、式試圖保留原文色彩，并運用尾注等手段為譯文增添背后隱藏的文化信息。本文旨在從布迪厄社會學視角討論邊城兩個譯本的差異，研究翻譯活動背后的社會學因素，希望對中國文學走出去有所啟示。關鍵詞：邊城英譯、布迪厄社會學、場域、資本、慣習IVChapter 1 Introduction1.1 Research BackgroundSignificanceShen Congwen was a famous modern Chinese writer whose works have been widely translated into English. He began his literary caree

18、r in the 1920s and was discovered by the western literature circle in the 1960s. However, for some political reasons, he didnt gain his due reputation in China until the 1970s. (Wang, 2014) His most works are featured with local culture color and he was regarded as “the greatest local colorism write

19、r in China”. (Jin, 2004) Such kind of works like Biancheng (邊城), Changhe (長河), Xiaoxiao (蕭蕭) and Sansan (三三) are highly praised both in China and in foreign countries. Some of those works have been translated into more than one English version, among which Biancheng has received the widest attention

20、. Biancheng is Shens masterpiece which portrays the peculiar customs of western Hunan in China. In order to study the translation of this great work, this thesis will focus on Gladys Yangs and Jeffrey C. Kinkleys English versions. The translation of Biancheng has been studied by many scholars from d

21、ifferent perspectives, but few of them from a sociological perspective. Bourdieus sociology is a theory put forward by the French sociologist Bourdieu Pierre. This theory studies the interaction between the individuals and the society, and includes three core concepts: field, capital and habitus. Th

22、is thesis is to apply Bourdieus sociology to study the translation activities of Biancheng to explore how the three core concepts of Bourdieus sociology affect the translators choices of translation strategies. Furthermore, this thesis is to offer an analysis of the social factors behind the transla

23、tion activities of Biancheng in different times and social backgrounds, studying how the book and Shen was disseminated and received in foreign countries. 1.2 Research QuestionsMethodologyThe main concern of the thesis is to make a comparative analysis of the two English versions of Biancheng and to

24、 find out how field, capital and habitus affect the translation activities of Biancheng. To be more specific, this thesis will focus on the following research questions:How did “field” influence the translators translation style?How did “capital” of Biancheng and of the two translators contribute to

25、 the reception and dissemination of different English versions of Biancheng in foreign countries?How did “habitus” of the two translators affect their applications of translation strategies?Thus, a close study and reading of Bourdieus sociology is required. To support theoretical analysis, the autho

26、r will widely collect and read related materials like the original version and English versions of Biancheng, related books, journals, articles and valuable network resources. Then based on all the knowledge gained and materials gathered, this thesis will make a comparative study of the two translat

27、ions of Biancheng and provide some typical examples to support the analysis.1.3 Organization of the ThesisThe thesis falls into five chapters, including an introduction and a conclusion.Chapter 1 gives an detailed introduction to the research background and significance, research questions and metho

28、dology and the organization of the thesis.Chapter 2 is the literature review which gives an introduction to Shen Congwen and his Biangcheng, and illustrates the previous studies on the translation of the book.Chapter 3 constructs the theoretical framework of the thesis and reviews the previous appli

29、cations of Bourdieus sociology to translation studies.Chapter 4 is a comparative analysis of the two translations of Biancheng. In order to study the research questions mentioned above, This chapter will apply the three core concepts of field, capital and habitus, as well as textual analysis and sup

30、porting examples. Chapter 5 comes to a natural conclusion, which summarizes the major findings during the study. Then the chapter points out its limitations and some suggestions for the further study of the translation of Biancheng.Chapter 2 Literature ReviewBiancheng is a masterpiece of Shen Congwe

31、n. It was included in the list of Top 100 Chinese Novels in 20th Century, second only to Lu Xuns Call To Arms. The novel attained great achievement for its minute feeling expression, elaborated scenery description as well as the pursuit of a pastoral life. Considered its unique reputation in modern

32、Chinese literature, Biancheng was once translated by many scholars both at home and abroad, in order to introduce Chinese culture or Chinese literature to foreign countries.2.1 Introduction to Shen Congwen and his BianchengShen Congwen was born in Fenghuang County in Hunan province on December 28, 1

33、902. He died in Beijing on May 10, 1988. He was honored as one of the greatest modern Chinese writers. Shens works were featured with regional culture and identity and he was famous for combining the vernacular style with classical Chinese writing technique. Shens reputation and literary works have

34、endured a lot of hardships before they occupied an important place in the literary field. In the early years of the Peoples Republic of China, as an apolitical writer, Shen resisted to politicalize his works. Then he was criticized as “reactionary” and the literary values of his works were suppresse

35、d and ignored. For almost three decades since 1949, studies on Shens works were very few at home. At the same time, on the contrary, scholars in foreign countries attached great importance to Shen Congwen and his literary works. Sinologists like Xia Zhiqing, the author of A History of Modern Chinese

36、 Fiction, and Jeffrey C.Kinkley, who once translated Biancheng, highly praised Shen and his works and have made great contributions to the study of Shen Congwen. (Gu, 2012) But in China, Shen Congwen hadnt regain his due reputation until 1980, when Chinese scholars began to pay attention to the lite

37、rary values of his works.Biancheng, published in 1934, is a masterpiece of Shen Congwen. Biancheng is set in western Hunan in China, which is Shens birthplace. The book gives the story of Cuicui, who is a young country girl dreaming of romance and true love. She lives with her grandfather who is a f

38、erryman and later dies. As she grows up , Cuicui discovers that life is unexpected and she must make her own choices. This novel portrays the regional characteristics of Western Hunan and demonstrates the pretty scenery and virtuous people there. Wang Zengqi once commented that Biancheng represented

39、 Shen congwens best language and literary achievement. It recorded the honest folkways in Shens hometown in a romantic style, but indicated the authors lament for the lose of beauty which was destroyed by modern material civilization. There is no denying that Biancheng is a great contributor to Shen

40、 Congwens reputation. Kinkley (2009) once compared Shen with noted writer Gustave Flaubert in his book The Odyssey of Shen Congwen.2.2 Previous Studies on the English Translation Activities of BianchengThe two English versions of Biancheng to be discussed in this thesis were produced in two entirely

41、 different times, so they represented the unique features of different times as well as different styles of the two translators. One was produced by the famous British translator Gladys Yang in 1962, and was published as The Border Town and Other Stories by Chinese Literature Publishing House in 198

42、1. The other was produced by the American sinologist Jeffrey C. Kinkley and was published as Border Town by Harper Collins in 2009. (Xie& Liu, 2015)Many researches have been carried out on the English versions of Biancheng. Some of them pay attention to the aesthetic aspects of the translations. For

43、 example, based on Gladys Yangs version, Li (2004) studied the ethnological color in Biancheng from a comparative-aesthetic perspective. Liu (2005) studied the artistic reproduction of the aesthetic connotations in Gladys Yangs version from the perspective of translation aesthetics. Some of them foc

44、us on translation strategies of Biancheng from the perspective of skopos theory (Xiang, 2012) and so on. There is no denying that such studies have contributed to the study of the translation strategies of Biancheng from different single angles, but they lack comprehensive and systematic studies on

45、the translation activities of Biancheng, ignoring the translation and promotion of Chinese culture especially of western Hunan culture in foreign countries. So in recent years, some scholars began to apply culture translation theory to analyze the English versions of Biancheng. Liu (2014) explored t

46、he manipulation factors resulting in the cultural transplantation of Border Town translated by Jeffrey Kinkley. Xie Jiangnan& Liu (2015) combed and analyzed the cultural and political factors behind the English versions of Biancheng. However, none of those studies apply a sociological theory to comp

47、rehensively analyze the translations of Biancheng and the social factors behind the two translation activities. So in the following chapter, the author will introduce a sociological theory Bourdieus sociology as a theoretical framework to make a tentative analysis.Chapter 3 Theoretical FrameworkTran

48、slation is not just carried out between two specific languages. In fact, it involves many social factors such as culture, customs, political background, etc. Previous studies made great contributions to the analysis of the translation of Biancheng, and some of them turned their study directions to c

49、ultural factors, but they lack a comprehensive view to analyze the translation activities. Thus, this part will introduce Bourdieus sociology in order to apply it to conduct the study of the two English versions of Biancheng.3.1 Pierre Bourdieu and his SociologyPierre Bourdieu was a noted French soc

50、iologist, anthropologist and philosopher. He was one of the top-three in contemporary European sociological field, together with Anthony Giddens from England and Jurgen Harbermas from Germany. From a interdisciplinary perspective, Bourdieus studies break the disciplinary boundaries and cover a large

51、 scope of fields including anthropology, sociology, linguistics, philosophy, historiography, aesthetics, literature, etc. He is famous for his sociological theory. Bourdieus study primarily focused on the dynamics of power in society, and especially the power transference and social order maintenanc

52、e within and across generations.Bourdieus sociology primarily attempts to eliminate the substantial divergence in humanities: subjectivism and objectivism. (Y. C. Wang, 2011) Subjectivism views the society as the production of individual experience and cognition while objectivism holds that society

53、is independent from individuals. But Bourdieu argued that both subjectivism and objectivism neglected the interaction between society and individuals, thus hindered the development of humanistic studies. (Y. C. Wang, 2011) In his opinion, individuals and society are interdependent and inseparable an

54、d they influence each other from many aspects. Based on this idea, he attempted to integrate individual behaviors with social structure.3.2 Three Core Concepts of Bourdieus SociologyBourdieus sociology includes plenty of concepts like field, capital, habitus, illusio, interest, symbolic violence, et

55、c. Among these concepts, field, capital and habitus are frequently applied to conduct researches on translation. Therefore, this thesis is to elaborate on the three core concepts in the following part, which will help the analysis of the translation activities of Biancheng.3.2.1 FieldIn the society,

56、 different individuals are in different social classes and have complicated relationships with each other. In order to systematically explain these phenomena, Bourdieu integrated social structure with individual behaviors. In terms of social structure, Bourdieu put forward the notion of field. In hi

57、s sociology, field is “a network, or a configuration, of objective relations between positions. These positions are objectively defined, in their existence and in the determinations they impose upon their occupants, agents or institutions, by their present and potential situation in the structure of

58、 the distribution or species of power whose possession commands access to the specific profits that are at stake in the field, as well as by their objective relation to other positions.” (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992:97) Within the field, agents or groups compete against each other for greater power or higher positions. 3.2.2 CapitalIn Bourdieus sociology, capital refers to the resources that agents can employ to struggle for greater power and higher positions. Bourdieu categorized capital into four types: economic capital, cultural capital, social capital and s