20世纪80年代之前，西方(后)现代主义文学在中国一直受到排斥，在中国翻译文学多元系统中处于边缘的位置，在50-70年代更被视为"颓废文学"、 "反动文学"。70年代末，中国开始译介(后)现代主义文学，但引起了激烈的论争。译介者运用种种阐释和翻译策略，终于使(后)现代主义文学"合法地"进入中国文学系统，并从文学系统的边缘走向比较中心的位置。(后)现代主义文学的翻译影响了八九十年代中国文学的发展面貌。(后)现代主义文学在当代中国的文化际遇，非常生动地说明，文学翻译并不是简单的语言转换行为，而是译语文化多元系统对外国文学的文化操纵和利用。 本文采取史论结合的方式，以埃文─佐哈尔(Itamar Even-Zohar)的多元系统论作为基本理论框架，以勒菲弗尔(André Lefevere)等人的理论作为探讨具体翻译现象的理论视点，在当代中国文化多元系统动态演进的时空中，分析意识形态、诗学、文学体制与文学翻译选择规范的形成和嬗变的关系，由此阐释(后)现代主义文学在中国50-70年代被边缘化，在80年代被中心化的意识形态和诗学原因。本文还从翻译文学经典形成的角度，考察(后)现代主义翻译文学经典对80年代中国文学创作以及意识形态和诗学的影响。最后，作者根据本文研究，对系统理论进行了反思，并对如何拓展翻译文学史研究空间，提出了个人的观点。

過去三十年，西方在女性主義思潮的帶動下，掀起了對語言性別主義的批判，同一時期，翻譯學朝文化研究的方向發展，使性別、語言與翻譯成為了互相影響、經常互相指涉的研究領域。本文採用描述性的研究進路，探討自由主義女性主義者所倡導的內包語言在基督教中文聖經譯本中的使用情況。 八十年代中，內包語言被引進到英文聖經翻譯，掀起了連串的討論。本文會在西方（尤其美國）學者的研究基礎上，從女性主義切入，釐清內包語言在聖經翻譯的語境中的本質，以及衍生出來的概念，然後將聖經主要的中文譯本 界分為傳統版本和內包版本。最後借用安德烈‧勒菲弗爾（André Lefevere）的理論，分析贊助者的意識形態如何支配中文聖經的內包版本。

The topic of my thesis is Arthur Waley and his translation of the Shijing, or The Book of Songs (1937), as Waley entitled it. The Book of Songs is especially noted for its philological ingenuity, anthropological insight and poetic appeal; during my preliminary research I discovered that there exists an interesting interplay between these three aspects of this translation. In this thesis, I hope to examine the textual and thematic hermeneutics of The Book of Songs. Waley did not read the Shijing as a scriptural text inscribed with sagely intention and authority; rather, he returned it to its folkloric origin, presenting the Shijing as an anthropological document of the lives of ancient Chinese people, an imaginative expression of the desires, beliefs and values of a primitive society, and a vivid mimesis of ancient life. Waley’s philological decisions were underpinned by this general interpretive orientation, informed by his understanding of the anthropological significance of the Shijing and guided by an attentive concern for poetic cohesion. The anthropological and poetic aspects were mutually implicated. The Book of Songs displays a keen interest in the common people, and Waley’s knowledge and insight in comparative anthropology enabled the Western reader to hear in this exotic text distant echoes from their own traditions. These anthropological underpinnings help to articulate and enrich the poetics of The Book of Songs. Waley’s overall design and the poetic language he employed bring forth these anthropological aspects in a poetic manner. The “folk” elements in the Shijing were foregrounded in The Book of Songs and deemed to be aesthetically interesting. The style and voice that Waley developed in his translation communicate the naive appeal of a folk aesthetic, and convey the compositional features and modes of experience of the “primitive” imagination. In Waley’s translation, the remote, difficult text of the Shijing is transformed into natural, evocative English poetry, and the philological, anthropological and poetic aspects of The Book of Songs coalesce into a Chinese aesthetic that is fresh and spontaneous, enjoying a pristine intimacy with Nature.

The debate over the translatability of poetry has been a long-standing issue for decades. Relatively few discussions, however, have focused on the concrete reasons of poetry being translatable (or untranslatable). Moving beyond traditional ways of elucidating the matter through theoretical argument, this study aims to investigate the question of poetry translation in a more solid, empirical manner by looking into linguistic and language-based aesthetic differences between Chinese and English, in particular their prosodic features and capacities. Part One seeks to answer the question “Why does poetry get lost in translation?” from a linguistic and language-based aesthetic perspective, using the English translations of Wen Yiduo’s 聞一多 (1899-1946) poems as a case study. This thesis, however, does not simply further expound the position that “poetry is untranslatable”. Rather, based on the discussion in Part One, Part Two attempts to show that neither the translator nor his/her translation needs to “get lost”, even though something always “gets lost” in the process. The rhetorical question “Why get lost in translation?” will lead to illustrations that translation strategies are more an active choice of translators than a mere passive reaction to obstacles encountered. The thesis points out that while present discussions of untranslatability seem to focus largely on fidelity to the source text, it may be the target text that matters more, as the target language literally sets a limit to what translation can achieve (and thus determines the degree of translatability of a text). Hence, while poetry translation may be more difficult than other types of translation, its nature is not categorically different from others, for all translations are constrained by the target language in the first place. Besides, translation needs to be viewed in terms of the purpose of cultural transmission — from the perspective of the target readers and culture. One may thus conclude that poetry, like anything else, is translatable, although the degree of difficulty might differ. Regardless of one’s theoretical perspective, issues of textual translation are language-based. Before one discusses issues of poetry translation, one must first understand issues of language, poetic language and poetics (including prosody). These are all what the present thesis aims at exploring. By re-evaluating the relationship between the source and target texts and discussing the factors (both linguistic and extra-linguistic) affecting translation, this study attempts to shed more light on poetry translation, and literary translation in general.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the role of the translator and translation in the Nobel Prize in Literature through an illustration of the case of Howard Goldblatt’s translations of Mo Yan’s works. As the most significant international literary prize, the Nobel Prize in Literature is well discussed in media. However, insufficiently detailed attention has been given to the role of translation in the Prize. In many cases, the works that the Nobel judges evaluate are in fact translations, not the prize winner’s own words. Despite the importance of translation in the selection process, no research has ever examined the role played by translation or the translator in an author’s win of the Nobel Prize. The thesis will trace the history of the Nobel Prize in Literature with regard to translation, showing the growing importance of this linguistic act since the start of the prize. This thesis aims to show that a good translator was one of the most important factors behind Mo Yan’s win of the Nobel Prize in 2012. Without his excellent translators, including American translator Howard Goldblatt, Mo Yan may never have been able to present his works to the Western world, not to mention win the Nobel Prize and enjoy worldwide appreciation. A thorough analysis of this case will reveal the translator’s influence as well as how translation may affect the decision of who receives the Nobel Prize. Furthermore, examining the relationship between translation and the Nobel Prize in Literature can shed light on the role of translation in cultural exchange and world literature. With imbalanced cultural exchange between the West and the East, the role of Goldblatt is worth researching, as he successfully introduced Chinese literature to the world and served as a mediator linking up the two cultures. The research will be conducted using a descriptive approach by information gathering, statistical analysis and text comparison. By comparing the source text and translation of Mo Yan’s works from ideological and literary perspectives, the thesis will explain how Goldblatt’s translations might have affected the Nobel Prize panel’s impression of Mo Yan’s works, based on the criteria for the choice. Paratextual influences will also be analysed, such as the literary reputation of the translator. With the illustration of the case of Mo Yan, this research hopes to open up a new perspective on the studies of the Nobel Prize as well as translation.

The active scholarly contribution made by practitioners of theatre translation in the past decades has turned the research area into what is now considered a burgeoning field. Despite recent developments, it seems that performability, a long-discussed yet controversial concept in the study of theatre translation, would remain part of the practitioners’ discourse. Based on a historical survey of the production and reception of the translations of Anglo-American plays by Chinese actor-director Ying Ruocheng (1929-2003) in and around the 1980s, this study explores how the performability, or theatrical potential, of a translated playtext is constructed through the negotiation between/among the norms mainly operating on three levels—the textual, the theatrical and the socio-cultural—and the agency of the individuals involved. This thesis chooses to focus on Ying because he not only was one of the most successful theatre translators in contemporary Mainland China, but also seems to be an “impossible” ideal, considering his accomplishments in translating, acting, directing and as culture diplomat. Acknowledging that performability, which is essentially fluid and constructed, this descriptive-analytical survey will cover a whole range of possible activities involved in the production and reception of a translated playtext, and put the translator’s seemingly ideal status into perspective. The broadening of the scope of investigation is crucial to the outcome of this thesis, and recommendable to future researchers of theatre translation studies. In this study, translated playtexts and their stage productions are treated as the products of the receiving linguistic, theatrical and socio-cultural systems. The investigation begins with an evaluation of Ying’s practice against his stated translation principles to identify the textual and extra-textual factors that might have governed his work as a translator in reality. The discussion emphasises that performability cannot be realised through the textual medium only, before moving on to the exploration of the performers’ attempts to negotiate with his texts for theatrical enactment. The investigation, which examines the actions taken by the theatrical institution and individual actors in two separate chapters, draws attention to the roles of the translational, theatrical and socio-cultural norms and the power dynamics between the translator and his theatrical collaborators in their efforts to ‘ensure’ or create performability. The discussion is followed by an analysis concentrating on Ying’s role as a mediator within the production process and between the productions and the target environment, which is crucial to the achievement of both the immediate success of the productions and the transfer of repertoire. The study concludes that while a theatre translator and his or her theatrical collaborators are subject to various systemic constraints, the translator can find more power in his or her mediatory role as a bilingualist and biculturalist and promote the performability of the text.

Due to its unique prestige, classical Chinese poetry written during the Tang dynasty is often anthologised. These anthologies serve various purposes (e.g. recreational, educational, or both), but they are generally expected to feature works high in aesthetic value, and represent the culture wherein they are produced. While the functions of anthologies are seldom contested, representations of Tang poetry in anthologies have many different manifestations. Using China’s most famous anthology, Tangshi sanbaishou 唐詩三百首, as an opening case study, research shows that within its home culture, the anthologising of Tang poetry has a long history by itself, and anthologists negotiate between ideological agendas, aesthetic judgments, and cultural norms to form representations which suit their purposes best. Complex as the anthologising behaviour in the source culture is, the considerations involved in anthologising translated Tang poetry in the Anglo-American culture are even more complicated, since target-cultural concerns/demands (such as translatability, aesthetic predilection of the target readership, social norms, etc.) are introduced. This study attempts to delineate the differences in various source and target cultural representations of Tang poetry, and explicate the contributing causes engendering such differences. A survey of anthologies of translated classical Chinese literature/poetry reveals that key factors governing anthologising decisions include: the target cultural condition, the intended service to a mostly uninformed, non-native readership, the anthologist-translators’ personal preferences and missions, among others. The canonical landscape of Tang poetry changes often in the West even though the principle of representativeness demands a degree of conformity to the source tradition. The complexity of anthologising is further amplified when the activity of translation takes place. Translation may enhance or discount the aesthetic appeal of poets and poems, thus implicating their claim for canonicity. Besides, questions of form and prosody also shape the target-culture product, and hence the readership’s perception. The representations of Tang poetry and Chinese culture in anthologies are often taken for granted due to the sense of authority attached to anthologies. It is therefore important to take note of and examine how anthologist-translators have shaped literary perceptions by negotiating between source and target cultures.

两次鸦片战争期间（1840-1842,1856-1860），中英两国正式开启了官方交涉活动与外交谈判。在这些交涉活动中，双方口译者均发挥了重要作用，展现了特有的主体性和能动性。本文拟对当时较具代表性的三位口译者进行个案研究，他们分别是中国译者鲍鹏、黄仲畬和英国译者马儒翰。笔者通过挖掘相关的一手、二手资料，并对它们进行缜密的文本分析，试图对三位译者在各自的外交口译中所体现的主体性和能动性作出详尽的考证和论述。本文得出的结论是：在两次鸦片战争的特殊情境中，口译者往往背离“忠实性”原则:有的受到自身生活或工作经历之影响，在口译活动中常带入自己的主观想法，独立做出决定，此可谓口译者主体性的表现形式；有的采取跨界策略，在交涉双方不同立场和态度之间游移，以达到斡旋和协调的目的，充分体现了口译者的能动性。

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University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of English