Ideology and Translation: A Study from the Perspective of TL Reader
Responses
LI Ping
Nanjing Institute of Meteorology
Abstract: Of the many factors that may influence
translation, ideology has attracted considerable attention from researchers in
translation studies. Since the 1980s, many western researchers have shown great
interest in the relationships among power, ideology and various cultural
products while in China it is only in the late 1990s that a few researchers
started to take an interest in that area. This paper attempts to study the
relationship between ideology and translation from the perspective of TL reader
responses. The study argues that TL readers have the power to accept or reject
a translation with the same ideological tendency as theirs or different from
theirs.
Key words: translation, ideology, reader
responses, SL, TL
(SL = source language,
TL= target language)
1. Introduction
Of the many factors that may affect
translation, ideology has attracted considerable attention from researchers in
translation studies. Since the 1980s, western researchers have shown great
interest in the relationships among power, ideology and various cultural
products and some (María
Calzada Pérez, 2003: 2;
Christina Schäffner, 2003:23) even claim that “all language use is
ideological”, “any translation is ideological”. Recently Chinese researchers seem
to be following the same line. But some researchers think that this is still a
sensitive field in academic research in China (Chang Nam Fung, 2001:61-69)
although Chinese translation in the past 100 years, to a great extent, has been
influenced and controlled by patronage, ideology and poetics (Chang Nam Fung,
2000:2-7). I think this view is a bit pessimistic since China is always
changing and what was impossible in the past can be realized now or later. Wang
Xiaoyuan (1999:10-13) made a preliminary study of the relationship between
ideology and literary translation, focusing on two aspects: (1) the motivation
of translation and the selection of original texts; (2) acceptance or rejection
and deletion or rewriting of the SL text in the process of translation. In this
paper I intend to extend Wang Xiaoyuan’s
study by analyzing the relationship between ideology and translation from the
perspective of TL reader responses.
1.1Chinese translation tradition
As Perry
Link (1986:81-82; see also 1983:5-6. Cited in Chang Nam Fung, 1998:249-272) observes, there have been close ties between
literature and politics in China
for centuries. This is reflected
by a number of traditional assumptions, two of which are,
Written
Chinese embodies moral and political power. Mastery of classical
learning ... results in cultivation of one's own self, which, in turn, results
in harmony within one's family, regulation of the kingdom, and pacification of
the world. Ultimately, literary cultivation qualifies and
enables one to rule, or at least to advise a ruler. (Link 1986:82; original
emphasis)
and:
A literary
intellectual should take the world's well-being as his own responsibility. His
learning gives him not only a special power but also a strict moral duty to
care whether all is well in `the world'. (ibid: 82; original emphasis)
In line
with this tradition of engagement, translation activities in China have largely been
ideologically motivated. In fact, this tradition is not specific to China but is
evident throughout world translation history. Fawcett (1998, also 2001: 107)
provides an eloquent illustration of how “throughout the centuries, individuals
and institutions have applied their particular beliefs to the production of
certain effects in translation”. Depending on whether they find themselves in
agreement with the dominant ideology of their time or not, Chinese translators
choose translations with the same ideology to support it or a different one to
reform it.
1.2 TL reader responses
Translation is not just a process that
goes on in the translator’s head. It can play an important part in the struggle
between rival ideologies (André Lefevere, 1990: 14-28). Translators can use
translations as a tool to support or object to an ideology that they like or
dislike. But at the same time readers can choose to accept or reject
translations. Although TL reader responses to the same TL text may be different
and different types of readers will prefer different types of translations,
readers live in the same specific socio-cultural milieu and are restrained by
the same ideology, so the TL texts tend to conform to the ideologies of TL
readers. This suggests that the texts can arouse the same or similar response
from different TL readers. Because of different ideologies in different
historical-geographical situations, translation may be encouraged and
commissioned, or resisted and rejected by the readers.
The translator himself can
read the originals and does not need translations. Translations are only needed
by those who cannot read the originals. So translation can be considered as a
piece of social work, which serves others. That means that the value of
translation can only be realized and the effect of translation embodied when it
is transmitted and accepted by others. A text, as an artifact, only comes to
life as an aesthetic object when a reader responds to it, when it serves as a
stimulus in an actual communication process. The reader’s role is therefore
vital (Theo Hermans, 1999).
Reader responses, however, are
notoriously difficult to study reliably. Responses to literary texts are
individual in nature, and it is clearly not possible or practicable for
literary texts to try to reach every reader. We can only know from published
books and magazines, as well as innumerable personal testimonials and citations
that certain publications were widely welcomed and had an enormous impact on
readers.
In this paper, TL readers are
assumed to be willing readers and have the freedom to choose any books they
like. Such unusual cases as readers being required or even forced to read some
specific books or translations in some special circumstances are not included
in our discussion.
2. Translation with the
same ideology
If you want to influence the masses, a
simple translation is always best (André Lefevere, 1990: 14-28). To follow is
always easier than to lead. Most translators would rather choose translations
with the same or similar ideology no matter whether they are inspired by the
dominant ideology or constrained by it. Generally speaking, TL texts are easily
accepted if their ideology is the same as or similar to that of their readers.
They are not only shared by readers with similar ideologies, ideas and
experiences, but also encouraged by the authorities since they can act as a
tool to strengthen the dominant ideology. Typical examples include Niu-meng (translation
of E. L. Voynich’s
The Gadfly) and Gangtie
Shi Zenyang
Liancheng De [How the Steel was Tempered (translation of Николай
Островский’s
Как
Закалялась
Сталь)],
which were popular across socialist countries in the 1950s. People in these
countries showed great interest in socialist thoughts and acts, and all books
with similar ideology were welcome. So translations of all literary writings
with the same or similar ideology were encouraged at that time.
Островский's novel Как Закалялась
Сталь
was published in 1934. It’s a novel about the establishment of Soviet power
and the heroic life of Komsomol
member Pavel Korchagin. The book
immediately became extremely popular among Soviet readers; in the Soviet Union
alone it has appeared in over 200 editions and it was also to become a
best-seller in many parts of the world (Andreyeva: à284). It was published in
53 editions in 23 countries (Soviet Union and China excluded) from 1941 to 1947
(Zou Zhenhuan, 1994:413).
According to publishing
statistics in China,
among the 17 bestsellers of literary novels since 1949 there is only one
translation, which is Gangtie
Shi Zenyang
Liancheng De. The translation sold 2,070,000 copies in three years from
October 1949 to December 1952 and 658,300 copies from October 1980 to November.
1986 by the following three publishing houses: Renmin Wenxue, Waiguo Wenxue and
Guangdong Renmin
Chubanshe
(ibid: 409-413).
According to information from the programme Dushu (reading) in CCTV (China Central Television), Gangtie Shi Zenyang Liancheng De was No. 6 in the bestseller list before the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) while 20 years after, it became No.5. （http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/28086.html）.
The Gadfly, a highly romantic yet still realistic treatment of Risorgimento period in Italy concerning the activities of the international republican agent Arthur Burton who successfully eludes the Austro-Hungarian police and contributes to the revolutionary cause culminating in the Italian uprising of 1848, was unknown and unwelcome for many years when it was published in Britain. Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) said of The Gadfly: “I don’t remember reading a novel I disliked so much.” and “a very bad book; I read it four times” (http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/v/Voynich,EL/life.htm). But since Николай Островский highly praised Arthur Burton, the gadfly, in his novel Как Закалялась Сталь (in Chapter 6 and Chapter 8), The gadfly was translated into many languages and was popular in many (mainly socialist) countries of the world and “sold 2,500,000 copies world-wide and an additional 5 million in Russian” (ibid).
Here are some quotes of some readers, from which we can see
how the book was welcomed.
(1)
The
novel The Gadfly enjoyed an
unrivalled place in the hearts and minds of the young participants in the
Cultural Revolution. A famed bestseller in the socialist camp for decades, when
it was published in China it became a favorite story—and an internalized narrative—for
a generation of youthful readers in the 1950s and 60s. (http://www.morningsun.org/film/gadfly.html)
(2)
I
first read this book in Chinese when I was 11. Although I didn't fully understand
the political side of the novel, it left me crying over the story for weeks. I
have reread it many times since, and it has never failed to move me. (http://www.booksunderreview.com/Games/Video_Games/Computer_Platforms/Classic/Classic_27.html)
(3)
The
novel of “The Gadfly” in Chinese and the movie bearing the same name, are two brilliant
works of “The Gadfly” I first encountered, and loved so much, while I was in my
teens, although my young age was somewhat restricted me (sic.) from
comprehending the conspiracies and struggles inside the hero. After so many
years I finally had a chance to read the original novel by Ms. Voynich, I was
trilled. Many details were recalled and many emotional moments were
re-experienced, only this time it was with more intensity and inspiration, and
maybe more tears. (http://www.booksunderreview.com/Sports/Adventure_Racing/Publications/
)
3. Translation with a different ideology
Not
all translators agree with the dominant ideology and support it. Some may be
dissatisfied with it and “choose to oppose the system, to try to operate
outside its constraints … by rewriting works of literature in such a manner
that they do not fit in with the dominant poetics or ideology of a given time
and place” (Lefevere 1992b:13). Or just as Lefevere (1988-1989:65) said, “Those
who feel unhappy with the ideology and/or the poetics of their own system will
plan to use (rewrite) elements taken from the other system to further their own
ends”. Although “the bread-and-butter of the Chinese translator’s work
has always been in government and commerce” , “there have been periods,
however, when translation played a crucial role in China’s cultural and social
development, going far beyond the confines of government and commerce” (Eva
Hung and David Pollard, 1998, 2001:366).
3.1 Readers’ rejection
But
the masses do not always want to be influenced, especially at moments of
stability. Translations with different ideologies from those of TL readers can
be, and are still seen as a threat to the identity of a culture. In the preface
to the Shakespeare translation published by his son in 1865, Victor Hugo
(1802-1885) wrote: “when you offer a translation to a nation, that nation will
almost always look on the translation as an act of violence against itself.”
Translations can be potentially threatening precisely because they confront the
receiving culture with another, different way of looking at life and society, a
way that can be seen as potentially subversive, and must therefore be kept out
(André Lefevere, 1992a:14).
China has an over five
thousand-year long history of civilization while translation has a 3000-year
long history in China.
Translation was instrumental in the development of the Chinese national culture
(Zhong Weihe 2003). But
histories indicated that before 1898 only religious (mainly Buddhist
scriptures) and technical (mainly science and technology) translations were
carried out or supported by governments. Although there were also some
translations of philosophy and literature in this period, such as the first
translation of Aesop's Fables in 1625, they had not produced any effects
on Chinese readers because China
was then a strong sovereign state with a flourishing culture. What’s more,
translation in China
has for centuries been regarded as a marginal or secondary, if not trivial,
activity.
The
notion that the novel could be a potent means to edify and inform the general
population and sometimes rouse the nation to action was introduced into China by
foreigners through the publications they founded and managed (Yuan Jin, 1992:
66-67). In 1872, the first Chinese literary magazine was launched by the
British-owned Shen Pao
newspaper in Shanghai.
It brought out serially from January 1873 to January 1875 the first translation
of a full-length foreign novel, called Xinxi Xiantan (A Garrulous Story). It
attracted disappointingly little attention. The Chinese educated public was not
yet mentally prepared to take foreign literature seriously (Pollard 1998: 6).
In fact, any efforts that attempted to reform the dominant ideology were doomed
to failure because China
was still considered a strong country by most Chinese although she lost in the
two Opium Wars.
3.2 Readers’ acceptance
When
a culture is on the verge of a crisis, the TL readers may tend to accept some
TL texts with different ideologies in order to renew or reform their own
ideology. A case in point is the sudden boom of the translation of literary and
political fiction with the aim of reforming the traditional Chinese school of
thought and enlightening the feudalistic intelligentsia at the turn of the 20th
century in China.
Another example was the mass translation of western social and cultural
writings in the 1980s.
The
Sino-Japanese War of 1895, in which China
was defeated by what she considered a former tributary state, made people
realize the weakness of China.
The failure of the 1898 Hundred-Day Reforms led to the rise of revolutionary
ideas, and the main target audience of advocacy for reform shifted towards the
lower class. But people can become believers only when they find the reforms
acceptable. Fiction was considered a popular literary form which could contain
a great variety of subject matter, capable of being populistic and radical. Many late
nineteenth-century Chinese intellectuals advocated the use of fiction to
educate the people, and from the early 1900s onwards there were a considerable
number of newspaper and magazine articles devoted to the uses of fiction as a
tool for social reform in which the accomplishments of western novelists were
cited to illustrate the effectiveness of this literary genre in terms of mass
appeal. The following are two of the most famous examples of advocacy in this
area:
Fiction’s
influence on men and its popularity far surpass the classics and histories. It
therefore has a hold on the thoughts and customs of the people … We have also
hear that fiction had helped to civilize Europe, America
and Japan.
(Yan & Xia 1897. Cited in Eva Hung, 1996: 29)
In the past, when European countries were in the initial stages of reform,
scholars and men of ideals often used fiction as a channel to relate their
personal experiences or advocate their political views … The opinion of a whole
nation was frequently changed by one novel. (Liang Qichao 1897. Cited in Eva
Hung, 1996: 29)
Arguments
such as these, and the citation of western examples of the efficacy of fiction
as a tool for social reform, were a direct result of the late
nineteenth-century Chinese intellectuals’ re-evaluation of fiction as a
literary genre, a re-evaluation based on the perceived contemporary needs of
Chinese society (Eva Hung 1996: 29). In the manifesto of the magazine Xiuxiang Xiaoshuo
(Illustrated Fiction) in 1903 Li Boyuan (1867-1906) declared:
The
Western countries have used fiction to civilize their people… [Fiction
writers], who are keen observers of significant affairs of the world and have a
profound understanding of human wisdom, use such knowledge to analyse the past and
predict the future. They then express their opinions in their works with the
view of wakening the populace. (Li 1903:1.Cited in Wang Xiaoming, 1998: 50)
Literary
translation during the late Qing dynasty broke the Manchu Government's “closed-door
policy”, and brought to the Chinese people the lives, customs, ideology and
social lives of western countries. The introduction of western ideology and
democratic progress had an impact on the intellectuals and social reformers of China. Then there
was a sudden boom in the translation of fiction, which flourished and attracted
a wide readership, and also came the rare phenomena of translated works of
fiction exceeding in number original works of fiction and of the numerous
retranslation of European and American literature from the Japanese. The Wangguo Gongbao (Review
of the Times, also known as The Globe Magazine), for example, was
revived monthly in 1889 with more emphasis on Western politics. Its circulation
rose from 1,000 in 1889
to 38,400 in
1898, and 54,000 in
1903, during which time it had close links with reformist Chinese intellectuals
(Pollard 1998:7).
Translation
with a different ideology can only be accepted in the right place and at the
right time. Yan Fu’s Tian Yan Lun (translation of T. H. Huxley’s On
Evolution and Ethics, 1898), which introduced Social Darwinism to China, enjoyed
such popularity that nobody could talk about Chinese translation without
mentioning Yan Fu. Had it been translated before 1898, it might have had the same
destiny as Xinxi
Xiantan
and might never have aroused such popularity.
4. Conclusion
Readers
are not just passive receivers. The relationship between translators and
readers is complex and interrelated. It’s not entirely a case of the translators’
choosing what to translate or what to introduce according to their own
inclinations. This decision also depends on the readers’ ability or willingness
to accept what is translated. Translations with a certain ideology can only be
welcomed by TL readers when they are translated at the right time in the right
place. From TL reader responses to these translations, we can see the different
dominant ideologies and social changes through time.
History
shows that translation can be used as a weapon to strengthen or to reform the
TL’s ideology. TL texts that share the ideology of TL readers are easily
accepted as they can be used to strengthen the TL ideology, whereas TL texts
with ideologies different from those of TL readers may be rejected by readers
at moments of stability as the TL texts can be seen as a threat, and may be
accepted by them on the verge of a crisis as the TL texts can be seen as a
remedy for current illnesses. Ideology influences translation in various ways,
so the relationship between ideology and translation needs to be further
studied.
*
I am sincerely indebted to Professor Ke Ping and Professor Mona Baker for their
suggestions on the early drafts of the paper.
Useful Websites (all checked on Feb.28, 2004):
1.
http://ent.sina.com.cn/v/28086.html
2.
http://www.pgil-eirdata.org/html/pgil_datasets/authors/v/Voynich,EL/life.htm
3.
http://www.morningsun.org/film/gadfly.html
4.http://www.booksunderreview.com/Games/Video_Games/Computer_Platforms/Classic/Classic_27.html
5.
http://www.booksunderreview.com/Sports/Adventure_Racing/Publications/
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作者简介：
李平：南京气象学院大学英语部 （210044）
LI
Ping, Department of Applied Foreign Language Studies, Nanjing Institute of
Meteorology, Nanjing, CHINA. 210044
E-mail:
lee5110@263.net and lee_5110@yahoo.com.cn