Ideological Influence on Satire Translation Assignment

Ideological Influence on Satire Translation Assignment Words: 4146

Amongst these studies, Ideological Influences have been widely discussed. Levers (14) agrees that translation Is a method of the representations of political stance and an entity of ideology. For George Orwell, his political satire fictions are widely translated into other languages in non-communist nations. Recently, some of his masterpieces in which his distrust of communism as well as authority is revealed have been translated in communist countries where the ideological discrepancy may influence the translation strategies.

However, not many researches have pay attention to the issue. Hence, this paper is miming at comparing the differences of two Chinese translations of Animal Farm done by a Chinese and a Taiwanese in views of ideological influence. In comparison, this paper attempts to answer the following questions: 1 . How does the ideological discrepancy Influence the plots in two translations? 2. How does ideological divergence Influence the characters In two translations? 3. How does Ideological divergence Influence the rhetorical devices In two translations?

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Chapter Two: Background Information of the Texts to Be Examined In this part, the backgrounds of the author and the story are given in order to inform the readers a complete comprehension of the text to be analyzed. 1 . Introduction of the author of Animal Farm George Orwell was born on 25 June 1903 in Motivator, Bengal. He was raised in a middle class family where his father served In Indian Civil Service. He spent his childhood there. The family returned back to England to live In a district for colonials.

Here Orwell led a lonely life which endowed him with a habit of ‘making up stories and holding conversations with Imaginary persons. ‘ (CTD. In Armstrong 1) This early recollection reveals his tendency to sustain a continuous narrative. Orwell had done well In camel performances. At age AT teenier, He entered Eaton as a Kilns Scholar, where he found himself quite involved with many others who held post-war cynicism and disenchantment like him. After graduated, Orwell settled upon the Indian Imperial Office. From 1922-27, he served in Upper Burma.

There he witnessed the vile conducts of the imperialism. Being a police officer in English colony, he had seen the dirty work of Empire at close quarters’. (CTD. In Armstrong 3) Full of hatred of imperialism and autocracy, he resigned from his untenable position and returned o England. He then started to write and spent much of his time experiencing the life in poor for the first hand what life was for those exploited in the nation. In the next year he took his trip to Paris where he attempt to write and publish; however, he was ended in poverty. After the time in Paris, he turned back to England.

In 1936 he had a chance to observe the unemployment in the north of England and, there he began to awaken as a political thinker, hearing the theory concerning Marxism. During 1936 and 39, he Joined the small dissent Marxist group POI-JAM [Workers Party or Marxist Unity] which was one of the groups for revolution. When he was wounded and carried out of hospital he found the organization had been claimed illegal and many of his comrades were either arrested or shot. Hearing all these, he soon discovered the essence of Stalin were interested in the development of Russia but not the prosperity of the international socialism.

Though he was eager to expose the betrayed revolution but no one would listen to him since Russia, at that time, was seemingly the friend of the allies and their reputation soared when Stalin showed his dislike of Hitler. To his disappointment, he had find a way to write a political allegory to make everybody understood, which eventually led to the birth of Animal Farm. In 1941, he Joined the Eastern department of the BBC where he broadcast speeches to India but he was exploited by the bureaucracy and found the political propaganda very distorted. Later, he resigned his Job and served as Literary Editor of Tribune.

He wrote weekly columns concerning the socialism which enraged many socialist readers. Since then, he began to put together his idea for Animal Farm. When the work was done, he did not dare to publish since the severe political atmosphere. Eventually, his friends arranged to publish Animal Farm. The book immediately become the best-seller and was translated into over thirty languages. After the Second World War, he and his wife adopted a baby. His wife soon died from an operation. Bringing his son, he moved to Juan where the climate deteriorates his bad health.

Orwell remarried but died in London early in 1950, exhausted by his work and his disease. Even since he passed away, his reputation become higher and higher and he is regarded as one of the significant writers of the twentieth century. 2. Introduction of Animal Farm Summary of Animal Farm The story is divided into ten chapters, and began in the Minor Farm owned by Mr.. Jones. In the first chapter, the Old Major, a pig won Middle White Boar, gave a speech to accuse humans exploitation on them. All of the animals listened to his words wholeheartedly and inspired by him.

Finally, they made a song called ‘The Beast of England’ and everyone sang the song so loudly that aroused Jones. He shot the gun toward the air since he though a fox might break in, and all animals disbanded immediately. In ten second chanter, animals started a relation Ana evaluate Jones, controlling Farm successfully. Napoleon and Snowball, the pigs who led the animals against humans, set up Seven Commandments and renamed the farm as Animal Farm. They further created Minimalism. In the third chapter, all the animals are proud of themselves for they run the farm by themselves. To celebrate the great success, they set up their own flags.

Meanwhile, Napoleon stole the puppies from a female dog to let them educated. All the nutritious foods were grabbed by the pigs and, Squealer, the pig turns white into black and black into white’ and Napoleon’s propaganda, made up excuses to fool the animals. In the fourth chapter, Jones decided to take back the farm but failed to do so after he lost in the Battle of the Cowshed, which later become a memorial day for the animals. The rebellion threatened the neighboring farms. Furthermore, ‘The Beast of England’ became very popular, preoccupying Frederick and Pollution, the owners of other two farms.

They were ready to attack Animal Farm. The fifth chapter illustrated the defection of Mollie and the dispute between Napoleon and Snowball. Mollie, a belle but stupid mare, defected the animals and was later claimed seen on the street, serving human. Meanwhile, Snowball and Napoleon had a furious debate on the construction of the farm. Snowball insisted to build the windmill first while Napoleon wanted to do collective farm. As their fight went to climax, there came four fierce dogs from nowhere which only listened to Napoleon. The dogs expelled Snowball on the spot.

Napoleon took the absolute rule of the farm. Ironically, he announced the windmill should be built. Other animals accused him of stealing the idea from Snowball but soon the accusation was, again, justified by Squealer. In Chapter Six, though the days turn bitter but animals were content with their hard works. They started to build the windmill but faced with great difficulties. Napoleon decided to make trade with humans; but the deed enrage some animals-?? all silenced by the growling of the dogs dissipated by Napoleon. The pigs moved into the farmhouse and live like human.

Later, Squealer adjusted the Commandments, noting that ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. ‘ The Windmill was too fragile and destroyed by the wind. Napoleon blamed the ruin on Snowball’s design. In Chapter Seven, animals had bitter winter and worse life. The serious famine aroused discontent amongst the animals. So, they started protest against the authority. Snowball was told returned in secret to sabotage their works and arrested on the spot. Boxer, the horse loyal to Napoleon’s rule, spoke on his behalf but this behavior irritated Napoleon and aroused a massive genocide.

The surviving animals became extremely confused. They could not do anything but getting together to sing ‘Beast of England. ‘ Later, Squealer announced the song was forbidden. In Chapter Eight, life in the farm was harder than the time Jones was in charge. Execution became prevailing as Napoleon possessed absolute power and given the title. He started to make complicated business with human and had triggered terrible fight because he received fake banknotes from the humans. Animals were involved in the fight, resulting in great casualty. They began to repulse Napoleon. But he insisted ten Talent a great success.

In Chapter Nine, Boxer passed away. Napoleon sent him to a horse slaughterer. Benjamin, a nihilist donkey, saw the scheme through the plot. But it was too late. Finally, the pigs decided to hold a memorial feast for Boxer whereas they drank in a case of whisky given by the sale from Horse Slaughterer. The bargain was, of course, known to the animals. In the Final Chapter, many years passed and very few members in Animal Farm remembered the day when Jones had been there. The farm became prosperous but the animals’ life has not changed a bit. Squealer kept lying to the animal.

Tough as the life is, the animals were proud of them. Yet the pigs became closer to human and they even walked with hind legs, which is difficult to tell who is pig and how is human. The Allegory In order to disclose the scheme of Stalin and the Soviet Union in the time that not allowed him to do so, Orwell adopted fairy tale as the form and embedded allegorical meanings in the story. By implicating political idea in the storyline, Animal Farm arouses reader’s consensus as the simple narrative goes, within the author keep his political purpose hidden behind the scenes which successfully influences reader’s compassion.

In the wartime when Stalin played off with the allies, Rowel’s ironic structure proved effective. In Animal Farm, every object, character, concept, and event corresponds to the real world. For example, Napoleon as a leader with treacherous and greed characteristic refers to Stalin; Snowball, Napoleon’s opponent ND is later expelled, implies Trotsky, who held different opinion to Napoleon and was arrested by the secret police when seeking the leadership.

Frederick and Pollination, the owners of the neighboring farms who do business with Napoleon in the second half of the story, represent Churchill and Roosevelt-??we can tell the connotation when Napoleon held a toast with the two farmers in the farmhouse and quarreled with Pollination at last. The toast implies Teheran Conference in which they divide the world amongst them as three world powers; similarly, the quarrel between Napoleon [implies USSR] and Pollination [implies USA] refers to the Cold War.

Other concepts, ideas, and events can find correspondent signified in the reality world. 3. Introduction of the selected Translations Introduction of selected Taiwanese translation The selected Taiwanese translation is translated by Huh Squishing and published in 2001. Huh graduated from Foreign Language and Literature Institute in National Taiwan University [NUT] in Taiwan and received Ph. D in Comparative Literature in University of Illinois, USA. His professions are English and American Literature and European Literature. Huh translated several masterpieces of western literature. 185) In Preface Huh quotes Rowel’s words in an essay in 1946 and asserts that the work is a satire and attack on Soviet authority hence the work is oppose the totalitarian dictatorship led by Stalin. (11) Introduction of selected Chinese translation: The selected Chinese translation is done in 2005 by If Wick, a profound translator who is also a member of Writer’s Association of China. He graduated from Western Language and Literature Department of Peking University [PUKE] in 1950 and had been giving lecture in PUKE and Beijing Language and Culture University [BULL] al BIB/. “Portrait” If read Animal Farm In meal-cultural Revolution when en was on his duty lecturing English in the countryside by one of his friends. In Preface If stated that he was ‘speechless and astonished’ (“Preface”) when finishing the reading, for all the sarcastic metaphors on the Rebellion coincided with what had happened on Chinese people. Without further consideration, he decided to translate it into Chinese. This version was published in 2005; but it has been polished for several times since the first draft was done in the end of Cultural Revolution.

Quite different room Hue’s interpretation, If gives a wider definition on the motif of this masterpiece which ‘cannot be simply regarded as an anti-Stalinist and anti-socialism satire; instead, it is beyond the uncovering and accusation of totalitarianism. ‘ ‘Rather’, said If, ‘Animal Farm gives us a warning that any revolution and regime can go astray and corruption very soon, resulting in that people failed to be liberated from slavery given that democracy and Judicial system failed to take place. ‘ (“Preface”) If further points out that Animal Farm illustrates the deterioration of the Rebellion which later came totalitarianism.

Furthermore, If does not regarded Orwell was opposed to Socialism but a compassionate socialist who ‘condemned’ and ‘accuse’ the totalitarianism in Russia which did not conform to the original idea of Socialism. In Fug’s view, Orwell conveyed his understanding and forgiveness by revealing the injustice in communist nations. Here we can hear that If holds great compassion toward the mistake and distortion of Communism though he knew it was a failure. (“Preface”) Chapter Three: Literature Review First of all, the different political stances between Communist China and Nationalists in Taiwan would be provided.

Secondly, in order to examine the ideological influences on the translations of the political satire fiction, the concept of discourse and power is chosen as the theoretical criterion. As for the ideological influences on translation, Lever’s theory and Tours norms theory will be adopted in this paper. Finally, some of the former researches on George Rowel’s Nineteen Eighty-four and Animal Farm will be introduced. 3-1 The Political ideologies of Communist China and Nationalist in Taiwan Mainland China has been under control of China Communist Party [ICP] since 1949.

Communism has been the ultimate political norm and governed the country in every phase for over half century. Chairman Mao Sedona, the founding father of ICP and People’s Republic of China [PR], proposes five concepts of revolutions as key tone in his political philosophy. (“Communism”) Under the leadership of Mao, all literatures and other forms of art must conform to Communism as well as Mayo’s doctrines since ‘all of these [the birth of Communism] are from people, by the people, so we have to walk into the people. ‘ (CTD. N Tang) In Cultural Revolution, Mao was nominated as the supreme commander of the nation and army. The country initiated a series activity of ideological cleansing by removing so-called ‘intellectuals’ and ‘Dourness’ wilt young Rear Guards. Cultural Revolution last Tort ten years Ana resulted in great unrest; millions were killed. However, right after Cultural Revolution, the minister Eden Gapping officially started Reform and Opening-up Policy. Though Communism remains on play and freedom of speech and expression is limited, Chinese economic policies have turned into a more Capitalistic one.

Opposite to Communist China, Nationalists has controlled Taiwan as a basis of revival of national hood when ICP took the mainland. Since 1949, Taiwan has been under Martial Law which limited the freedom of speech. Many basic rights listed in the Constitution were limited as well. Rather, the government encouraged anti- communist literature. (Wang 24) Amongst many kinds of discourses, literature was taken as a propaganda which embodies the political ideology. Since sass, anti- communist literature had been highly emphasized and played a role.

On the other hand, Taiwanese literature has been major influenced by Modernism with the aid of USA which promoted many potential writers to attend writing workshops in the USA. Wang 36) The key tone of Taiwanese literature, under the Cold War and the control of Nationalist authority, possesses an anti-communism feature together with the imagination and fulfillment of a Great China that never exist since the 1949 Civil War. 3-2 Concept of discourse and power Michel Faculty regarded discourse as a representation of power. Hence it constructs the truth. It is not enough to speak the truth; one must ‘be in the truth. ‘ In politic, discourse is regarded as tool of manipulation and discourse is ‘a violence that we do to things. ‘ (CTD in Selene, Widows, and Broker 180) When mentioning bout how FPC [Apart Communist Francis; French Communist Party] controlled people’s thought during the wartime, he pointed out that it is fairly easy for the Party leadership to prevent people have their own say or preclude their own research since they know ‘everything and ‘could circulate instructions. (Arabian 53) Moreover, ‘discourse is not a place into which the subjectivity irrupts; it is a place of differentiated subject-positions and subject-functions. ‘ (Faculty, CTD. In Purcell, Gordon, and Miller 58) Taking up Faculty’s view, the ideology is loaded in the courses so as to express specific ideas and achieve edification. In view of cultural perspective, translation can be seen as a manipulative means of ideology of the authorities by choosing the specific text to be translated and applying different translating strategies. -3 The role of ideology in the shaping of a translation Andre Lifesaver’s ideas of ideological influences on Translation Andre Levers regards translation as a process influenced by patronage, poetics, and ideology. In his view, translation can be regarded as ‘rewriting, which is governed by ideology, patronage, and poetics in a given society in a given way. Tang 200; Monday 128) In these constraints, the translator makes some adjustments on the translation so as to meet the ideology and poetics of his time. Rewriting, for Levers, rewriting can introduce new concepts, new genres, new devices.

In effect, the history of translation is the history of innovation. However, rewriting can, as well, ‘repress innovation, Lost Ana contain. ‘ when examining ten translations, one must pay attention on ten function and the purpose of the translated text, and in what underlying reasons-?? poetics, patronage, and ideology-??manipulate the translator-??all together result in he rewrite of the text. (Levers xi) Gideon Tours concept of norms of translation behavior For Tour, he asserts that translator’s decision-making is governed by norms.

These norms are acculturation constraint specific to a culture, society, and time. In other words, norms ‘could be understood as being both psychological and social in nature. ‘ (Hermann 95) The translator is believed to acquire them from the education and solicitation he had gone through. The first order is initial norm, in which the translator has to decide the purpose of the translation. In this stage, the translator just to make choice to obtain adequate translation or acceptable ones. In other word, he must decide to subject to source norms or the norm belongs to target culture.

Lower the order is preliminary norm, referring to the translator’s choice of policy. At this moment, the translator has to prepare the translation policy to be adopted. The third one is the operational norm, which governs the metrical norms and textual-linguistic norms in the target text. Metrical norms includes the strategies to achieve the completeness of target text, such as omission, relocation of passages, actual segmentation and the addition of passages or footnotes while textual- linguistic norms governs the selection of target text of linguistic material. Monday 1 11-113) 3-4 Previous research of ideological influences on translation practice Few researches compare Rowel’s translated works but none has done on Animal Farm with perspective of ideology. Tsar examines how ideological discrepancy influences the role of translator as an intellectual when translating George Rowel’s Nineteen Eight-Four by comparing the translation version done by Chinese, Taiwanese, and Hong Kong Translators. Albeit a research (Change) compares the two Chinese translations of this satire fairy, it mainly focuses on the different translating strategies in allegorical factors for adults and for children.

Above data show that not much attention is paid to the thorough investigation of the ideological impact on the plot, characters, and the expression concerning to the idea of rebellion. Chapter Four: Textual Analysis and Discussion To examine the influence, the original text, Fug’s translation, and Hue’s translation will be Juxtaposed. 4-1 Ideological Influences on the translation of the plots In the two selections, there are some manipulations in the plots which can be regarded as influences by ideology. Table 1 shows some examples to illustrate this point.

Table 1: A comparison of the modifications to plots between two translations I The English Text I Fug’s Version I Hue’s Version I The animals would still assemble on Sunday r I I mornings to salute the flag, England’, Ana receive tenet orders Tort ten I I leek; but there would be no more debates. I [The animals still have to assemble to I [Still, the animals have to attend the I I Salute the flag in the farm on Sunday, to alfalfa-raising ceremony on Sunday morning uncial I Sing ‘Beast of England’, and to receive I receive the order for next week; but no I discussion is allowed. I their order for next week; but there’s no I further I need to discuss. ] I I It was vitally necessary to conceal this I alfalfa from the outside world. Emboldened by I I Lethe collapse of the windmill, the human beings were inventing fresh lies about I [The most important thing is that they I [To block the shortage of forage is I Minimal Farm. I can’t conceal this incident to the outside elaborately necessary. The collapse of the I I I world. The collapse of the windmill Mandrill emboldened human being and let

I emboldened human beings; and they are I them have chance to make new lies of Animal I kind of rumors. ] I Farm. ] I making new I I There was no thought of I l… Petrified;lie*0 rebellion or Filth, Disobedience in her mind. She knows that things were they were far better I I level as I [… All she can do is to grin and bear it. Nil lofting they had been in the day of Jones. I […… There is no bit of thought of rebellion Leslie of this, Clover still guesses that I I lord disobedience in Clover’s mind.

She I their life might be better than in the days I Jones. ] better than I under Jones’ rule. ] I knows that even though the life becomes loft I like this, their days are much I they had been When narrating the plot that Napoleon’s absolute rule over the Animal Farm and his cancellation of the conference, we can hear that Huh adopts a more harsh tone than If. For example, If translates the sentence there would be no more debates’ into [no need to discuss] while Huh renders it into [no further discussion is allowed].

Here Huh uses a harsh expression to show Napoleon’s dictatorship as condemnation of Communism. Hue’s severe expression can ascribe to his impression of Communism which taught when he was in school. This informs to Lifesaver’s idea that ‘such rewriting can be ideological. ‘ (Monday 125) In another case that concerning to the block of famine from outside world, If is faithful to the original text by rendering the fact’ into [this incident] whereas Huh translates it into [the shortage of forage]. Compared with If, Huh expresses the incident in an explicit way.

Similarly, Hue’s manipulation of the Lacrosse memo sees political power Ana Ideology. (Unnamable) As Tort Clover’s confusion about the holocaust, in Fug’s version, she holds an obstinate attitude toward what she’d believed; however, she seems rather skeptical and helpless in Hue’s orientation. For example, in translating Clover thought of rebellion and disobedience, Huh translates it [There is no bit of thought of rebellion or disobedience] while If puts [all she can do is to grin and bear it] that shows her helplessness implicitly.

Likewise, If sticks to the original text to translate the following segment which indicates Clover’s strong belief in the revolution by rendering ‘she knows’ into [she knows] while Huh uses the [Clover still guesses] to show her uncertainty. Both versions differ in translating the miseries of Napoleon’s rule. Huh uses strong words, explicit icon, and mournful expression that do not exist in the original text; If, however, mostly follows Rowel’s narration.

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