Chapter One Introduction..1

1.1 The Status and Influence of the Novel1

  1.2 The Main Content of the Novel.1

  1.3 Purpose and Significance of the Study2

  1.4 Structure of the Thesis..3

Chapter Two The Literature Review.4

2.1 Theoretical Basis: Skopostheorie.4

2.1.1 Development of Skopostheorie.4

2.1.2 Basic Aspect of Skopostheorie5

2.2 Cultural Default6

Chapter Three  Aspects of Skopostheorie used in this Translation 9

3.1 In Terms of Skopos Rule.9

3.2 In Terms of Fidelity Rule..11

3.3 In Terms of Coherence Rule..12

Chapter Four Analysis of The True Story of Ah Q in Terms of Cultural Default..15

4.1 In Terms of Material Culture.15

4.2 In Terms of System Culture.16

 4.3 In Terms of Psychological Culture..18

Chapter Five Conclusion20

5.1 Major Findings20

5.2 Limitation and Recommendations21

References22

A Study on the Translation Strategy of Yang Hisen-yi and Glad-ys Yang’s English Version of The True Story of Ah Q

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 The Status and Influence of the Novel

The true story of Ah Q is a masterpiece of Lu Xun, which has built an enduring monument in Chinese modern literature. The most important contribution of this novel is that it has created the marvelous image Ah Q, whose psychological victory is a splendid pearl in the world literature.

Lu Xun created an isolated countryside where Ah Q lived. This image not only has distinctive characteristics, but also has profound typical meanings. The True Story of Ah Q reflects the life of village and the bitter suffering of laboring people in old China, and it is an epitome of Chinese history in which people were oppressed by the landlord class.

1.2 The Main content of the novel 

The background of this novel is a village called Weizhuang. The main character Ah Q is a typical poor peasant who is tortured by rich people both in material and spirit. Ah Q does not even have a mile of land, he has no home so he could only live in Tutelary God’s Temple, and he even has no job to make a living.

Ah Q has been seriously exploited. For example, he lost his land and even his family name. Ah Q once said that he had the same clan as Mr. Zhao, and then he was beaten by Mr. Zhao and was asked that he could not have surname and let alone the Zhao.

The life of Ah Q is really a misery, but he can always win in the psychology. The first two chapters describe the characteristics of Ah Q intensively. He says, “we used to be much more off than you! Who do you think you are anyway!” (Lu, 2016, p. 15)  But in fact, he does not know his family name at all. And he always says, “My sons may be much greater. ” (Lu, 2016, p.17)But in fact, he even does not have a wife. He always uses psychological victory to comfort himself. For example, he says, “It is as if I were beaten by my son. What is the world coming to nowadays”.(Lu,2016, p.21) If it is impossible, he would slap his own face twice, which makes him feel as if the one who had gave the slap was himself, and the other had been slapped, then he feels satisfied. He is a poor man, but he also bullies others who are weaker than him. When he is bullied by the Bogus Foreign Devil, then he would touch the head of the little nun and enjoy the laugh from others. The behavior is so miserable but he and people in the village have no idea about that. The psychological victory is a way of being self cheated and making one could not see who they are clearly. People in this novel are filled with shame.

1.3 Purpose and Significance of the Study

 About the translation strategies, there are always many debates. The choice of translation strategies is difficult to make. Translators should obey Skopostheorie. When they deal with different aims, they should select different translation strategies. They cannot treat different translations as the same thing. As Skopostheorie requires, translators should take everything into consideration when translating. This paper will analyze the translation of The True Story of Ah Q in terms of Skopostheorie and in this way, it will figure out how to choose translation strategies. 杨戴《阿Q正传》英译本翻译策略文化缺省(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_43642.html