The Catcher in the Rye has caught on in China for a long time. There are more than 10 Chinese versions, indicating its importance in the literature translation, among which, Shi Xianrong’s and Sun Zhongxu’s are the most representative (Zhang Yancui, 2013). Language style is one apparent feature of the novel, while profanity, an offensive expression, is one obvious characteristic of the language. In this novel, Holden Caulfield, a troubled teenager, burst out profanities unconsciously in daily conversation, even in the first-person narration. There are so many profanities in the novel that it is worth conducting deep and systematic researches into the translation strategy of profanity and taking this novel as a case study. 

Many researches have been on the translation of it, mainly on the contrastive study of Shi Xianrong’s and Sun Zhongxu’s versions. And they focused on two aspects. One was from the linguistic perspective and the other was from the exterior factors, including national ideology, inpidual ideology and so on. Besides, there exists a heated debate on how translators deal with faithfulness to the original and idiomaticness to the target language. 

As is mentioned above, profanity is a feature of the novel, but few researches have been on the translation of the profanity. And the focus of the two researches about the vulgar language is not on the analysis of the detailed differences of the two versions, but on what caused such differences. However, we all know that if we cannot find out the differences, how can we analyze the reasons caused by the differences specifically. Therefore, my thesis aims at contrastive study on the profanity of the two Chinese versions of the novel and analyzing the differences. And the references I adopt are newly published, almost within five years. 

1.2 Literature Review

1.2.1 Current Situation of the Translation of The Catcher in the Rye

The Catcher in the Rye, having gradually realized its literature value, has aroused the interest of scholars at home and abroad. In China, there are more than 10 versions of the novel(Ching-rong Wu, 2009), including Shi Xianrong’s, Qiu Donglin’s, Zhang Wei’s, Zhao Yujiang’s, Wang Weiying’s, Sun Zhongxu’s and so on. Among them, Shi Xianrong’s and Sun Zhongxu’s are the most representative. Shi Xianrong, a literature translator having worked on western culture for a long time, published his Chinese version of The Catcher in the Rye in 1983 and his version has received endurable attention. Sun Zhongxu, an amateur translator, has translated more than 30 books. In his mind, The Catcher in the Rye was a novel that had a significant effect on his life. It is said that it was The Catcher in the Rye that led him to the road of translation.

Many researches have been on the translation of the novel from different aspects and on the basis of  

different theories. While searching for the references, I kept four questions in mind. 1) How have the previous studies been carried out? By a case study or a contrastive study? Which Versions have they adopted and Why? 2)What were the previous studies on? On the language of the translation itself or on the external factors? 3)If the focus is the language of the translation itself, which aspect of language have they focused on? 4)What theories have the previous studies been based on?

Literature Review of my thesis is clarified according to the four questions.

1.2.1.1 Case Study or Contrastive Study

The total of the theses I have found related to the Chinese translation of The Catcher in the Rye is 43, among which, many focused on the contrastive study of Shi Xianrong’s and Sun Zhongxu’s versions, only three except. Zheng Na’s research(2014) took Sun Zhongxu’s version as a case study. She studied the vulgar language in his translation of the novel from the perspective of “ Faithfulness, Expressiveness, Closeness”(Zheng Na, 2014). While the other two took Shi Xianrong’s version as a case study. Wang Xuebing’s research(2012) focused on the translation ethics and found that “basically Shi’s version obeys the ethics of representation and properly combines with other aspects of translation ethics”(Wang Xuebing, 2012). Li Kaihua(2008) studied the manipulation of ideology in the translation of “Beat Generation” literature in China. The Catcher in the Rye is said to be the early representative work of “Beat Generation” literature. He analyzed the historical background of three periods after the 1960s and found out misinterpretations in Shi’s version. And the conclusion was reached that ideology, poetics and patronage manipulated literary translation and the researchers should not neglect the subjectivity initiatives of the translations. 从语义翻译和交际翻译的角度分析《麦田里的守望者》两中文译本的粗俗语翻译(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_49910.html