Cultural interpretation of translator’s notes : the reception of western fiction at the early republican period in China as revealed from Zhou Shoujuan’s translation notes

Abstract

早期对译注的研究大多采取规定性立场,指明译者为何和如何加注。本文从描述性角度出发,对清末民初时期知名小说家和翻译家周瘦鹃早期翻译作品中的译注细加梳理,考察译注形式、种类和对象,总结分布频率,并尝试揭示译注中反映出来的当时对译注功能的看法,管窥20世纪初中国对外国小说的接受与传播。 Previous researches on translator’s notes were normally conducted from a prescriptive perspective,such as stipulating the situations under which the notes should be added or specifying the elements of notes,etc.Contrary to these studies,this paper looks into the early translation annotations of Zhou Shoujuan — a novelist and translator in the early 20th century China — from a descriptive approach.By surveying the types,forms and subjects of Zhou’s translation notes from 1911 to 1919,the study attempts to reconstruct Zhou’s views on the function of translation notes and reveal his attitudes towards foreign fiction translation at that age.