| Summary: | This paper employed Lefevere’s Manipulation Theory to explain respectively how
three main factors of Manipulation Theory, namely patronage, ideology and poetics
controlled Zheng Zhenduo’s and Feng Tang’s translation activity of Tagore’s Stray
Birds. And then the paper will analyze their translation strategies by comparing
certain poems in Stray Birds. However, author of this paper did not aim to reconfirm
Lefevere’s Manipulation Theory, but under his theoretical framework, tried to
interpret translation phenomenon from an extra-linguistic perspective.
Through analysis and comparison, the importance of three core elements was
different in those two versions. For Zheng Zhenduo, three main elements shared equal
impacts on his translation. His individual ideology and poetics conformed to
prevailing ideology and poetics in those days, and his patronage also exerted a
positive influence, therefore his Stray Birds received favorable reviews.
In Feng Tang’s case, individual poetics played the most important role. Although his
poetics reflected literary trends to some extent, but that is still not the mainstream in
today’s literary market. The translator’s subjectivity in Feng’s version was clearly
stronger than Zheng’s. For the purpose of literary innovation and commercial interests,
patronage did not manipulate Feng’s translation too much. As a result, Feng Tang’s
Stray Birds was forced to stop sales.
Key words: Zheng Zhenduo; Feng Tang; Stray Birds; Manipulation Theory
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