左哈尔的Polysystem-Theory(多元系统理论)

Chapter5PolysystemTheoryIntroductionofItamarEven-ZoharProfessorEmeritusofCultureResearch,ofUniversityofTelAvivCulturaltheorist,notatranslationtheorist.OneofforerunnersoftranslationstudiesItamarEven-Zohar(Picturetaken1993,SantiagodeCompostela)Commandaworkingknowledgeof:Hebrew(mothertongue),Arabic,English,French,Swedish,Spanish,Norwegian,Danish,Italian,Russian,German,Icelandic,andafewotherlanguages.SystemPolysystemSystem:ThisconceptisintroducedbyTynjanov.Elements,Tynjanovargued,donotexistinisolation,butalwaysinaninterrelationshipwithotherelementsofothersystems.systemsLiterarystructureSemi-literarystructureExtraliterarystructureinterrelateddecidingSpecificelementfunctionSystemPolysystemEven-ZoharadoptedTynjanov’sconceptofsystem.HedevelopedthepolysystemhypothesiswhileworkingonamodelforIsraeliHebrewliterature.Inaseriesofpaperswrittenfrom1970to1977andcollectedin1978as“PapersinHistoricalPoetics”《历史诗学论文集》,hefirstintroducedtheterm“polysystem”torefertotheentirenetworkofcorrelatedsystemwithinsociety.Thusitisaglobaltermcoveringalloftheliterarysystem,bothmajorandminorexistinginagivenculture.PolysystemLiterarySystemExtraliterarySystemCanonizedformNon-canonizedformesteemeddiscoursesandgenres:Poetry…‘lessworthy’genres:Children’sliteraturePopularfiction…PatronageSocialconditionsEconomicsInstitutionalmanipulation…•Heisnotspecificallyatranslationtheorist,butaculturaltheorist.Buthispioneeringworkcontinuestoexertconsiderableinfluenceontranslation,particularlywhenstudyingtranslationinemergingculturesorculturesincrisis.Histhinkingabouttranslationsledhimtosomeofthemostprovocativehypothesesaboutliterarysystem.Polysytemwithtranslationtheories“Itisnecessarytoincludetranslatedliteratureinthepolysystem.Thisisrarelydone,butnoobserverofthehistoryofanyliteraturecanavoidrecognizingasanimportantfacttheimpactoftranslationsandtheirroleinthesynchronyanddiachronyofacertainliterature”.(Even-Zohar,1978)•JustasthephilosopherChomskyuseslinguisticstostudyhowthehumanbrainfunctioninhisphilosophy,Even-Zoharregardstranslatedliteratureasaneffectivewaytostudyhowthepolysystemposeeffectontranslatedliterature.Hebelievesthroughtheanalysisoftherelationshipoftranslatedtooriginalliteraryworks,hecouldarriveatabetterunderstandingofthenatureofpolysystem.PolysytemwithtranslationtheoriesPolysystemtheory•Even-Zoharincorporatedthedatacollectedfromhisobservationsonhowtranslationsfunctioninvarioussocieties.Hedevelopedanapproach”Polysystemtheory”toexplainthefunctionofallkindsofwritingwithinagivenculture.•Hisdatashowedthattranslatedliteraturefunctionsdifferentlydependingupontheage,strength,andstabilityoftheparticularliterarypolysystem.Polysystemdeterminesthepolysystemtheory•Even-Zoharexploredtherelationshipbetweenthetranslatedtextsandtheliterarypolysysteminthreeaspects:1.Reclassificationsofthepositionoftranslationwithinvaryingculturalsystems.2.Howtextstobetranslatedareselectedbythereceivingculture.3.Howtranslatedtextsadoptcertainnormsandfunctionsasaresultoftheirrelationtoothertargetlanguagesystem.Reclassification•Previousclassification:Allthetranslationswereinvariablyclassifiedassecondarysystem.Theliterarytranslationwasconsideredsecondaryactivity,mechanical,ratherthancreative,neitherworthyofseriouscriticalattention.•Even-Zoharargued:Itdepends!Notallpolysystemsarethesame.Suchclassificationwasinaccurate.Polysystemsoflarger,olderculturesAnglo-American&FrenchLengthandself-sufficiencyoftheirtraditionsRelegatetranslatedliteraturetothemarginsofsocietySecondarysystemReason:HaveAll！Well-developedliterarytraditionsManydifferentkindsofwritingOriginalwritingproducesinnovationsinideasandformsindependentoftranslation•Inthishistoricalsituation,translationoften(butnotnecessarilyalways)assumesformsalreadyestablishedasadominanttypewithinaparticulargenre,andthetranslatedliteraturetendstoremainfairlyconservative,adheringtonormswhichthe“higher”formshavealreadyrejected.Interestingly,despiteplayingasecondaryrole,translationsproducedunderthesecircumstancesmayparadoxicallyintroducenewideasintoaculturewhileatthesametimepreservingtraditionalforms.PolysytemofyoungerorsmallernationsIsrael&theLowCountriesThetranslatedliteratureplayedamorecentralroleReason:TolearnAll！拿来主义Threecircumstances:Maintainingaprimaryposition1.Whenaliteratureisyoung,orintheprocessofbeingestablished.i.e.Israel;Czechin19th；我国清末明初Translationfulfillstheneedofayoungliteraturetouseitsnewlanguageforasmanydifferentkindsofwritingaspossible.Sinceitcannotcreateallformsandgenres,translatedtextsmayserveasthemostimportantforacertainamounttime.Threecircumstances:Maintainingaprimaryposition2.Whenaliteratureis“peropheral”,or“weak”orboth.i.e.Israel;theLowCountries；我国文革期间Theycannotproduceallthekindsofwritingastronger,largersystemcan—thusitsinabilitytoproduceinnovationsandsubsequentdependencyupontranslationtointroduceprecedent-settingtexts.Insuchcircumstances,translatedtextsservenotonlyasamediumthroughwhichnewideascanbeimported,butalsoastheformofwritingmostfrequentlyimitatedby“creative”writersinthenativelanguage.Threecircumstances:Main