Title: Lao She’s Sishi Tongtang and Gushu Yiren: A Study from the Perspective of Text-less Back-translation

Abstract: Lao She wrote Sishi Tongtang and Gushu Yiren partly or wholly overseas during his sojourn in the United States. As soon as they were completed, their manuscripts were translated into English by means of Author-translator collaboration and their English versions, The Yellow Storm and The Drum Singers respectively, were published in the United States. For some reasons, the ending chapters of Sishi Tongtang and the whole of Gushu Yiren had never been published in Chinese before their manuscripts disappeared, resulting in the loss of the original. Luckily enough, the timely English versions made it possible for them to be eventually resurrected in the Chinese culture through back-translation which, according to latest definitions, could be classified as unusual text-less back-translation. Going from overseas writing to text-less back-translation, Sishi Tongtang and Gushu Yiren have made a unique and interesting journey, witnessing the mutation of eco-environment for translation, the manipulation of texts under different historical and cultural contexts, the canonization of text-less back-translation in a certain period, and the possible disillusionment of canonizing back-translated texts.

Keywords: text-less back-translation, eco-environment for translation, the minipulation of texts, canonization, disillusionment

Author: Wei Lu, Associate Professor, School of Intercultural Studies, Jiangxi Normal University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, China.