Ezra Pound’s English Translation Practice of Li Bai’s Poems in Cathay Based on Pierre Bourdieu’s Sociological Theory

Abstract

Pound’s Cathay is a vivid case of cultural exchange between China and English-speaking countries. The most translated Li Bai’s poems in Cathay not only promoted better reception of Li Bai’s poems in a foreign context, but also injected powerful vitality into the Western literary world. This paper investigated Pound’s translation practice of Li Bai’s poems in Cathay and specifically interpreted Pound’s internal and external motivations in the selection of source text, textual features formed through translation strategies and the reception of English translation of Li Bai’s poems by drawing on three main concepts: field, capital, and habitus in Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory. It was found that Pound’s selection of Li Bai’s poems was made under the influence of the combined force of utilitarian American sinology field and flashy literary field, which conformed to the mentality of the people in war, harmonized with his Imagist principles and reflected his emotional empathy with Li Bai. Pound’s habitus with cosmopolitanism and historicism shaped by American sinology and literary fields in a specific social background initiated his translation idea of “translation as creation”, which further formed such main translation strategies as the ideogramic method by image juxtaposition, formal freedom by using modern English in free verse etc., language energy by deletion or expansion, etc. Finally, Pound, with his wide social network and authoritative literary status carried great social, cultural, and symbolic capital, promoting better reception of Cathay, especially Li Bai’s poems. These results revealed the powerful interpretation of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological theory in literary translation and shed light on the communication of Chinese translated literature overseas.

Keywords: Bourdieu’s sociological theory; Ezra Pound; Cathay; Li Bai’s poems; English translations 

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