ABSTRACT
Chapter Two explores the translation of Taiwan literature from the perspective of the ‘cultural turn’ in translation studies. Accordingly, literary translation is perceived not only as a way of rewriting the original text but also as a means of re-presenting the source culture that is embedded within the literature. This chapter presents an examination of the ideological and aesthetic expectations of the target culture towards translations. It simultaneously shows how translation functions as a form of rewriting that contributes to the generation of cultural initiatives for assimilating the translated literature into the poetics of the target culture. The discussion in this chapter focuses on the more contextual aspects of translation practice, considered as an act of rewriting with a particular emphasis on how translation can be impacted and constrained by wider contextual issues. Furthermore, the chapter investigates how the rewriting of the cultural image of literature occurs throughout the process of translation and is reshaped either in its entirety or in a partially reassembled form.
