Creative Treason In Literary Translation

Translation is a cross-language and cross-culture communication full of contradictions, especially in the light of literary translation. Literary translation is often considered as an imitation as well as creation. When translations were studied in the past, the faithfulness to the original work was main normative measurement. With the new perspectives, the translator as a research object has been brought into line with translation studies. Translator's subjectivity is recognized by scholars. Translators strive to achieve faithfulness to the original work as well as overcome the barriers to correspondence between languages and cultures. Translators can make use of their literary creativity to a limited extent as they transplant the heterogeneous culture into the native land or vice versa. Taking the form of literary creation and literary work, literary translation itself has its own artistic value. Due to its close relation with the distinct characteristics of literary translation and the translators' subjectivity, "creative treason" has become one of the most important features of literary translation.Inspired by translation theories and practice, the author of this thesis makes a systematic study of translator's creativity and treason in the context of literary translation through a comparative study of two English translations of the classical Chinese work Bian Cheng (Boundary Town 《边城》 ) by Shen Congwen. The thesis takes the essential problems of literary translation as its focus, pins down its key concepts and features, and analyzes the interaction, in terms of the overall artistic effect of the original and the translated works. By offering sound theoretical basis and respective examples, it probes the positive and negative impact of the translator's creative treason on literary translation. The creative treason in fact is the reflection of the translator's aesthetic flair, literary competence, cultural identity and translationorientation. It is restricted by the specific purpose of translation, the aesthetic norms of the target reader, the literary norms and the ideology in the target culture.It is the translator's creative treason that extends the artistic life of the original work. And the translation itself will exert an influence on the target literature, and it will even participate in the construction of the target culture.This thesis is divided into four parts. Chapter One reviews the definition of translation and talks about the basic characteristics of literary translation. Chapter Two starts with the discussion of the role of the translator and points out that "creative treason" is one inevitable feature of literary translation. Chapter Three compares two English translations of Bian Cheng by Shen Congwen and reveals the manifestation of "creative treason" from the angles of language, culture and style with the critical comments on the two versions of translation. Chapter Four is the conclusion part.