On Zhang Guruo's Translation Of Thomas Hardy's Works

Zhang Guruo, as a veteran translator, grew up in the period of May Fourth Movement, in which Chinese translation experience the second wave, and many foreign works and thoughts were introduced to China by translators. With the increasing number of translation works, the debate on translation methods had been brought about, which contributed a lot to Chinese translation cause. Zhang Guruo was engaged in translation all his life, introduced Hardy's works with smooth and vivid language, which brought him high reputation and recognition. Thus he is called "expert of Hardy".Thomas Hardy is an outstanding British realistic writer, who is dedicated to the creation of novels and poems. The works of Hardy mainly reveal the social reality in Victorian Britain, featuring the series novels of "Wessex", which is set in the prototype of Dorchester, the hometown of Hardy. Those novels portrait the stories happened in Wessex and reveal the local color in Wessex.Mr. Zhang Guruo is the earlier translator to translate the works of Hardy. What he translated includes The Return of the Native, Tess of the d'Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure. All the translations are popular among Chinese readers, which give them a chance to know Hardy and his works and to experience the presence of Hardy as a master. What helped Zhang successfully reproduce the style and thoughts of Hardy in the translations are the strategies he employed, such as Chinese four-character phrases, dialect for dialect, and literal translation with annotations, which meanwhile reflect the unique translation thoughts of Zhang—"the idiomatic translation for idiomatic original". Being idiomatic is the essence of his translation principle.In addition, the features of Zhang's translation bear his own traits. First it is the balance of domestication and foreignization. Zhang emplyed both the two strategies in his translation. Second it is the reproduction of the local color in Hardy's work. Third it is being idiomatic on the phonetic, lexical and structural levels. Based on Zhang's translations of Hardy's works, this thesis will systematically study Zhang's translation experience, thoughts, features and skills, hoping that it can make contribution to the studies on Mr. Zhang Guruo, and provide date and help to summarize translation experience, explore translation rules, and cultivate translators.