Report On Chinese Translation Of Character Depiction In Alexander’s Bridge From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

Alexander’s Bridge is the first novel work written by Willa Cather, a femaleAmerican Pulitzer Prize winner in the first half of the twentieth century. It is a verytouching, brilliantly written novel which is worthy of being recommended to Chinesereaders. Willa Cather’s descriptions bring us brilliant images of various kinds of people.In the light of skopos theory, the prime principle determining any translation process isthe purpose of the overall translation. It views translation as a purposeful activityconcerning culture and the intention of target readers. There are three rules forevaluating translation including skopos rule, coherent rule and fidelity rule in Skopostheory. The strategy applied in the translating process is subject to the translator’sskopos but also decided by the target text. To make the translation readable, the authorof source text and reader’s requirements are taken into consideration. The translatorchose domestication and foreignization as the main translation strategies.Within the framework of skopos theory, this report attempts to analyze thetranslation in portraying characters’ images which is essential in the translation of thewhole novel and therefore convey the aesthetic feeling of the novel. And in thetranslating process, I found some factors have to be taken into consideration, such as thecharacter’s individuality, their inner world and interrelationships. In this report, thetranslation strategy adopted in portraying characters’ images in the novel Alexander’sBridge is explored from three perspectives, translation of action description, translationof dialogue description and translation of appearance description. The introduction ofobject involves item selection procedure, artistic features of the novel. In regard to theprocedure of translation, three parts are mentioned, such as preparations beforetranslating process, the duration of translating process, means of quality control. In the section of case study, the characters’ images portraying are explored.