On The Application Of Compensation Theory In Literary Translation

Two languages,however similar,have huge differences in terms of lexical reserve,grammatical structure,rhetoric devices,aesthetic value and cultural connotations.Therefore,exact equivalences.are rare,especially for literary translation,which makes translational loss inevitable.Due to the complexity of literary translation,translation lossis more serious.However,systematic research on compensation theory still lags far behind other translation theories.This thesis tries to study the content of compensation theory,including its definition,necessity,purposiveness,nature,principle and strategies.Especially for strategies,no conclusion has been reached on terminology,definition and application scope of each strategy.Through research,nine strategies are summarized---amplification,extension,division,fusion,substitution,transference,annotation,transliteration and paraphrase.Through literature review and the author’s personal insight,a theoretical framework is basically built.Translation loss takes place on linguistic,aesthetic and cultural level,and the artistry and abundant cultural connotation make Fortress Besieged a reasonable case for study.In the application analysis,the application of compensation strategies is illustrated on three levels---linguistic,aesthetic and cultural level.On linguistic level,research is done on semantic and grammatical aspects;on aesthetic level,humor and poetic imagery;on cultural level,cultural defaults and disparities.Examples are cited from Fortress Besieged to illustrate the application,and some examples show the integration of more than one compensation strategy.Through the case study,it is proved that compensation theory can be applied to literary translation and it depends on the specific content and translation tendency as to which strategies to use.This thesis enriches the theoretical development of compensation ’and promotes literary translation.