A Comparative Study Of Two Translations Of The Sense Of An Ending From The Perspective Of Narratology

Julian Patrick Barnes(1946-)is a famous contemporary British novelist,essayist and short storywriter who is good at using narrative techniques.He investigates memory,time,history and death in The Sense of an Ending and it also contains rich narrative techniques to achieve his intentions.However,previous studies mostly deliberate the time,history,memory and death in this novel.Few studies explore the translation of this novel and there is no comparative study of its two Chinese translations from the perspective of narratology.Previous researches show that unreliable narration and different speech and thought presentations all have their unique functions in shaping the characters’ personalities and keeping the narrative flow moving fluently.Therefore,this thesis adopts the perspective of narratology to discuss the reproduction of the unreliable narration and speech and thought presentation in the two translations with the help of analyzing them in the original text.It aims at finding out whether the two translators had reproduced the narrative and aesthetic effects conveyed by the implied author’s narrative techniques well or not in the two translations.After analyzing and comparing these two translations,the thesis draws a conclusion that the reproduction of these narrative techniques and their effects can greatly influence the target readers’ understanding of the novel and their reading experience.Guo Guoliang’s translation is mostly loyal to the original text.He reproduced most of the unreliable narration and all four kinds of speech and thought presentations in an equal way,which ensured the narrative and aesthetic effects of them.The readers of Guo’s translation can get basically the same reading experience as that of the original readers.While Liang Yong’an’s translation is not that identical to the original text.He put more of his personal understanding and opinions into his translation of speech and thought presentation.It has its unique style,but it may be hard for the readers of his translation to get the same reading experience as that of the original readers.In general,Guo’s translation is better than Liang’s.That’s why his translation of the book title is adopted in the Chinese title of the thesis.This thesis attempts to compare the reproduction of the narrative techniques with the help of analyzing them in The Sense of an Ending and the two translations,thereby to discuss the degree of the reproduction in the two translations.It emphasizes the importance of reproducing the narrative techniques contained in the literary works in the process of translating,hoping to attract more studies on the translation of literary works from the perspective of narratology.