A Relevance-theoretic Approach To The Translation Of Manifest Intertextuality

Intertextuality,a theory about text,is an important concept in modern literary critique.From the perspective of intertextuality,translation is an intertextual activity by nature.Therefore,it is not only feasible but also necessary to apply intertextuality theory to translation studies.In recent years,intertextuality has been widely adopted in translation studies,which makes it a hotspot in the research field.Relevance theory,a basic theory of cognitive pragmatics,has strong explanatory power to translation.It can provide a new perspective for the translation study of intertextuality.According to Norman Fairclough,intertextuality can be divided into manifest intertextuality and constitutive intertextuality.This study focuses on the former one.Based on the theory of intertextuality and relevance theory,this thesis combines qualitative and quantitative analysis to explore the translation of manifest intertextual references from three translated versions of Tao Hua Shan.Firstly,a comparative analysis is made among the renditions of Acton,Chen & Birch,Xu Yuanzhong & Xu Ming and Shang Rongguang.From the dimensions of informative,expressive and appellative manifest intertextuality,the translation process of and methods used for the manifest intertextual references are analyzed.Secondly,based on the main methods used in translating the manifest intertextual references in Tao Hua Shan,a data analysis is conducted to clarify the distribution and characteristics of the methods used for each type of manifest intertextuality and by each translator.In view of the similarities and differences,a qualitative analysis is made to find the reasons behind.The research shows that there are mainly seven methods used to transfer the manifest intertextual references in the three translated versions of Tao Hua Shan: literal translation,free translation,amplification,omission,substitution,annotation and literal translation plus free translation.The use of methods varies from types of manifest intertextuality and translators.As for the types of manifest intertextuality,translators used more literal translation and free translation for informative manifest intertextuality;more free translation for expressive manifest intertextuality;and both free translation and literal translation plus free translation frequently for appellative manifest intertextuality.Literal translation,free translation and literal translation plus free translation are the methods used the most in translating all the three kinds of manifest intertextuality.In terms of translators,in the cultural level,Chen-Acton-Birch’s version used both foreignization and domestication frequently;the Xus’ version mainly used domestication;Shang’s version mainly used foreignization.Besides,in the linguistic level,compared with the other two versions,Chen-Acton-Birch’s version used more annotation and the Xus’ version used more omission.All the translators adopted literal translation and free translation most frequently in translating manifest intertextuality.These similarities and differences are influenced by the feature of text,translators’ style and intention of translation,etc.This study further proves the applicability of intertextuality theory and relevance theory to translation study and provides a reference for translation and translation studies of manifest intertextuality in other literary works.