Creative Treason In Translated Versions Of English Novels

By comparing the three different translated versions of Tess of the D'Urbervilles in different times,the author conducts the study of creative treason in translating English novels.This study aims to answer three questions:(1)What types of creative treason can be found in these translated versions?(2)Among three translated versions,what are the similarities and differences in each type?(3)What are the reasons underlying each type? In order to answer these three questions,the author adopts the method of qualitative research to find out how creative treason is realized in the translated versions.Three levels of creative treason are proposed: linguistic level,cultural level and aesthetic level.At the linguistic level,three translators paraphrase and adapt the original English words.They change the sentence structures and all favor the use of idioms.But the frequency of using four-character structure words,long Chinese sentence and idioms vary greatly.They occur most frequently in Zhang's version,less frequently in Sun's and the least in the author's.At the cultural level,for the similarities,the three translators choose domestication for titles of chapters,and foreignization for names of places and people.They apply footnotes to cultural-loaded words.For the differences,when dealing with cultural similarities,Zhang uses footnotes,but Sun and the author use no footnotes.The author uses simple explanation to minimize the use of footnote.At the aesthetic level,for the similarities,the three translators lay emphasis on the descriptions of all characters,especially the heroine.For the differences,when describing characters' actions,Zhang applies short sentences and rich expressions,the others follow original patterns.The research findings can provide references for future fiction translation,especially re-translation of classics.