Study On The Reproduction Of Style In Xiongdi’s French Version

With frequent and close cultural exchanges between different countries,translation plays an increasingly important and indispensable role in the promotion of human civilization and cultural diversity.In recent years,many Chinese literary works have been translated into the West.As a representative of contemporary Chinese literature,Yu Hua is one of the most widely translated and applauded Chinese writers overseas.To date,more than ten works by Yu Hua have been published in France.Brothers,released in 2008,was a big success in France.In the same year that Brothers was published,Yu Hua received the International Mail Award for Best Foreign Book for this novel.The success of literary works’ translation depends not only on the literary charm of the original work,but also on the degree of reproduction of its literary value in the translation.As a result,the style reproducing has long been one of the most complicated problems in literary translation.In the case of Brothers,his marked style,such as black humor and carnivalesque,made nonnegligible obstacles to translation.How to capture and reproduce the style of the original work as much as possible,and then foster its survival in a foreign culture,is not only a challenge that translators must face,but also an aspect to which the translation circle must pay particular attention.Based on this knowledge and existing studies on Yu Hua and his novel Brothers,under the guidance of Liu Miqing’s style translation theory,this thesis aims to assess the style reproducing in the French version of Xiongdi.This study is divided into threechapters as follows:In the first chapter,this study emphasizes that the particular style constitutes an important and indispensable part of the literary value of Xiongdi.If the original style was incorrectly transmitted,the value of the translated text would be damaged.Then,the chapter presents the professional experiences and the opinions on certain fundamental problems of the translation of the translators Angel Pino and Isabelle Rabut.The presentation shows that multiple identities,translator,researcher and publisher,could help them better understand the stylistic elements in the original text and reproduce them in the translation.And the concept of fidelity in the act of translating as well as the serious attitude they take towards translation ensures to some extent the quality of the translation.The second chapter begins with a discussion of the style’s concept and the introduction of Liu Miqing’s style translation theory.Then,with this theoretical support,based on a careful reading of the original text and the fruits of research in China,this study summarizes the most remarkable stylistic features of Xiongdi,namely black humor and carnivalesque.Thereafter,this paper selects some extracts which demonstrate the stylistic makers and which at the same time may become the obstacle in the translation.From a linguistic point of view,the translation of repetition is taken as an example;and from a cultural point of view,the difficulties are seen in translation of the typical objects at the time of the Cultural Revolution.The third chapter tries to review the reproduction of the Brothers’ style in the French version of Xiongdi.Four formal makers are examined one after the other carefully: register makers,lexical makers,makers of figures of speech and syntactical makers.As for the register makers,the vulgar language and colloquial language are the most adopted in the original text.And then,on the lexical level,Yu Hua showed a penchant for the use of political terms as much as for the excessive use of numbers.Then,we carry on an examination on the most presented figures of speech in this novel,that is,comparison,metaphor and repetition.Syntactically,Xiongdi is characterized by the use of long sentences.Through the comparison between the original text and the translated text,the study shows the different translation methodsand strategies adopted by translators in order to reproduce the original style,and then this study evaluates the effects produced in the French version.On the basis of the three chapters,we come to the conclusion of this thesis: the original style of Xiongdi has been reproduced to a large extent in the French version.The reproduction of the original style allows to maintain the true image of Xiongdi,and makes a contribution to the great success that this Chinese novel has achieved in France.