A Report On The Translation Of Wencheng (Excerpt) Based On The Rewriting Theory

Wencheng is a long story with 194,000 characters,published in March 2021,authored by the well-known writer Yu Hua.It tells a series of stories about Lin Xiangfu and his daughter looking for his missing wife,and the background is set at the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China.The content involves factors such as history,culture,religion,etc.The author employs plain and colloquial language to narrate a miserable story,which can manifest his skillful writing capability.The work has not yet been translated into English.In view of the author’s popularity overseas,this novel is worth to be translated as it can promote the spread of Chinese story and the traditional culture and meanwhile enable the westerners to further familiarize the social life in the special historical background.The thesis is based on a Chinese-English translation practice of Wencheng.As far as the type of text is concerned,Wencheng is an expressive text,whose features are expressed in the following aspects: rich in a large number of culture-loaded words,flexible use of various rhetorical techniques,expressions close to spoken language,and extensive usage of idioms and four-characters.This translation practice is the author’s first attempt.Therefore,many difficulties and challenges will inevitably be encountered in the translation process,which can be concluded into the following two aspects: 1)For the frequent use of culture-loaded words with Chinese characteristics and expressions carried specific ideology which may conflict with the target culture,what kind of translation strategies should be adopted;2)One point that cannot be ignored in literary translation is the consistency of style,how can the adaptability be attained in the target language.Based on the above two issues,the translator chose Lefevere’s rewriting theory as the theoretical framework for the entire thesis.The central idea of this school is that translation is a form of rewriting text,and all rewriting regardless of its intention,all reflect a certain ideology and poetics.This concept can exactly give the translator an inspiration to jump out of the dilemma of domestication and foreignization.This report will employ case analysis to discuss the rewriting phenomenon in translation and its two main manipulation factors: ideology and poetics,as well as the translation strategies and specific methods adopted under different constraints.And it is the readers’ acceptance that the translator always bears in mind,therefore,when the social ideology of the original work conflict with that of the target culture,domestication and literal translation are adopted.Besides,strategies like omission,specification,amplification and so forth are frequently used.However,it is the translator’s individual ideology that directly affects the translation work.Given the goal of this translation is to spread Chinese literature and traditional culture in the western world,when translating expressions which contain important and typical cultural concepts,they should be retained in a way of alienation without affecting readers’ comprehension.In terms of poetics,the literariness and style of the original language should be considered,and the charm of the work should be reproduced in a way of conforming to the English styles and aesthetics.