On The Translation Of Speech Presentation In Hong Lou Meng

Hong Lou Meng, a masterpiece of Chinese classical literature, keeps its glamour in Chinese culture and enjoys popularity in foreign cultures for its translations in various languages. The translation studies of Hong Lou Meng have been on the rise and are gradually becoming the hot issue in the translation field, since the publication and spread of the two full English-translated versions, that is, The Story of the Stone translated by Hawkes and A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. So far, though there are tremendous translation studies of Hong Lou Meng, no matter they are from the micro or macro perspective, few adopt the narratological theory. In this thesis, we tend to study the translation of Hong Lou Meng from the narratological perspective, focusing on the character's speech presentation.In this thesis, we will discuss the use of the speech presentation in Hong Lou Meng based on the comparison of two translations, analyze the problems of and methods and strategies used in translating these speeches. Chapter one is the introduction of the research background, objectives, the significance and structure of this thesis. In Chapter two, the Western and Chinese modes will be briefly presented, and three modes of speech presentation will be discussed in detail: the Direct Speech, the Indirect Speech and the Blend. These three modes are to be separately discussed in the following three chapters. The discussion in these three chapters will follow the same logic: brief analysis of the speech in Hong Lou Meng, some problems that need to be noticed in the translation and the detailed analysis of the translation of this kind of speech in Hong Lou Meng based on two complete English versions. Through the analysis it can be found that the Direct Speech is the one that is most frequently used, with Indirect Speech and the Blend sometimes being used in Hong Lou Meng. In the two translations, Yang Xianyi tends to translate in a literal way and would not change the mode of the speech of the source text, while Hawkes would use different modes of speech presentation to transfer these three modes, which produce various effects. However, still both of them would choose the same translating way on the condition of keeping the original style and features.