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Stylistic Studies On The Chinese Version Of The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn

Posted on:2005-05-08Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:P ChenFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360122991771Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Translating fictional style is an important part of the translation of literary style. On the question of the translatability of literary style, both Chinese and foreign translators and translation theoreticians hold two different views. One is that it is both possible and necessary to translate literary style. The chief representatives of this view are Alexander F. Tytler, Eugene A. Nida and Liu Zhongde whose translation principles reflect this possibility. The other view is that it is impossible to translate literary style due to the differences between English and Chinese.So far as fiction style is concerned, the author of this thesis argues that by taking style as a whole, it is possible to translate fictional style, but the translatability is limited to a certain degree. There are several reasons listed in this thesis for supporting this argument. For the possibility of translating fiction style, the main reason lies in the similarities between English and Chinese which are illustrated at the phonological, lexical and syntactical levels. Nevertheless, the translatability of fiction style is limited to a certain degree, as there are linguistic differences between English and Chinese manifested phonologically, lexically and syntactically. So the translatability of fiction style is limited to some extent.In order to make this thesis more convincing, the author chooses the famous American writer Mark Twain's masterpiece The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and its Chinese version produced by Zhang Wanli as a sample to support this point of view, through a thorough and comprehensive contrastive study of the source text and the target text under the guidance of Liu Zhongde's principle (closeness in style). Here are some reasons for the preference of this principle.First, Tytler's principle, "the style and manner should be of the same character with that of the original" and Eugene A. Nida's principle of "dynamic equivalence" are too ideal and too perfect to achieve. Second, Yan Fu's "elegance" is too narrow in domain and not suitable for the translation of informal or colloquial fiction. Third, since "closeness" is the most objective and practical principle in analyzing the translation of fiction style, the author adopted it in this paper.Mark Twain is the first writer in American literary history who succeeded in introducing colloquial speech into American fiction. He did not merely imitated spoken English mechanically, and applied it ingeniously and cleverly. In this way, he created The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by means of polished colloquialism that is of artistic and distinctive local color. Generally, the style of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is informal and colloquial which is mainly reflected at the three levels of phonology, lexicon and syntax.At the phonological level, the stylistic features of the source text are mainly revealed in the aspects such as sound elision, irregular pronunciation, creation of sound image, popular use of onomatopoeia and dialects. Among them, creation of sound image and use of onomatopoeia are well rendered by Zhang Wanli in the Chinese translation, while elision, irregular pronunciation and use of dialects are not successfully rendered due to the differences between English and Chinese.With regard to the lexical level, the stylistic features of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn are mainly shown in diction. The novel chooses a lot of everyday English words, including colloquial interjections, slang and nonstandard words. In addition, Twain also employs some vocabulary that belongs to certain dialects and some words that he himself coins in order to heighten the local color of the story. The whole story, hardly finds any use of figures of speech in itself, plain in language, intimating in tone and true in life. Zhang Wanli handled diction skillfully and made the style of the target text as close to the original as possible.Regarding the syntactic level, the stylistic features can also be said to be plain because this can be examined from differ...
Keywords/Search Tags:translating fictional style, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Zhnag Wanli's translation, translatability, translation principle, translation methods
PDF Full Text Request
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