Applicability Of Functional Equivalence In The Translation Of English Literary Prose

This thesis is to give convincing proofs of the applicability of functional equivalence in the translation of literary prose through a comparative study of three Chinese versions of Thoreau's Walden.This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter gives the reasons why the author chooses Walden for her study: firstly, it is considered as a masterpiece of prose; secondly, it is highly valued and very influential on the character of the Americans for containing profound ideas; thirdly, Chinese people need such a book of beauty and ideas to enrich their spiritual lives in the period of stability and prosperity. In the second chapter, in order to make a systematic and scientific study on the applicability of functional equivalence in translating literary prose, this thesis first focuses on the analyses of the nature of translation and the characteristics of literary prose, and then it concludes that there are two crucial factors for the translation of literary prose, namely, the transfer of the meaning and that of the style. With reference to many translation principles and criterion, it comes out that Nida's functional equivalence is the very theory to guide the translation of literary prose for its emphasis on the transfer of the meaning and the response of the reader. The two main points of functional equivalence are studied with details. The third chapter, the main body of the thesis, presents a detailed comparative study of the three versions. The comparison is performed at two major levels: meaning and style, with examples quoted and discussed in details in order to illustrate the applicability of functional equivalence in translating literary prose. Firstly, equivalence in meaning is the chief goal a translator should strive to achieve due to the communicative nature of translation. It is a basic requirement for a translator to reproduce the meaning adequately into the target text. Secondly, equivalence in style is a crucial requirement of translation due to the characteristics of literary prose. The style of the original text should be reproduced in the target text in a functionally manner, i.e. the aesthetic effect manifested by the original style should be transferred adequately,...