A Comparative Study On Two Translation Versions Of Jane Eyre From Linguistic And Extralinguistic Perspectives

Jane Eyre, a representative work of Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855), a British novelist in the nineteenth century, depicts an intricate love story of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, molds a strong-willed woman who dares to fight with customs and destiny in pursuit of independence, equality and freedom and discloses the hypocrisy of the religion, the mercilessness, extravagance and affectation of the gentry. Since its publication, it has never ceased to inspire generation after generation of readers who see in it the value of development and self-realization. Chinese readers still find themselves appreciating the independence of Jane Eyre. The popularity of the novel conduces to the publication of Chinese translations of Jane Eyre. There are dozens of Chinese versions of Jane Eyre; among these, Li Jiye's and Huang Yuanshen's versions stand out prominently. The first complete version is translated by Li Jiye(李霁 野). It appears first as a serial by World Literature(世界文库) and then in whole with the title of Jian Ai Zi Zhuan( 《简·爱自传》) by Culture and Life Press(文化生活出版社). It is published again with a changed name Jian Ai(《简·爱》) and reprinted several times. Li Jiye revises his translation of Jane Eyre in the 1980's. Li Jiye's version is popular among the readers and wins success. Huang Yuanshen's (黄源深) version is published by Yilin Press and Huang's annotation also appeares in the original work published by Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. Readers sing high praise for Huang's version. Readers' acceptance also demonstrates its success. How to appreciate and choose the Chinese versions oiJane Eyre becomes an issue of interest for readers. In consequence a lot of articles on translations of Jane Eyre come out;however, most of them focus on language and tend to make a simple conclusion that one is better than the other without probing the deep reasons for the differences between the versions. Therefore, this thesis attempts to analyze two translation versions of Jane Eyre by Li Jiye and Huang Yuanshen, from linguistic and extralinguistic perspectives to show that different historical backgrounds, ideology, patronage and dominant poetics do influence translators' translation principles and strategies which in turn affect the translations. And then it analyzes the two versions at the level of language, style and culture respectively, and concludes that different versions are reasonable and acceptable so long as they meet the demands of different ages, express translators' translation principles and strategies faithfully; and the translators of new generation may take all the factors mentioned above into consideration to make their translations in accordance with the demands of the ages. Apart from the introduction and the conclusion, the thesis is divided into five chapters.The introduction briefly generalizes the theme and structure of the thesis.Chapter One gives a brief introduction of Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre and its translation in China as well as factors influencing translation.Chapter Two introduces the background information of the translation of Jane Eyre in the 1930's, 1980's and after 1990's from the perspectives of historical background, ideology, patronage, dominant poetics and translators' translation principles. It also mentions readers' acceptance of the two versions.Chapter Three makes a comparative study of the two versions at the linguistic level, covering diction, collocation, Europeanized grammar and mistranslation.Chapter Four analyses the styles expressed in the dialogue, psychology description and scene description.Chapter Five makes a comparative study at the level of culture to show that Li tends to adopt the translation strategy of domestication while Huanghas a tendency of foreign ization though both of them adopt the two translation strategies to some extent.The conclusion sums up the whole thesis to prove that the differences are caused by the factors mentioned in Chapter Two and different readers' acceptance of the versions verifies their success. In appreciating different versions, the reviewers should analyze them not only at the linguistic level, but also at the extralinguistic level to make a justified and objective comment by taking all the relevant factors into consideration. And this can further guide the future translation practice, help translators to translate better versions and make China's translation more prosperous.