Foregrounding Theory And Its Application To The Translation Of Novels

This thesis aims to study the theory of foregrounding and its application to the translation of novels. The theory of foregrounding was originally employed in the poetry appreciation, stylistic analysis and translation criticism in early times. Later, Mr.Ye Zi-nan, who is a Chinese American, proposed that this theory could be used in the translation activities. Being enlightened by Mr. Ye Zi-nan and other experts and scholars at home and abroad, this thesis attempts to enhance their studies of this theory and apply it to the translation of novels in a creative way.This thesis has firstly reviewed some related studies of this theory put forward by experts and scholars at home and abroad (Mukarovsky, Leech and Ye Zinan are the foreign representatives;while Zhang Delu, Zhang Hui and Wu Jiangang are the domestic representatives.), then summarized their studies on this old yet novel theory;thereafter, the theory of foregrounding is expounded, which will make readers more known to the theory. Secondly, based on the "foregrounding" theory proposed by Mr. Ye Zi-nan as well as the "deviation" theory posed by English linguist Geoffrey Leech, after making positive comments on their achievements, the author points out that there are still some weakness in their studies;as far as the register (in which the theory of foregrounding could be applied to) is concerned, the thesis subsequently puts forward that the theory of foregrounding can be applied to more concrete translation activities, which becomes the ideological rationale of this dissertation. Thirdly, after making an account of the relations between the foregrounding and deviation, the thesis illustrates that the latter is the theoretical basis of the former: foregrounding is actually an intentional linguistic deviation. On the basis of linguistic deviation, the foregrounding theory is detailed. After putting forward three key questions to be solved in this thesis, based on analyzing the foregrounded language translation in the novel Foretress Besieged, the thesis attempts to prove the proposed theory is useful and effective. Finally, after attempting to provide the answers to the three questions, the paper brings forth the existing questions in understanding the theory of foregrounding and the studying prospects of the theory in order to guide the translation activities.Theoretical analysis and case analysis are the two main research methods in this thesis. The theory of foregrounding mainly relies on the theoretical analysis, and the translation of linguistic foregrounding in novels is expounded on the basisof case analysis (the thesis cites altogether 48 examples in case analysis), along with the methods of induction and deduction.The thesis consists of the following three new theoretical statements: (I) Giving a more detailed and theoretical account on the foregrounding theory. (II) Proposing the methodology of linguistic foregrounding detection in a creative way. (Ill) Applying the foregrounding theory to the translation of novels.