Reproduction Of Narration Type In The Yangs' English Translation Of Hong Lou Meng

Hong Lou Meng, a classical Chinese novel written by Cao Xueqin, is generally considered the greatest of all Chinese novels. It keeps its glamour in Chinese culture and enjoys popularity in foreign cultures as a result of its translation in various languages. With the publication of Hong Lou Meng's translation, the criticism and studies on the versions have also been developed vigorously. Since the first volume of Hawkes' translation The Golden Days was published, there have been more than 100 essays concerning the two versions done by Hawkes and the Yangs that have founded their way into various academic magazines and books.Generally speaking, the study on the translation of Hong Lou Meng can be classified into two categories: one is the macroscopic study. It goes beyond the restriction of the traditional prescriptive pattern "Criterion-Analysis-Conclusion" and the "Text Equivalence Pattern" and studies the interrelationship between the translation and the historic, political, literal and cultural situation in which the translation is produced. This category of study has the scientific nature with the focus on historical description and interpretation. The study on translation strategy, inclination, compensation of Hong Lou Meng can also be covered in this category, which also deserves our attention. The other is the microscopic study which centers on the cultural and linguistic phenomena. It makes observations on the relationship between the source text and the target text and re-evaluates the aesthetic function of the translation. Each type of study has its value and function, namely the macroscopic one helps us understand the exchange process going between different cultures better while the microscopic one is conducive to the production of better translations as well as training good translators.So far as the translation studies of Hong Lou Meng is concerned, few adopts the narratological theory. Narratology should be regarded as a young discipline, for it has gone along just for over thirty years. However it is considered as one of the most influential literary theories in modern times, due to its undeniable impact upon the literary study. The exploration of such techniques as fictional structure, narrative pattern etc. enables the fictional criticism to go more deeply and broadly. The narratological theory is usually applied to literary especially fictional criticism but it is rarely seen in thetranslation studies. Compared with the traditional fictional criticism theory, the classic narratology theory puts more emphasis on the analysis of the fictional text, which is beneficial to literary translation that also bases on the literary texts.It is held in this thesis that narration type, the crucial concept in narratology is of great significance to literary translation studies especially the fictional translation studies. A novel possesses its own elements and stipulations that differentiate it from other literary genres like poetry or drama. The translator is supposed to transfer not only the content of the novel but also the aesthetic effects given through the stylistic features and rhetoric devices. The style of the source text can be well embodied in narration type that is also a distinctive feature to present the unique techniques adopted by the author. Some issues like the translation of the supplementary marks in classical Chinese novels can be better solved within the scope of narration type. Before the translators set about the translation, it is necessary for them to make a thorough study of the narrative characteristics of the source text. Thus the narration type reproduced in the translation may be much closer to the original one and the translation may be more similar to the source text. The deceptive equivalence in translation then can be effectively avoided. What's more, the adoption of narration type to fictional translation studies offers a new prospective to translation criticism.This thesis attempts to explore the relative chapters in A Dream of Red Mansions, the English version of Hong Lou Meng done by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang by adopting the narrative theory to see whether it has made successful transference on three essential aspects that narration type mainly concerns, namely narrator, narrative point of view and speech presentation. It will also re-evaluate the Yangs' translation.Through the detailed analysis, the thesis reveals that in translating Hong Lou Meng, the translators strives to reproduce the original style and characteristics in a faithful and flexible way. So far as the reproduction of narration type in the translation is concerned, A Dream of Red Mansions has fulfilled the task and the translation is very close to the original in style. Moreover, the literal translation method adopted by the translators is proved to be helpful and successful in reproducing the narration type in the translation.