A Study On Sidney Shapiro's Translation Of Character Dialogues In Shuihu Zhuan

Abundant in China specific flavor, Shuihu Zhuan, one of the four classic masterpieces of Chinese literature, has been translated into many foreign languages and is well welcomed throughout the world. Up to now, it has several English versions, among which Sidney Shapiro's Outlaws of the Marsh is the best-known.Character dialogues play a crucial role in portraying personalities, constructing plots, explaining the background, advancing stories and creating the whole aesthetic effects in a fiction. As Norman Page presents, "dialogue in a fiction may nevertheless help to develop a 'plot' and enrich the reader's understanding of'character' and 'background' whilst at the same time no other manner of presentation could provide." (Page, 1988:3 )Firstly, through a systematic study on the characteristics and roles of character dialogues in Shuihu Zhuan, the paper shows that character dialogues in Shuihu Zhuan have such characteristics as colloquialism, plainness, vividness, conciseness and humorousness, and that they play an extremely important role in reflecting Chinese culture. Therefore, a study on the translation of character dialogues in Shuihu Zhuan helps to improve the translation quality of Chinese classical literature so that Chinese value system, traditional culture, religious belief, etc. can be better spread to foreign countries.However, when it comes to writings discussing the translation of fictional dialogues, there are only a few, not to say that discussing the character dialogue translation in Shuihu Zhuan. But it is noticed that some papers discuss fictional dialogue translation from...