Drama Translation: A Readability & Performability Approach

Drama was formed in the temple of Dionysus as part of the early Greek religious rites. From Ancient Greek till Modern Times there appeared countless drama writings and performances in various languages and cultures. As an indispensable part of literary treasury, more and more play scripts have been translated into one or even several other languages.The study of drama translation is, however, a less explored area characterized by a serious lack of guiding theory, and the theatrical performance dimension in such a study is often neglected. Consequently, translation society suffers from a relative absence of theoretical constructs on drama and its translation. Even within the limited researches that have been done on drama translation, great disagreement remains.As revealed by a survey of drama translation history in China, no one has ever produced any monograph on drama translation. There do exist some skinny researches touching upon translation of plays, but the major focus of their academic interest is on whether the linguistic and stylistic properties in ST are successfully recreated in TT. The study of drama translation in the West, in contrast, has generated many fruitful findings, especially since the mid-1970s. Nevertheless, their great emphasis placed on the performative aspect is at the cost of other significant considerations.Given the situations home and abroad, drama translation study hasn't yet enjoyed an investigation proportionate to drama as an art with dualistic natures. One way toward it has been identified in Skopos theory, for it not just advances a move away from static linguistic typologies to external study of translation, but provides a new approach to translation study itself. Despite its great significance, as the author has found, in guiding drama translation, Skopos theorists mentioned very little about its application in drama translation.The author, therefore, endeavors in this thesis to address three resulting issues: (1) how Skopos theory can be utilized in drama translation; (2) by what approach drama translation should be studied; (3) Why only one or two, among several translated versions of the same play script, can enjoy popularity with readers and survive on the...