Creativity In Literary Translation

Translation is a craft consisting in the attempt to replace a written message in one language with the same message in another language. There has been a circular debate around literal translation and free translation, foreignization and domestication for over 2000 years. No matter which side a translator takes, his/her creativity is inevitable because in the process of translating there is a loss of meaning due to a number of factors and, to make up the loss, the translator should exert his/her creativity.This thesis consists of three chapters plus an introduction and a conclusion. Chapter One is the literature review. From the development of both theories and practice of literary translation, we can see that translation is not a mere matter of linguistic transformation, but a creative activity.The creativity of literary translation is discussed in Chapter Two. First, I analyze the function of creative thinking in literary translation. As we can see, image thinking incarnates both the stages of the understanding of the SL text and the rendition of the author's message. Logical thinking, on the other hand, incarnates the stage of the understanding of the SL text. And inspiration helps reproduce or create images of the SL text from different perspectives so that the translator makes appropriate transformation creatively to meet the cognitive psychology of the reader. The three modes of thinking are inseparable and they are specific means by which the translator achieves creativity in literary translation. Then I further demonstrate the inevitability and necessity of creativity in literary translation. Alienization is a main characteristic of literary translation. And alienization expectation in literary translation urges the translator to exercise his/her imagination and produce good TL texts. Translation studies scholars, say, Andre Lefevere, George Steiner, Guo Moruo and Tan Zhaixi, recognize the translator's creativity in literary translation.Chapter Three compares and analyzes the main differences between three Chinese translations of David Copperfield by Dong Qiusi, Zhang Guruo and Song...