Literary Translation In The Perspective Of Dynamics Of Adaptability

Jef. Verschueren, Secretary-General of International Pragmatics Association, assumes language use should be a continuous making of linguistic choices with different degree of salience for the purpose of adaptation in his adaptation theory.And translation------a special form of language use, is a cross-culturalcommunication, which therefore can be approached by Verschueren's theory of adaptation.Dynamics of adaptability is the centre in the theory of adaptation which means the dynamic generation of meaning in language use, and dynamics of adaptability can be embodied from three particularly salient factors: (1) The temporal dimension: It is the bare fact that language use takes place over time. (2) Dynamics and context: Context is dynamic, including social context, mental context, cultural identity context and so on. (3) Dynamics and structure: The utterer and interpreter can move back and forth along the basically linear dimension at any stage in the process of meaning generation.On the basis of dynamics of adaptability, this article tries to probe into a debate-intriguing translated version—Herbert Allen Giles' rendition of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by contrasting with two other major English versions of Liaozhai Tales and tries to find out the differences and the causes of the differences in the three versions of Liaozhai Tales, aiming at reaching a new understanding of Giles' Strange Stories of a Chinese Studio. This thesis consists of 6 chapters. Chapter 1 aims to provide a general introduction to the study. It explains the reasons and motivations of the study as well as presented the literature review of related researches and theoretical foundation. Chapter 2, 3 and 4 provide detailed analyses of the three aspects of dynamics of adaptability applied to the three English versions of Liaozhai Tales. Chapter 2 is the focus of the temporal dimension involved in the three English versions. Chapter 3 deals with the context involved in different translations. Chapter 4 mainly discusses the contrasts of the linguistic features in the three different versions. Chapter 5 centers on the analysis of the translation strategies supposed to be used in the three versions. Chapter 6 is to conclude the whole study.Through contrast and analysis, the following conclusions can be obtained: a) Re-translation is necessary; b) There is no ultimate version; c) The criterion of translation ought to be constantly modified to make it adapt to different times, contexts and communicative purposes. Thus the application of dynamics of adaptability theory in translation provides a new thinking and broader space for translation study as well as offers convincing explanations about translation. In conclusion, the translating model of dynamics of adaptability provides significant guidance for translation practice.