On The Application Of Literary Stylistics And Narratology To Fiction Translation Studies

In literary stylistics, linguistic theories, approaches and analytical models are employed to study how linguistic forms, thematic significance and artistic value are related to one another in a literary text. When applied in fiction translation studies, literary stylistics can be a useful tool to analyze why "deceptive equivalence" occurs and how "stylistic equivalence" can be achieved in the process of translation. In narratology, methods of structuralism and formalism are adopted to explore the relationship between narrative forms and narrative effects in a given context. When used in fiction translation studies, narratology can help the researcher to examine whether the narrative forms of the source text (ST) are properly reproduced and whether equivalence in terms of narrative effects is achieved in the target text (TT).By combining the theories and methodologies of these two disciplines, this thesis forms an attempt to make a study of the three Chinese versions of Nineteen Eighty-four, a novel written by George Orwell. The study will first scrutinize the stylistic features and narrative forms of the ST. Then it continues to examine whether these features and forms are successfully represented in the TT. By using a tentative working mechanism, attempts will be made to explain 1) how the relationship between stylistic features/narrative forms and literary significance/narrative effects is constructed; 2) why "deceptive equivalence" occurs and to what extent it can be avoided and 3) how the "literariness" in the ST can be retained and stylistic equivalence can be achieved in translation. Finally, the study will draw a conclusion to answer the questions raised at the beginning of the paper.