Application Of Skopos Theory To Literary Translation

Among the various and brilliant translation theories, Skopos theory appeared in the 1970s is unique and peculiar. As a breakthrough at the traditional idea of equivalence, this theory opens up a new perspective for the translation practice and study. However, there is still some suspicious, among which the most representative one is whether Skopos theory is workable in literary translation. Taking The Scholars translated by Yang Hsien-Yi and his wife Gladys Yang as the example, the author attempts to combine Skopos theory with literary translation, and provides a descriptive analysis of the application of Skopos theory to literary translation. The thesis tries to prove that this theory could be applied to literary translation; it thus sheds a fresh light on literary translation criticism.This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter is a brief introduction to translation criticism as well as the comments upon The Scholars and its author.The second chapter is the literature review of Skopos theory. A detailed analysis of the theoretical background and essential ideas of Skopos theory will be presented. The author highlights three rules of the Skopos theory, which are the Skopos rule, intratextual coherence rule and intertextual coherence rule. And two translation strategies have been stated, documentary forms of translation and instrumental forms of translation.In the third chapter, the author first discusses positive and negative opinions about the controversy whether Skopos theory is applied to literary translation. Then, according to the text type analysis of Peter Newmark and Reiss, the thesis researches the text function of The Scholars and establishes the intended function undertaken in the translation. Based on it, the author gives a descriptive analysis of the illustration of three rules applied to The Scholars.The forth chapter is a case study on The Scholars. In this chapter, the author tries to prove that Skopos theory can be applied to The Scholars by some specific examples. Some allusions and figurative terms are also discussed in detail. The main translation strategy employed in the book is documentary translation. Meanwhile, considering the acceptability of the target readers, the Yangs also adopts the instrumental translation as a supplement.The fifth chapter is an assessment of The Scholars under the guidance of Newmark's basic procedures of translation criticism. It includes two parts: one is "in the translator's term"; the other "in the critic's term". In the author's opinion, "the translator's term" implies assessing the English version with the Skopos rule of the Skopos theory. Concerning "the critic's term", the author puts forward "adequacy" as the criticism norm to assess The Scholars. From this assessment, the author finds that The Scholars is a successful translation, for it fulfills the intended purpose of informing the readers of the Chinese culture. And the study, in return, proves that Skopos theory can really be applied to literary translation, thus it offers fresh clues for assessing literary translation.A conclusion has been drawn in the final chapter, which points out the findings and limitations of the study and what is expected to improve in the future.