On Reproducing Literary Style Of Vanity Fair-A Register Analysis Perspective

The reproduction of literary style has always been a controversial problem in the translation circle. The translatability of style and the methods of style reproduction are the problems of great importance yet with no definite answers. However, the present thesis believes that literary style can be and should be translated, seen from language itself or from translation practice. Based on previous studies on style reproduction, this thesis tries to expound that it is feasible to reproduce literary style adequately with the aid of register analysis, which is also a rational instrument for the critical evaluation of translations.After proving the translatability of literary style by demolishing three arguments against it, and after summarizing the guiding principles of style reproduction, the thesis argues that style reproduction should be realized from two aspects: one is to grasp the general style from the macroscopic perspective, and the other is to analyze the source language and target language from the microscopic perspective, so as to achieve the correspondence of style. As for the style translation of a novel, the two aspects should include the translation of the general tone and of dialogues. This, in fact, is in accordance with the register theory, since register equivalence demands both the holistic equivalence and the equivalence of the three variables, that is, field, tenor and mode.In the hope of raising reflections on this subject, the present thesis takes Thackeray's Vanity Fair as an example for case study. Vanity Fair is a novel of strong stylistic characteristics. And its several excellent Chinese versions, Yang Bi's in particular, provide the best material for translation studies. Starting with an analysis of the stylistic features of the original work, this thesis selects some typical examples that reflect the original style the most, and conducts a comparative and contrastive research of four Chinese versions from the perspective of register analysis, and finally concludes that register analysis can be applied to guide the practice of style reproduction, and can be adopted as an effective instrument for the critical evaluation of translations.