The Post-Modern Aesthetic Representation In The Chinese Version Of Timequake: A Schema-Theoretic Perspective

Timequake is the last work by the famous American contemporary writer Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007) written at the age of seventy-five. Vonnegut, most of whose works are very popular and influential, is one of the major representatives of post-modern fictions which originated from the 1960s. Timequake, as a tour de force dedicated by the great writer to post-modern literature, is featured by the typical characteristics of post-modern fictions. Since its publication, it has received a lot of attention from a large number of readers and scholars, a popularity which is partly due to its successful translated versions. Its special features of post-modern literature account for the special requirements for its translation, whose key lies in successfully representing the post-modern aesthetic features of the original work in the translated version.The concept of schema derives from cognitive psychology, where it was first advanced by Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) as a thinking mode. Schema theory has been widely applied to the study of reading comprehension by linguists and foreign language teachers and it is increasingly used in the study of translation. The thesis attempts to analyze the Chinese version of Timequake with the method of descriptive translation in the light of schema theory, with an aim of exploring the question of how to realize the aesthetic affinity between the original work and the translated version, by reproducing the post-modern aesthetic features of the original.The research is summarized from three aspects. Firstly, in the process of translation, the translator uses his or her own schema knowledge to ensure correct comprehension of the original work and derive effective expressions which are matched with the original text, so as to realize the post-modern aesthetic affinity. Secondly, due to the cultural differences between the source language and the target language, according to his or her own schema knowledge, the translator should trigger the target readers' related schema knowledge, and even help them to build their new schema knowledge. The translator aims to communicate the author's intention to the target readers so that they can appreciate the translated work in essentially the same manner as the source readers do the original work. Thirdly, to achieve sufficient and faithful translation, the translator should keep enriching and updating his or her own schema knowledge.This study bears both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, it tests the validity of schema theory in the field of literary translation through the analysis of the Chinese version of Timequake. In terms of practical significance, it proposes several schematic strategies for the translation of post-modern literature.