| Although Ru Lin Wai Shi is honored as the culmination of classical Chinese fiction with Hong Lou Meng, scholars in translation studies circle have shown far less concern for the former than the latter. Therefore, one of the aims of this thesis is to help change the unbalanced situation in promoting traditional Chinese culture by choosing Ru Lin Wai Shi as an object of the case study.The Scholars, the English version of Ru Lin Wai Shi by Yang Xianyi and Gladsy Yang, exists as the single English version of full translation. So far, scholars have done some research on the Yangs' translation, which focuses on equivalence at different linguistic levels, say, at the level of words, expressions, sentences etc, and dealing with cultural information, cultural-loaded words and expressions in particular, between the source text and the target text. However, few have done any research on transference of formal technique of the novel. Hence, this thesis attempts to take narratology as a tool and explore English translation of Ru Lin Wai Shi at the level of formal technique.As an important constitute of western literary theory, narratology is confined within the field of literary criticism, especially of fictional criticism. Based on the structural analysis of a literary work, it aims at overall and scientific research into the writing technique such as the structure of a novel and narrative patterns. Since narratology concerns the study of fictional formal technique, applying it in fictional translation will definitely overcome the arbitrariness in fictional analysis caused by traditional approaches, which is characterized with impressionistic talks and intuitive analysis of issues such as style.Narratology has developed from classical narratology to postclassical narratology. Classical narratology focuses on the form of a literary work, namely, devices adopted at the level of discourse while postclassical narratology extends beyond a text and concerns factors like reader and social context. Since we discuss transference of some important devices at the level of discourse, not considering factors beyond the literary text in point, we choose classical narratology as the perspective.Genette, a representative figure in classical narratology, divides discourse into three categories: tense, mood and voice. With little alteration in tense and voice when transferred, the most closely linked with fictional translation is the category of mood. It is narrative mood that deals with the original author's manipulation of narrator and characters. The style of the original author, the expressive devices and the unique aesthetic value are all conveyed through his/her manipulation and embodied in narrative mood. Hence, it is held that narrative mood, the crucial concept in narratology, is of great significance to literary translation, especially fictional translation. Before a translator sets about translation, it is of necessity to make a thorough study of narrative characteristics of the source text. Thus the narrative mood reconstructed in the translation may be much closer to the original one and translation may be similar to the source text. Also, the "deceptive equivalence" can be effectively avoided with a full transference of both content and form.The thesis attempts to explore Ru Lin Wai Shi and its English version The Scholars and analyze typical examples from various chapters by adopting narrative theory to find out whether it has made successful transference on four essential aspects of narrative mood, namely, focalization, speech presentation, narrative of events and narrator. Through meticulous analysis, the thesis reveals that the translators strive to reconstruct the original style and characteristics in translation in a faithful and flexible way. It is concluded that reconstruction of narrative mood has been done to preserve original style and narrative characteristics in translation and achieve equivalence in both content and form between the source text and the target text.
|
PDF Full Text Request