The Treatment Of Cultural Differences In Literary Translation

Translation is a bilingual and bicultural activity. Different cultures have generalities, but also differences. Cultural differences are difficulties and obstacles to translation, espcially to literary translation. The main function of literary translation is to transmit the source-language culture,enrich the target-language culture and promote the cultural exchange. Cultural differences can be classified into cultural inclusion, cultural conflict and cultural zero according to the relationship between the two different cultures. There are two strategies,foreignization and demestication, to treat the cultural differences in literary translation.,but the translation methods of the treament is flexible and diversiform.Gone with the Wind is a novel set in the American Civil War and Reconstruction. In the novel, the American characteristic culture is fully embodied. Since the first publishment in 1936, it has been a worldwide best-seller. There are quite a few Chinese versions. The thesis studies the treatment of cultural differences in the Chen Liangting's Chinese version from the aspects of ecologcal culture, material culture, social culture, religious culture and language.In the treatment of cultural differences in Chen Liangting's version, foreignization is dominant and demestication is supplementary. On the whole, the Chen's version is faithful to the cultural reality of the original, let the readers feel the otherness in the text and succeeds in the cultural transmission and communication. But it has some drawbacks.The thesis analyses the reasons of the translators'selecting the translation strategies and methods.From the study of the Chen's version of the novel Gone with the Wind, the thesis draw an conclusion as follows:1) In the treatment of cultural differences in literary translion, translators should keep a balance between foreignization and domestication so that the tranlated version can both transmit the source-language culture and be easily accepted by the target-language readers.2) The translators should treat different kinds of cultural differences in a different way.