A Study On The Reproduction Of The Stream-of-consciousness Features Of To The Lighthouse In Its Chinese Translations

Virginia Woolf's novels carry various distinct stream-of-consciousness characteristics, the most of which can be represented by her To the Lighthouse. The work's senario is quite simple and clear, whereas it expresses a profound theme, namely the passing of time and life. This serious theme mixed with the varying stream-of-consciousness characteristics makes it much more difficult to understand, but in the meanwhile shows great value and possibilities of studying. Woolf adopts a brilliant structure which is filled with stream-of-consciousness, feelings and self-reflection to push forward the story. Retreating from the account, this time Woolf abandons omniscient view, the typical realistic creation method while relying enormously on the figures'monologue and straightforward impressions to catch those minor but significant emotional changes in their stream-of-consciousness. The translation studies of her works started in early 1980's, much later than the literary studies on them. To the Lighthouse has only seven translated versions since its first one in 1949 rendered by Xie Qingyao. Hence there's still plenty of room for critical translation study and try-outs.The quality of the translated works is largely lying with the extent to which those typical stream-of-consciousness characteristics can be transferred into the target text, in both senses of linguistic features and literary forms. This point is lacking in notice and study in translation circle. The thesis sets foot on the novel's stream-of-consciousness features, ie. space-time intertwine, sentimental and poetical, repetition characteristics, proceeding with the demonstration of those features in linguistic, stylistic and formal aspects and also analyzes the successes and failures of maintaining them in the translation. Certain suggestions and tactics will be concluded to show how to produce a better translation of a stream-of-consciousness novel.The entire thesis consists of three chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on space-time intertwining method which is one of the most conspicuous creation features in To the Lighthouse. In this part, the transplantation of space-time's expanding, leaping and flashback into the translation will be covered. Chapter 2 discusses how to maintain the sentimental and poetic characteristic through foregrounded images, rhymes and musical rhythms. Another distinctive creation method is repetition, which will be explored in Chapter 3 around the following three aspects, namely words with related meanings, sentences'alternation and repetition under the stream-of-consciousness featured context. The analysis and comparison on the three translation works also result in some relevant techniques for translating the relevant stream-of-consciousness novel. For instance, maintaining the original forms as well as using appropriate scattered sentences and conjunctions are helpful in reproducing the characteristic of space-time intertwine. The number of the words in one sentence and translator's way of dealing with the rhymes and tones would influence the sentimental and poetic reproduction effect. Moreover, in order to convey Woolf's idea about time and life through repetitive means, an honest representation of the original forms is the most effective way to reach this aim.