On Style Transfer From The Perspective Of Stylistic Markers

As one of the most sensitive and complicated problems in translation, the transfer of style has always attracted the attention of translation scholars. The focus of western and Chinese translators'debate is the translatability of style and how to transfer the style of the original effectively. Many translation theorists have mentioned the importance of reproduction of style in their works. Tytler has advocated"The style and manner of writing should be of the same character as that of the original."and Liu Chongde has mentioned"Faithfulness, Expressiveness, Closeness"in which the"Closeness"precisely refers to the equivalence of style. Therefore, the translation of style is not only prominent but also necessary, and the research of it is of great significance in both theory and practice aspects. Through plenty of scholars'studies on translation of style at home and abroad, it can be found that style is translatable despite of the difficulties and obstacles, some translators even claim that the style has to be translated. Moreover, stylistic equivalence is generally regarded as the highest standard of literary translation. The author holds a dialectic view that due to the huge differences between different languages and cultures, it's impossible to achieve the stylistic equivalence consummately. In other words, the style can be merely transferred to some extent, what the translator can manage is to reproduce it to an optimal degree. Style is carried by language. No matter how abstract style is, it is manifested bythe assembly and arrangement of language markers, thus it can be recognized by distinguishing those language markers. Except the function of expressing linguistic message, style also conveys the underlying thoughts and emotions in a literary work, the writer's spirit and temperament as well as the aesthetic values. That is to say, the connation of style is composed of two aspects: linguistic and literary. The traditional theories about translation of style fail to form a scientific and systematic model on account of the drawbacks of subjectivity and impressionism. After 1960s the rapid development of linguistics and stylistics provides the translation of style with a broader angle. Influenced by them, Mr. Liu Miqing initially studies translation of style with a quantitative methodology and proposes the innovative and enlightening"Stylistic Markers System". Based on the linguistic and literary foundation he divides stylistic markers into two groups: formal markers and non-formal markers. From the perspective of stylistic markers theory, this thesis conducts a comparative study of the two Chinese versions of Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby to exemplify that stylistic features can be transferred to a great extent, and the perception of stylistic markers can assist translators to grasp the original style and then transfer it effectively. This thesis mainly consists of six chapters. At the beginning the author makes a brief introduction to the research background, necessity, significance and methodology. Chapter two is literature review which focuses on the translatability and transfer of style as well as the development and current studies on translation of style abroad and at home. Chapter three is the theoretical framework including stylistics and Liu Miqing's stylistic markers system. Chapter four introduces Fitzgerald's unique writing style, stylistic features of his novel The Great Gatsby and its two Chinese versions. Chapter five is the highlight of the thesis, which put emphasis on the comparative study of two Chinese versions of The Great Gatsby on the basis of stylistic markers theory from both linguistic perspective and literary perspective. Whether the original stylistic markers are transferred effectively or not will be checked through abundant exemplifications. Chapter six is the conclusion, in which the author summarizes the major findings, points out the limitations and put forward some suggestions for the further study.