The Study Of The Translation Strategy Of Irony In Fortress Besieged From The Perspective Of Functionalist Theory

This thesis is an attempt to analyze the translation strategy of irony in Fortress Besiegedfrom the perspective of German functionalist translation theory.Irony is not only an important rhetorical device, but also the writing style of manyliterary works. It has been studied from the perspective of philosophy, sociology, psychology,pragmatics, literary criticism. However, the study on irony translation has been proceedingrather slowly. Since irony is a significant aesthetic feature in literary works, irony translationdirectly influences the quality of the whole translated work. After reviewing the research onirony translation that has been done before, this thesis finds that many scholars hold the viewthat irony is untranslatable and that irony cannot be reproduced in the target text. Ironytranslation is still a great difficulty in literary translation. This thesis aims to provide theanswer whether irony is translatable or not in the light of functionalist translation theory.German functionalist translation theory emerges in the1970s. It has been widely appliedto instrumental translation and translator training. According to functionalist translation theory,the end justifies the means. The translator chooses the translation strategy and decides thestatus of the source text according to the translation Skopos. Functionalist translation theoryhas made a breakthrough from the traditional theory of equivalence, liberating the translatorfrom the shackle of traditional concept of equivalence. It highlights the subjectivity of thetranslator. Furthermore, it expands the range of translatability. If a target text has fulfilled theexpected function or Skopos, it is a successful translation. Thus functionalist translationtheory provides reasonable explanation for some translation strategy. Besides, it states thatliterary works falls into expressive text typology. Since the expressive function, which ispresented as aesthetic effects, is the most important function of literary works, the translation of expressive texts should preserve the aesthetic or poetic effects and represent the expressivefunction of the original.Fortress Besieged is a masterpiece of Ch’ien Chung-shu, a great scholar and novelist. Itis acclaimed as “the most delightful and carefully wrought novel in modern Chinese literature;it is perhaps also its greatest novel”. Its English version, translated by Jeanne Kelly andNathan K. Mao, enjoys a great reputation and is awarded one of “the most outstandingacademic works”. Since irony is not only a significant rhetorical device but also the writingstyle of the original novel, this thesis aims to investigate the translation strategy of irony thatthe translators have adopted and to examine whether the English version has preserved thesame ironic effect.This thesis employs a descriptive approach, providing a case study on the ironytranslation in the English version. It finally comes to the conclusion that the translators try toachieve the Skopos of introducing Ch’ien Chung-shu and his works to the target reader andhence adopt the strategy of documentary translation. The translators adhere to the originalnovel and strive to represent the irony in the target text. They preserve the various rhetoricaldevices, such as simile, personification, hyperbole, understatement and so on, and thejuxtaposition of the incongruous items that contribute to the ironic effect in the original,thereby reproducing the same irony in the English version and achieving the Skopos ofrepresenting the aesthetic effects of the original. Therefore, irony is translatable. This studymay provide some reference to irony translation in other literary works.