Postmodernist Fiction Translation From Perspective Of Seed Transplanting

Taken into shape since1960s in European and American continents,postmodernist fiction surprises people in terms of its special linguistic forms, writingtechniques and its anti-literature theme. When this new style of novel distinguishesitself from the traditional novel by employing unique expressions, forms and techniquesas well as embodying different cultural connotations, readers in China are motivatedwhile translators are confronted with new challenges. Firstly, the requirement ofkeeping linguistic features to convey the message that language and literature form isnot only the transmitter but also the transmitted in postmodernist fiction is encounteredby the wide differences between Chinese and English. Secondly, due to differentcultural climates between China and western countries, the postmodernist culturerepresented through postmodernist fiction can hardly reach the expectation horizon oftargeted readers. Therefore, the success of postmodernist fiction translation lies in twoaspects: on the one hand, what makes postmodernist fiction formally outstanding as it isshould be kept maximally in the target language; on the other hand, the core spirit ofpostmodernist culture such as chaos, absurdity, falsity and the like should be achieved inthe target readers to perceive the foreignness of the original culture. In a word, the keyto postmodernist fiction translation is to make sure the unique linguistic and culturalfeatures of the source text being faithfully reproduced in the targeted text.Transplanting the seed is applied by Susan Bassnett in her essay to refute theremark of Robert Frost that "Poetry is what gets lost in translation". It is mainly used inpoetry translation studies. This thesis attempts to transplant the seed of poetrytranslation theory in the field of postmodernist fiction on the basis of the similaritiesanalysis in such textual features as form and style between postmodernist fiction andpoetry, so as to handle new challenges in rendering unique linguistic and cultural styleof postmodernist fictions. With an aim of exploring the issue of how to achievelinguistic and cultural affinity between the original work and the translated work, this thesis takes an approach of descriptive translation through a contrast and analysis of twoChinese versions of Snow White in light of the perspective of transplanting the seed.The research is summarized from two aspects. Firstly, perspectives from seedtransplanting can be served as the guide for postmodernist fiction translation. Sincepostmodernist fiction attaches the greatest importance to the pastiche of symbols, genresand signifiers within its immanent semiotic systems, it reminds translators of poetrytranslation theory with similar attention to semiotics, foregrounding and styles.Secondly, such domestic translation strategies as the "mimetic form","analogical form",and "organic form" manage to overcome practical translation problems, which wouldbear certain theoretical significance.