On Translation Of Rhetorical Devices In Chapter Titles Of Hong Lou Meng---Comparative Study Of Three English Versions From The Perspective Of Functional Equivalence

As one of the masterpieces of Chinese Classics, the content of the great novel Hong Lou Meng involves almost every element of Chinese traditional culture. Its chapter titles are worth researching because they are the essence of chapter title novels, and what’s more important is their abundance in linguistic and cultural connotation. Being regarded as the most distinguished feature of a chapter title novel, the chapter titles of Hong Lou Meng reveal their great charm and distinctive functions and features, and one of which is the adoption of various rhetorical devices.According to present available materials and resources, a great number of papers discussing the translated versions of Hong Lou Meng from different perspectives have been published, while researches on translation of chapter titles are not as many. In addition, most of them are studying two complete translated versions by Yang Hsien-yi, Gladys Yang and David Hawkes, John Minford. In fact, the first complete English version is translated by the Rev. Bramwell Seaton Bonsall in1950s, and its copy of original typescript is presented in digital format by the University of Hong Kong Main Library in2004; therefore, there are few researches concerning the first but unpublished complete version.The present thesis attempts to make a discussion on the translations of rhetorical devices in chapter titles of Hong Lou Meng under the guidance of Nida’s Functional Equivalence Theory, and a comparative study is conducted among three complete English versions, namely The Red Chamber Dream by B.S. Bonsall, A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Hsien-yi&Gladys Yang and The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes&John Minford. Five types of rhetorical devices in the original texts are selected, repetition, euphemism, synaesthesia, metaphor and metonymy. Through linguistic material comparison method and case analysis method, this thesis focuses on the different translating strategies adopted by the translators to create a functional equivalent translation, which makes the target readers understand and appreciate these figures of speech in the way original text readers do.Under the guidance of functional equivalence, in the way of comparative case analysis, the different translating strategies are summarized. Bonsall’s translation of chapter titles is somewhat literal, and the two lines of each title are translated word-by-word and phrase-by-phrase, which makes the English titles not as balanced and concise as the original ones. However, as for rhetorical devices, he does make great effort to achieve functional equivalence. The Yangs’version is better than Bonsall’s in constructing brief and balanced English chapter titles, while some figures of speech are lost due to certain reasons. Hawkes’ translated texts are creative in producing equivalence not only on semantic level, but also on figurative level. Besides, there are also limitations in this thesis which are stated in the last chapter.