A Study On The Translation Strategies Of The Two English Translations Of Hongloumeng From The Perspective Of Chinese Narratology

Narratology originating in the1960s in France is a theory on narrative literaturebuilt on Structuralism and Linguistics. When introduced to China in the1980s, itsoon became an important method interpreting Chinese literary works, especiallyHongloumeng. However, Chinese classical narrative works which are deeply rootedin Chinese culture have strong Chinese characteristic narrative models andperceptions. Copying mechanically and applying indiscriminately will beunavoidably caused when the Western Narratology is applied. Chinese scholarsstarted the construction of Chinese Narratology in late1980s and studies on ChineseNarratology and its translations reached their record high later in late1990s, whichformed a discipline based on Chinese authentic culture and provided a model forliterary structure and skills of Chinese literary works. Yet there is no systematic studyon the translation of Hongloumeng from the perspective of Chinese Narratology. Thethesis ventures to analyze it so as to fill in the blank.The thesis attempts to carry out a study on the two English translations ofHongloumeng from the perspective of Chinese Narratology on three aspects: images,characterization and narrative time. It has analyzed the unique narrative functionsand artistic features of the two images in Hongloumeng and evaluated its two Englishtranslations with reference to the translators’ respective treatments in Chapter3. Andit has mainly analyzed the order of time, including two parts: flash-back andflash-forward in Hongloumeng and the representation in its two English versions inChapter4. While the characterization in Hongloumeng has heen analyzed in Chapter5from three parts, including characterization from the environment or concretecontext, from the relation with others and from itself and its conveyance in twoEnglish translations.Through detailed analysis, this thesis reveals the different translation strategiesby the two translators in different stages. In the chapter of images, there are threemain translation strategies in representing the narrative functions of the two images:the first is the maintenance of the image to represent the aboundant information ofculture and literature embodied in the image. The second is the substitution of theimage so as to make the plot more coherent. And the last is adding the image tocompensate the narrative functions. In the chapter of narrative time, literal translation is adopted to transfer the function of flash-back. While in the translation offlash-forward, words with strong Chinese characteristics are skillfully replaced withnative English concepts. The translation of the riddles is compensated with itsanswers. However, the homophone in Chinese causes difficulty in the transference ofthe flash-forward. In the chapter of characterization, parenthetic explanation and therhetorical device of euphony have been utilized to truthfully and faithfully conveythe characterization. However, the actions of characters have not been conveyedproperly due to the dissimilar cultural values towards women. A conclusion can bedrawn from the research that Chinese Narratology can provide a new perspective totranslation studies and it is hoped that the thesis can shed some light on the futureresearch on translation of Hongloumeng and Chinese classics.