On Lin Yutang’s Reproducing Literary Style Of Six Chapters Of A Floating Life In English

Six Chapters of a Floating Life (SCFL) is Shen Fu’s autobiographical prose. Itrecords his matrimony, travel experience, his leisurely and carefree enjoyments, andups and downs in his life time, which covers all aspects in society, history, culture andlivelihood. Distinctive Chinese cultural and linguistic words and expressions composethe unique style of SCFL. It is considered to be LinYutang’s the most excellenttranslation work. Selecting it as a study object and studying the translator’s specialcultural background and views on translation can make this study be more ofacademic value.Firstly, this thesis summarizes previous studies on SCFL, discusses thetranslatability of style and believes that style can be and must be reproduced. Next, itdelves into the relationship between the writer’s style and the translator’s style, andintroduces Lin Yutang’s cultural background and his views on translation. Then, itmakes a concrete analysis of its stylistic features from two levels, namely, linguisticlevel and cultural level, and analyzes the translation methods Lin Yutang applied.Furthermore, there are many fuzzy languages in SCFL, and it analyses the translationof fuzziness, to which the author put forward some translation methods.Through the above study, this thesis finds out that, though there are some defectsand flaws in Lin’s version, it can reproduce the style of the original in a great degree,which is still be a good example for the present translators.