A Stylistic Approach To The Translation Of Speech And Thought Presentation In Luotuo Xiangzi

Speech and thought presentation in a fiction plays an important role incharacterization and plot development. For the same speech or thought of a character,different reporting modes will generate different stylistic effects, which add extrasignificance to the content. In traditional translation studies, people pay more attention tothe transference of S&T presentation itself, that is to say, whether the content of speech orthought has been rendered accurately is valued while the form is always neglected.This thesis focuses on the translation of S&T presentation based on the Chinesenovel Luotuo Xiangzi and its two English versions from the perspective of literary stylistics.With Leech&Short’s stylistic analysis theory as the theoretical framework, it selects threetypical reporting modes of the novel—direct speech/thought, free indirect speech/thoughtand “blend” mode for analysis. Combined with the specific linguistic structure and stylisticfeatures of Chinese fiction, it mainly examines whether the stylistic effect embedded in theS&T presentation has been reserved and reproduced in the target text, and tries to providecorresponding translation principles by analyzing the different stylistic effects caused bythe different treatment in the two versions.Through a comparative analysis on the original and target texts, it is found that thelack of verbal tense indicator and ellipsis of personal pronouns in Chinese languagestructure, cause ambiguity of direct and indirect modes in the S&T presentation inChinese fictions, thus the “blend” mode is produced. If it is rendered literally, the targetreaders will feel confused and the stylistic effects of the original text will be ruined.Therefore, the translator should well understand the features and functions of differentpresentation modes, select proper translation strategies to build a correspondence betweenthe S&T presentation modes in the original and target texts, and preserve the stylisticeffects and aesthetic value as much as possible. To be specific, the translator should payattention to several aspects: the relationship between the subjective consciousness of thecharacter and that of the narrator; impact of the context; coherence and smoothness of thenarrative flow; the distance between character and readers; the light and shade as well as sound effects in narration.Studies on the S&T presentation and its translation will help the translator bettergrasp the relation between the linguistic form and content, and adopt proper translationstrategies to convey the thematic significance and aesthetic value of literary works.Therefore, the study in this thesis will be of great significance for the application of literarystylistics in translation studies and the improvement of fictional translation.