| Chapter titles of Hong Lou Meng, characterized by8-character antithetical coupletswith narrative function and high aesthetic value, set a paradigm for Chinese chapternovels. Since Chinese differentiates from English in the way of expression and nocorresponding language form of chapter titles can be found in English novels, translatingthem into English is no easy task for translators. When back-translating the40-chapterEnglish version of HLM abridged by Chi-chen Wang, the writer of the thesis finds that thetranslator endeavored to represent chapter titles of Hong Lou Meng and rewrote themingeniously in his own way. The systematic strategies of translation and rewriting enablethe translator to form his unique linguistic style. Based on the previous study on thechapter titles of HLM and by comparing losses and gains with other English versions, thethesis will analyze the linguistic features of chapter titles rewritten by Chi-chen Wangfrom the perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar and reveal the techniques andstrategies applied in the translation, hoping to provide a reference for the translation ofchapter titles.The40chapter titles will be analyzed in terms of transitivity and voice, theme andcohesion, and mood and modality. Following conclusions can be drawn:First of all, various process types and circumstantial elements are well arranged intranslating or rewriting the chapter titles, which helps to reproduce the highly condensednarration and contributes to vivify the characters.Secondly, people dominate the “theme” in the information system, by which thetranslator’s emphasis on the love story between Pao-yu and Black Jade is manifested. Inaddition, marked themes are adopted to emphasize or convey special meaning and avoidthe monotony of the language.Thirdly, the translator not only attached importance to the internal cohesion betweenwords, but took the relationship of the two lines of the couplets into consideration. Byapplying the structure of “In which…And/But/Nor” to the translation, the translator set aprecedent for translating chapter titles.Fourth, the chapter titles are all declarative sentences, and seldom variation of modality is demonstrated. Thus, interpersonal function serves for generalizing the maincontent and leading readers to the story.Although it is impossible for an abridged translation to represent all the rhetoricalfeatures and aesthetic values possessed by the source text, by combing the strategies ofdomestication and foreignization, the translator, on one hand, spared no effort inmaintaining the form of antithetical couplets and reproducing the poetic features such asparallelism and refined words, on the other hand, translated chapter titles with his ownlinguistic features which contributed a lot to attract the readers. In addition, Chi-chenWang translated or recreated chapter titles in a flexible, interesting and more or lessexaggerating way, which endowed the chapter titles with aesthetic values and provided areference for the translation of chapter titles. |
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