On The Translaton Hong Lou Meng From The Perspective Of Intertextuality

Originating from semiotics, the intertextuality theory is an important term in theWestern structuralism, in the deconstructionist ideological trend, and in modern literarytheory. It believes that any text does not exist in isolation and that the understanding ofany text is always built on the correct understanding of its intertextual relationship.Intertextuality provides a new angle, a new point of breakthrough and a new attempt toapproaching translation, both epistemologically and methodologically. It can to someextent expand the field of translation studies, bring new inspiration and inject new lifeto translation studies, and help us gain a deeper and more comprehensive understandingof translating activities to overcome difficulties encountered in practical translating.Hong Lou Meng is the pinnacle of Chinese classical novels. It is voluminous insize, broad and profound in content, deep in thoughts, and beautiful in language, full ofidioms, allusions and allegorical sayings which carry intertextual information withprofound cultural connotation. Therefore, Hong Lou Meng is an excellent text which isfilled with intertextual signals. From the perspective of intertextuality, this paper selectsthe most two representative translations respectively by Hawkes and Minford with thetitle “The Story of the Stone” and by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang with the title “ADream of Red Mansions” as cases for comparison to explore the translation ofintertextual symbols in literary works. The thesis is divided into four chapters: Chapter1is the literature review, which offers a comprehensive overview of the theoreticalorigin, development and classification of intertextuality theory, as well as its relationwith translation. In chapter2, firstly, the it gives a brief introduction of Hong Lou Mengand its two representative versions of translation; secondly, it illustrates the languagestyle and features of Hong Lou Meng, and finally, it classifies the intertextual signals inthis work according to intertextuality theory, and by selecting some cases, it commentson the processing of intertextual signals in these two versions——that is, the process ofcombining intertextuality theory with translation practice. In chapter3, from the view ofintertextuality, it discusses the processing methods of the intertextual signals in thesetwo versions, as well as how to interpret, explain and reconstruct intertextual signals.Based on above analysis, it lays a foundation for the discussion of common translation strategies and methods in chapter4. In chapter4, by explaining the English translationof intertextual signals in these two versions, it discusses commonly used translationstrategies: translation strategy oriented at the culture of source language or the culture oftarget language. Furthermore, based on the above analysis, some common methods oftranslating intertextual signals are listed, such as literal translation, literal translationplus notes, transliteration plus notes, free translation, free translation plus notes andcultural substitution.This paper aims to study how to accurately identify the intertextual signals in HongLou Meng, how to exactly deal with the pre-and the post-text, how to adjust thetranslation standard according to the subjectivity of the translator and the acceptance ofthe reader acceptance. Thus, this paper will have great practical significance to theselection of texts in intertextuality study and the application of intertextuality theory intranslation.