| Humor is a ubiquitous social phenomenon. It occurs in varied types of literature, art forms and people’s daily life, and has become an integral part of human life. As for the definition of humor, different people have different opinions. However, humor discussed in this thesis has been restricted to verbal humors in literary works. With the globalization of world economy, cultural integration between nations has been increasingly prominent. As an important carrier of human culture, literary works attract people’s attention through the ages. In order to cater to the public’s desire of knowing foreign culture, rendering of literary works becomes increasingly prosperous. Humor is a special form of literature, while it is also a difficulty for translation. As far as the translation of humor is concerned, a review of past researches indicates that a widespread point of view is some lexical humors are untranslatable. Some scholars even agree that because of the shackles of differences in language and culture, the humor translation is as desperate as poetry translation (Jin Shaoyu,1984:485). However, with the rapid development of cross-cultural communication, the humor translation can well be considered to be an integral part of cultural exchange.Linguistic humor is a kind of rhetorical phenomenon, because almost all the works of linguistic humor are successful in using rhetorical devices. In this thesis, the translation of humor in literary works is discussed from the viewpoint of rhetoric. Although there are barriers between languages and cultures and difficulties in humor translation, people have obtained new understandings of the standard of translation with the arrival of the cultural turn in Translation Studies. Based on this, humor is translatable. According to the viewpoint of functionalist translation theory,"in literary translation, people hope that the translator can not only transfer the information of the original text, but also the specific way in which the original information is transmitted"(Reiss,1971:42), so the main purpose of literary translation is to keep the formal beauty of the original text. In order to truly achieve the equivalence both in function and effect between the original text and the target text, and to reproduce the beauty in form in the original text vividly and accurately, the translator not only has to be qualified in using two different languages and cultures, but also has to work creatively. The application of rhetorical devices is an important part of the form of novels. On the basis of the principle of dynamic equivalence, the translator, on the one hand, should give priority to the representation of the rhetorical devices in the process of translation; on the other hand, he/she has to pay attention to the differences in language expression and culture and to ensure that the translated text can meet the target readers’ expression habits.Known as "the most delightful and carefully wrought novel in modern Chinese literature; it is perhaps also its greatest novel (Hsia Chih-tsing)." Fortress Besieged is a masterpiece by Ch’ien Chung-shu. A variety of rhetorical devices in the book Fortress Besieged give full expression to the language style of Mr. Ch’ien. In order to make the target readers get the same feeling as the original readers and savor the art of the use of rhetoric, the translator is required to make every effort to faithfully reflect the rhetorical features of the original text. To do so, the translator must first understand the function of the original rhetorical devices thoroughly, try to figure out the author’s intention carefully, and grasp the deep meaning that is hidden behind them. The translator is also required to deal with the differences between English and Chinese rhetoric flexibly and achieve the effect of functional equivalence between the original and the translated text.This thesis takes the Chinese and English versions of Fortress Besieged as a case study, classifies the rhetorical devices of humor used in the original text into different structural models, describes the formation mechanism of these devices from the perspective of linguistics, then explores the translation strategies of humor in literature.According to the Skopostheorie, the most important factor that can determine the purpose of translation is the receiver. In other words the expected target readers have their own cultural background, their expectation of the target text and their communication requirement. Therefore, the translator is required to adjust his/her translation strategies according to the specific translation purpose and to produce "a text for a certain purpose and for the objective receivers in the target language situation"(Vermeer,1987:29). The translation strategies taken by the translator in the translation process are determined by the purpose of the translation itself. The purpose of the translation of Fortress Besieged is to "make English readers have a greater interest on Ch’ien Chung-shu and his works (Jeanne Kelly&Nathan K. Mao)." To achieve this objective, the translator is required to be faithful to the original author (Ch’ien Chung-shu), and also should take into account the reader’s acceptance. The English rendering of Fortress Besieged is essentially a compromise made by the translator between the original author and the reader; and in a sense, it is the result of a compromise made between the Chinese and Western cultures.(Zhi Limei,2006) On the basis of the functionalist translation theory, especially under the guidance of the Skopostheorie, the translation strategies for humor as an end-guided action should be developed in order to achieve the purpose of humor in the translation brief. In view of this, the author of this thesis selects some humorous examples in Fortress Besieged to analyze the conveying of the humorous effect from the original text to the target text according to the functionalist translation theory.The first chapter briefly describes the object, purpose, significance of the study, approaches to the study, as well as the overall structure of the paper. The second chapter gives a detailed review of the domestic and foreign research on humor and the translation of Fortress Besieged. The third chapter is the theoretical basis of humor-related figures of speech with regard to Fortress Besieged:six structural models of humor, similarities and differences between Chinese and Western rhetorical devices concerning humor, and the principles of cooperation and functionalist translation theory. Chapter Ⅳ takes Fortress Besiegea as a case study, classifies the rhetorical devices used in the original text into different structural models, and summarizes the translation strategies of humor in the English version of Fortress Besieged.Chapter Ⅴ reveals the following conclusion:most humor-related figures of speech in literary works are largely translatable because of the universality of human understanding; while the linguistic humor and cultural humor are great obstacles for the translator. The difficulties indeed exist, but it should not be an excuse for the translators to give them up. As a qualified translator, one has to act creatively to make contribution to the cross-national communication of humor. |
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