A Study Of The Translation Of Speech And Thought Presentation In Two English Versions Of Chin P’ing Mei

In the paper, a comparative study is made to explore the enlightenment of narratology to fiction translation on the issue of speech and thought presentation from the perspective of narratology in two English versions of Chin P’ing Mei by Clement Egerton, the British Sinologist, and David Tod Roy, the American Sinologist.A comparative analysis in both diachrony and synchrony of the fiction on this issue from a perspective of development of narrative arts will definitely lead to much attention to these aspects and thus promote the quality of translator’s works as well as translation criticism.The present paper will discuss and analyze how various modes of speech and thought presentation in Chin P’ing Mei are translated in two English versions respectively and what kind of effects they produce from the perspective of narratology, on basis of which, we will make a comparative analysis between the two English versions.Large amounts of case studies indicate that Egerton tends to replace the type of speech and thought presentation in source text (ST) with that in target language (TL), which affects the focalization, narrative distance, narrative level as well as the attitudes, sentiments and ideology of the implied author. Thus, it gives rise to our reconsideration toward translation criterion, faithfulness, from the perspective of narratology. Yet, Roy is inclined to translate speech and thought presentation in ST as it is. In terms of text purpose, the translator should actively participate in the narrative communication, try to understand the purpose of the implied author in ST, and make the purpose of the implied author in the target text (TT) more close to it.Furthermore, after analyzing the difference in translation strategies between the two translators, we come safely to the conclusion that the translation purpose beyond the text itself has an effect on the narrative strategy. To achieve certain purpose, the translator will vigorously interfere in the narrative purpose, choose to preserve or vary the narrative strategies and methods in ST with reference to both narrative conventions. It enlightens us to introduce the concept of reader and context of the post-classical narratology to fiction translation and translation criticism.