A Comparative Study Of Two English Versions Of P’an Chin-lien’s Speech Style

Chin P’ing Mei is a Chinese naturalistic novel composed in vernacular Chinese during the late Ming Dynasty. It depicts more than500characters and their speeches are distinctive and rarely identical which helps readers to discern each character.Speech by characters in a fiction plays a key role in characterization, which directly promote the development of the plots and expression of the theme. Therefore, the success of transferring characters’images depends on the successful translation of characters’speech. This thesis studies P’an Chin-lien’s speech style in Chin P’ing Mei from the perspective of literary stylistics.As a discipline mediating between linguistics and literary criticism, literary stylistics provides a new perspective for literary translation studies. In China, Shen Dan firstly introduced literary stylistics into fictional translation in1980s which has been proved an effective approach in solving "deceptive equivalence". It sharpens translators’sensitivity to the thematic and aesthetic values of the original work by providing a set of linguistic procedures that are scientific and systematic.Up to now, there are two widely acknowledged English versions:Chin P’ing Mei:The Golden Lotus (1939) by Glement Egerton, a translation from the Chinese original Chin P’ing Mei (also known as Chongzhen edition); The Plum in the Golden Vase or Chin P’ing Mei (1993) by David Tod Roy, a translation from the Chinese original Chin P’ing Mei Cihua (also known as Wanli edition).This thesis tries to, with a literary stylistics approach analyze P’an Chin-lien’s speech in two English versions at the level of lexis and syntax to see whether the aesthetic value and thematic significance and more importantly, the character’s image are reproduced in the English versions so as to testify the necessity and usefulness of applying literary stylistics to fictional translationThis thesis comprises of three chapters besides introduction and conclusion. The introduction points out the status of Chin P’ing Mei at home and abroad and significance of this study. The first chapter reviews the related studies on translation via literary stylistics, as well as the translation studies of Chin P’ing Mei. The second chapter serves as the theoretical basis for this thesis, introducing the definitions of style, stylistics, literary stylistics and deceptive equivalence. The third chapter examines the stylistic features on P’an Chin-lien’s speech in two English versions at the level of lexis and syntax. The conclusion summarizes the findings of the study, points out the limitations and possibility for the further study in this field.