A Comparative Study Of Puns Translation Of Hong Lou Meng From The Perspective Of Newmark’s Translation Theories

Hong Lou Meng, as the peak of the development of classic novel in China, hasunparalleled academic value in all aspects, such as literature, aesthetic and history. Because ofits status in the history of Chinese fiction or even the history of Chinese literature, Hong LouMeng certainly has the qualification to represent all the classic novels of China. In this fiction,puns are frequently used on many occasions, all with deep meanings to express and criticalroles to play. Numerous puns can be found within the whole context of the fiction includingsome poems. But since Chinese language and culture are largely different from those ofEnglish, it becomes an important problem to keep all the aspects of Chinese puns whentranslating them into English. It is from this standing point that this research is to study thetranslation of the puns in the novel Hong Lou Meng, aiming at providing a feasible way totranslate the puns in this novel while translating them from Chinese into English.Peter Newmark’s translation theories focuses on its guiding role. Although puns in HongLou Meng are a part of literature, they are used in names of characters and places mostly. So,puns translation should be practical. This dissertation analyzes the translation of puns in thenovel to study the feasibility of Newmark’s translation theories in realizing effectivetranslation of puns. By comparing the treatment of puns in English versions of Hong LouMeng, this dissertation makes a comparison between advantages and disadvantages of theversions and view the effect of the two versions in translating puns from the perspective ofNewmark’s translation theories.