A Study On Julia Lovell’s Translation Of Se, Jie From The Perspective Of An Approach To Translation As Adaptation And Selection

Eileen Chang is an excellent Chinese modern writer, whose works are full of distinctive features. In recent years, her short story Se, Jie has attracted unprecedented attention after Ang Lee has adapted it into a film in 2007. The English translation of Se, Jie has been well-accepted in the English world since it was first published in 2007 with the name of Lust, Caution, which can be viewed as a successful model for the translations of Chinese literature into English. However, so far, there are few studies being conducted on this English translation. This thesis studies Julia Lovell’s Lust, Caution from the perspective of An Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection. By conducting contrastive analyses on the source text and target text and applying Hu Gengshen’s An Approach to Translation as Adaptation and Selection, it aims to find out why it is well-accepted in the English world. It is hoped that this thesis can bring a little enlightenment to the translation of Chinese literature into English.The Approach, a translator-centered theory, provides a new perspective for the translation studies. Compared to traditional translation theories, the Approach has grasped the influential factors for the translation process more thoroughly and more systematically. This thesis mainly makes use of the explanation functions of the Approach to explore the reason why Lust, Caution is well-accepted.This thesis analyzes Julia Lovell’s adaptations and selections in terms of “needs”, “competence” and “environment”. Her adaptations and selections in terms of “environment” are mainly discussed from the linguistic, cultural and communicative dimensions. Analyses on her adaptations and selections in linguistic dimension mainly concentrate on the syntax differences between Chinese and English. Analyses on her adaptations and selections in cultural dimension mainly concentrate on the translation of culture-loaded words. Analyses on her adaptations and selections in communicative dimension mainly concentrate on the delivery of communicative intentions. The adaptive selections and transformations in the three dimensions are interweaved and interactive. Based on the degree of multi-dimensional transformations, the reader’s feedback and the translator quality, an evaluation of Lust, Caution is given after the analyses. In the end, this thesis concludes that Julia Lovell’s Lust Caution is the product of her multi-dimensional adaptations and adaptive selections in the translation process and the reason why it is well-accepted is its high degree of holistic adaptation and selection.