Peter Newmark’s Theory In Literary Translation

With the rapid development of globalization, foreign literature is becoming more and more popular. Translation, as a way to bridge different languages and cultures, plays an important role of spreading literature. However, there are still many problems in literary translation today. Some translators just reproduce the original meaning at the loss of ignoring the aesthetics transmitted implicitly by the linguistic forms while some other translators pursue beautiful translation but fail to meet the basic requirements for translation--faithfulness and accuracy. As a recreation of art based on the original work, literary translation is like “dancing with chains”. It is supposed to convey the contents of original works, reproduce the style of authors, and to be readable and understandable for readers. Therefore, it is worth considering how literature can be translated well under the guidance of theory.The main idea of Peter Newmark’s theory includes semantic translation and communicative translation. Semantic translation emphasizes keeping close to the original works and communicative translation the effect of the target text on readers. Newmark notes that semantic translation and communicative translation are so closely related that we can scarcely keep them apart,especially when translating the same work. Therefore, we should give attention to both methods when translating literature. Based on Newmark’s theory of semantic translation and communicative translation, the present paper, taking the translation of The Memory Chalet as a case study aims at improving literary translation under the guidance of theory. It is expected that the present study may serve as a reference for other translators.