A Study On The Narrative Writing Methods Of Shih Chi In Zei Shi By Lin Shu

Zei Shi is one of the pretty highly valued and well translated works by Lin Shu, theoriginal of which has owned an influential status in the world literature. Currently, itsresearches mainly contain macro evaluation and micro perceptual analysis. Its presentsituation of studying is scarcely commensurate with its value as a literary translation andLin’s successful translation methods in it.As a scholar with profound knowledge about traditional Chinese writing-studies,Lin consciously or unconsciously follows the traditional Chinese poetics in his creationsand translations. Meanwhile, he melts his creation in the course of translating, whichreflects his insistence on the pursuit of literature art effects and values. The traditionalChinese poetics has been formed by traditional classical works among which Shih Chienjoys an indispensable status. It has greatly influenced upon the translation of Zei Shi.With these considerations, a concentrated analysis on Zei Shi has been conducted fromthe perspective of translation norms. This thesis aims to reveal that the success of Lin’stranslation largely owed to his compliance of traditional Chinese poetics and ingeniousimitation of traditional writing methods in classical works like Shih Chi. Lin’s successfulexperience which is worthwhile to learn, enables the modern translation researchers tointrospect the effect of one current prevailing translation strategy, foreignization,especially in the field of literary translation.It is held in this thesis that Lin has followed professional norms and expectancynorms for the purpose of obtaining the recognition of readers and accomplishing aqualified translation. In the course of translating Zei Shi, Lin has imitated three kinds ofnarrative writing methods of Shih Chi: summarizing narration, scenic narration andargumentative narration. Firstly, concise language and logical and reasonable narrativestructure are two typical writing features of summarizing narration in Shih Chi. Lin hascombined them with his own viewpoint of poetics. In his translation, he focuses on theconcise and simple narrative language and transitional connective narrative structure.Secondly, the scenic narration in Shih Chi enables readers to appreciate a magnificent drama while reading. Lin has modified the personalized dialogue and embellishedcharacter images with imagination to depict vivid character images. The imitation ofscenic narration has disclosed his pursuit of the literary art effects and values. Lastly, Linhas imitated two main comment methods in Shih Chi: comment embedded in narrationand comments expressed in extra commentary. He has conveyed his opinions on certainpeople or event through suggestive descriptions. Moreover, his viewpoints can also bedelivered through the voice of “Wai Shi Shi”. Some of the comments are closely relatedto the current social situation in his time, which can explicitly manifest his translationthought of social reform. Actually, some translation critics speak highly of the positiveeffect imposed by the writing styles of Shih Chi on Lin’s translations. However, due toLin’s rich educational background, he presents a lot of writing methods of Chineseclassic writings in his translations like Han Shu, Han’s and Liu’s essays, novels in theTang and Song dynasty. As these writing methods are usually overlapped, it is difficult toclassify them clearly. Thus, there is no related classification of Shih Chi writing methodsand few specific analyses of examples in Lin’s translation. However, all these writingmethods are more or less influenced by the writing of Shih Chi. This thesis intends toreveal the influence the narrative writing styles of Shih Chi has exerted on Zei Shithrough specific analyses of its translation examples. To some extent, it can play asupplementary role in future profound and comprehensive research on Lin’s successfultranslation skills.