On The Translation Of Narrative Nonfiction

Lying in the middle ground of literature and practical writings, narrative nonfiction is a writing style presenting true life experiences and events in the literary form. In recent years, as the genre gains popularity, many outstanding foreign narrative nonfiction books have been introduced in China. However, translators still have vague understanding of narrative nonfiction and are usually uncertain about the flexibility they have in translation, while studies concerning this field are not adequate in both quantity and quality.This thesis reviews the concept of narrative nonfiction, and from the perspective of Peter Newmark's text typology and communicative and semantic translation, it suggests the language functions of different narrative nonfiction texts be evaluated and analyzed before corresponding translation strategies are taken. This practice-based research grows out of the E-C translation of two chapters in The Art of Intelligence. Communicative translation is employed as the major strategy with semantic translation playing a complementary role in the project. The translation of common narrative nonfiction elements has been discussed and translation techniques like diction, domestication, conversion, amplification, and restructuring have been summed up as methods to avoid translationese, achieve smooth and natural translation, as well as ensure the expressive and informative functions have both been attended to.