On Chinese Translation Of Drama Guided By The Performability Principle

As far as we know,drama came into being two thousand years ago,and it is one of the oldest artistic forms which affect people's spirits and lives.Drama translation also enjoys a long history,it is,however,in the most neglected areas and lacks systematic guidance.Many scholars have ignored the duality of drama and considered drama translation as the same thing as prose or novel translation,rather than an individual genre.The duality of drama means that,first,as a part of literature,drama has certain literariness and second,drama translation has to serve the value of drama itself – performance.Therefore,how to meet the duality of drama in drama translation has always been the central problem in the discussion of translation theorists.In the 1960 s,the prosperity of study in semiology and “cultural turns” made many translators and scholars reconsider the problems in drama translation.British translation theorist and cultural study scholar Susan Bassnett put forward performability principle which became the highlight in drama translation research.Though many domestic scholars also put forward their points of views on drama translation,they all expressed the similar ideas that drama translation should be undertaken on the purpose of performance.The thesis has introduced the main ideas of domestic and foreign scholars on drama translation,and then analyzed the two major components of performability—speakability and actability through a discussion on Susan Bassnett and her theories of drama translation.To prove the feasibility of performability,a case study of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child has been presented with elaborate analysis on the measures that the author of this thesis has used to make the text performable.Furthermore,having taken the cultural and artistic factors into consideration,the author of this thesis adds individuality and acceptability as two more translation strategies.The thesis aims to make some contribution to drama translation and provide references for the following studies.