A Narratological Look At The Translation Of Irony In Emma

This research is intended to give a narratological exposition on point of view by reviewing the development of narrative stylistics with special attention given to the narrative point of view,narrative voice and narrative distance,and to reveal how these narrative elements in English novels are represented in Chinese translation by analyzing how the translation(by Zhang Jinghao in 1998)deals with the irony in Austen's novel Emma from the perspectives of narrative stylistics.Irony is normally dealt with in literary stylistics,while point of view features both in fictional stylistics and narratology;narrative stylistics is where the two cross,and the present study attempts to apply the theory and methodology of narratology to literary translation.As a realistic novelist,Austen has secured constant,ever-increasing attention and exploration into her works for her master hand at narration and irony thereof.Austen has always been high on the list as an interest spot of research for the academia.Critics talk about Austen,but not much about Emma;translators ponder and argue over the translation of Pride and Prejudice,but the translation of Emma has long been in undeserved neglect;stylists talk about irony,but scarcely about irony in Emma;narratologists concern about points of view,but very few about point of view in Emma,while point of view does signify in the setting up of Austenian irony.Previous studies,if centered on Emma,have focused on other aspects of the work rather than irony.Thus,there seems to be a scarcity of research concerning Emma and especially the irony in the novel,which makes a prime feature of its style.Against such background,this research aims to probe into the irony in Emma established through the inconsistency between point of view and voice,different or conflicting points of view in particular scenes and evolvement of the voice from the same character through the stages of the story and discuss the translation of such irony.