Skopos Theory And Choice Of Translation Strategies

Ethan Frome(1911)is a novella of the American writer Edith Wharton.It was first translated into Chinese by Lü Shuxiang in 1947.Lü Shuxiang's translation has been well received all along.A number of researches have also been done around it.However,contemporary researches rarely discuss to what extent Lü Shuxiang's translation is faithful to the source text.Meanwhile,Lü Shuxiang's translation has been looked upon as a classic literary translation.Researchers,largely attributing it to the translator's outstanding command of the Chinese language,scarcely relate it to the social and historical context of that time.Therefore,this thesis is intended to make an in-depth exploration of the major extra-linguistic factors that determine LüShuxiang's translation strategies and the reflection of their influence on different linguistic levels.In light of skopos theory,the author of this thesis first probes into the historical and social background of China in the first half of the twentieth century in order to sort out the major aims of this translational action.Then,with textual and extra-textual factors in mind,the author conducts a detailed analysis of the phonological,lexical,morphological and syntactical levels of the ST and the TT so as to determine how skopos affects the translator's strategies on various linguistic levels.This thesis finds that with the aim of enriching the target language,LüShuxiang has introduced new words and expressions as well as flexible sentence length and sentence order in his translation.A hybrid translation strategy,including methods like transliteration,loan translation,literal translation,semantic translation and domestication,has been employed in this aspect.Meanwhile,based on the purpose of enlightening people,Lü has domesticated most of the American units of measurement,subject and passive voice in Ethan Frome in order to reduce reading barriers for the target readers and meet their expectations.In addition,Lü Shuxiang has also to some extent faithfully reproduced different register markers used bydifferent characters.Therefore,it can be said that he has realized the original author's intention of shaping a group of New England characters.Thus,LüShuxiang has added to the vitality of the modern Chinese literature through introducing literary techniques in his translation.This thesis has shown that skopos theory not only justifies the variation or domestication in translations,but also provides a theoretical basis for the aspect of faithfulness of the target text to the source text,hence broadening the horizon of literary translation and relevant studies.Meanwhile,Lü Shuxiang's translation and his language studies have strengthened each other.On the one hand,Lü Shuxiang has pushed forward the development of Modern Chinese through introducing new ideas and concepts in his translation.On the other hand,the fact that Lü's version of Ethan Frome reads smoothly,with every word accurate in the best sense of the term,can partly be attributed to his profound knowledge of Chinese and English,specifically to his years of comparative studies of the two languages.Therefore,the significance of this research lies in that it confirms the explanatory power of skopos theory in literary translation and,hopefully,it would be inspiring for understanding and studying Lü Shuxiang's other translations.