Time And Focalization:The Transference Of Alice Munro's Narrative Art

Alice Munro is often credited with revolutionizing the form of short story,and her narrative art has been discussed extensively by scholars such as Thacker(1983),Regan(1991),and Duncan(2011).It is observed that her stories feature elaborate manipulation of time,especially in first-person retrospective narratives,and shifting focalization mode.Time and focalization are two important analytical categories in classical narratology.According to Genette(1980),one has to distinguish between story time,discourse time,and time of the narrating,and between three types of focalization: zero focalization,internal focalization and external focalization.Currently,most translation studies investigating the intersection between narratology and fiction translation focus on the transference of narrative perspective(a less academic way of saying focalization).Discussion on the representation of time in translation is rarely seen.Also,as Munro is only recently introduced to Chinese readers,there is no research into the Chinse versions of her stories yet.The thesis aims to examine the representation of Alice Munro's narrative art concerning time and focalization in the Chinese versions of her stories,with focus attached to the impact of the representation on thematic construction and characterization.The case chosen is the story collection Hateship,Friendship,Courtship,Loveship,Marriage,a widely reviewed and acclaimed collection of nine short stories.By comparing the source text with two Chinese versions,the thesis analyzes the extent to which time and focalization are represented and identifies the pitfalls of transferring these two aspects of Munro's narrative art.The thesis finds that(1)anachronies and shifts of referential narrating time are often not properly represented in the target texts,which leads to distortion of thematic meanings;(2)when the focalizer-character is as dispassionate as the heterodiegeticnarrator,translators may fail to identify the exact focalizer,which consequently weakens the characterization in the original work.As regards time,the author of the thesis suggest that translators pay more attention to the nuances of tense and aspect,and the temporal deictics that indicate shifts of referential narrating time.As for focalization,translators should mind the linguistic devices that signal internal or external focalization,especially the logical connectives.Also,it is essential to factor in the context so as to properly represent both time and focalization.The thesis has its significance to translation practice in that it provides guidance to future translators of Munro's stories by revealing the pitfalls of transferring her narrative art with respect to time and focalization.It also serves as an exploration of the relevance of narrative theories on time to fiction translation.