A Study Of The English Version Of I Did Not Kill My Husband From The Perspective Of Toury's Translation Norms

In the current wave of the “Chinese literature going out”,as one of the representative works,Liu Zhenyun's latest published novel,I Did Not Kill My Husband,has gained much attention at home and abroad.It has already been translated into more than ten languages and achieved good sales.Among them,the English version was translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin in 2014,and published by Arcade Publishing.Since it has only been translated in recent years,little previous research can be looked into.Under the framework of Toury's translation norms theory,the thesis takes a descriptive approach to analyze Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin's co-operative English translation of I Did Not Kill My Husband,intending to explore the factors influencing the translation decision-making process.Based on textual sources and extra-textual sources,translation norms which govern the translation process are reconstructed.The thesis hopes to provide some beneficial suggestions for contemporary Chinese literary translations.The research findings are as follows:(1)under initial norms,considering the target readers' expectations,the two translators are subject themselves to the target language norms and intend to make an acceptable translation;(2)under preliminary norms,the selection of the source text and directness of translation depend much on translators' personal preferences,the requirements of publishing houses,and the influence of social and cultural backgrounds;(3)operational norms involve matricial norms and textual-linguistic norms.Matricial norms are related to the completeness of the translated product and the form of actual distribution.The target textual structure is made to be consistent with the source text,which ensures the integrity of the translated contents.However,in relation to some repeated contents and loose paragraphs,deletion and relocation of paragraphs are used to cater to the target readers' reading habits.Textual-linguistic norms govern the choice of corresponding linguistic material to formulate the target text,including the translation of lexical items and phrases.In terms of the translation of culture-loaded words,transliteration and literal translation are adopted to reproduce cultural backgrounds and linguistic characteristics in the source text.