A Comparative Study Of Three English Versions Of Zhu Fu From The Perspective Of Mona Baker's Narrative Theory

Since cultural school put forward the slogan of “cultural turn of translation” in the 1990 s,the focus of translation studies has shifted from source text to target text,concentrating on cultural functions of target text and exploring close relationship between translation and culture.Narrative theory put forward by Mona Baker in 2006 goes further,introducing the concepts of narrative in sociological and communicative theory into translation studies.It provides a new perspective and framework for translation studies,and explores how translators reframe narrative in translation through various framing strategies to participate in the construction of current narrative,culture and even society.Based on Mona Baker's narrative theory,this paper makes a comparative analysis of three English versions of Zhu Fu respectively by Chi-Chen Wang,the Yang couple(Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang)and William Lyell from four framing strategies of temporal and spatial framing,selective appropriation of textual material,framing by labelling and repositioning of participants to discuss similarities and differences between three versions in the use of these four strategies.It's found that three versions adopt various framing strategies to reconstruct narratives.Firstly,all three versions put original text into a new context through temporal and spatial framing and interpret original narratives in a new conext.Secondly,the three versions select different textual material.Chi-Chen Wang's version makes the new narrative more concise and speeds up narrative rhythm by omitting characters' repeated discourse in the original text.The two versions by Lyell and the Yang couple highlight the theme of criticizing feudalism by adding cultural content.Thirdly,the three versions reframe the narratives through different means of labelling construction.By changing the title of the original text,Chi-Chen Wang's version shifts the narrative focus to the identity as a widow of Hsiang Lin' Wife and provides a new interpretation framework for the target readers.The two versions by Lyell and the Yang couple show the identity and characteristics of the key characters by naming construction.Finally,for the repositioning of character and events,the two versions by Chi-Chen Wang and the Yang couple mainly adjust the relationship between participants through para-texts.Lyell's version not only adds comments in footnotes,but also reshapes the relationship between readers and authors through the change in register and the shift in deixis within the text.The similarities and differences between the three translations in the use of framing strategies are related to the different backgrounds of the times.In order to cater to the mainstream public narratives of different eras,the translator reconstructs the narrative of the original text to make it consistent with public narratives.The English version by Chi-Chen Wang was published in 1941.At that time,the translation of Chinese literature was in its infancy in the Western world.Chinese literary works were too strange for Western readers.In order to arouse the reading interest of Western readers,Chi-Chen Wang's version reframed some aspects of original narratives based on the narrative position of reader's acceptance,making narratives more fluent and coherent.In the 1960 s,literary translation was dominated by state institutions and shouldered the task of reconstructing the image of the country.Therefore,based on the narrative standpoint of spreading Chinese culture,the Yang couple intended to promote cultural exchange and created new cultural images of China by translating and introducing Lu Xun's works.In the 1990 s,cultural exchanges between Chinese and foreign countries became more frequent,and Chinese literary works received more attention in the Western world.In order to make Western readers have the same reading experience as the original readers,based on the narrative standpoint of reproducing the content of the original text,Lyell's version provided detailed annotations to fully convey the information and cultural connotations of the original text.