| With the introduction of more foreign literary works for children,there has been a gradual increase in recent years in the researches on their translation in China.However,compared with those researches on the translation of other literary genres,few studies have focused specifically on the transference of characterization in the translation of children’s literature,thus ignoring the impact of this aspect on the translated text.This thesis is an attempt to fill up this research gap by investigating that aspect of the Chinese translation of A Little Princess from the perspective of dialogism.Put forward by Russian literary theorist and philosopher of language Mikhail Bakhtin,dialogism focuses on the equal status of the two sides involved in a dialogue,especially the two in a literary text,and explores the dialogue between and among the author,the text and the reader.Previous researches have proved that literary translation also has a dialogic nature,which involves a dialogue concerning the author,the translator,and the target reader based on the text.Dialogism provides a theoretical basis for the equal participation of all subjects in the literary translation process.Therefore,dialogism serves as a feasible theoretic tool by which to study the translation of children’s literature.A Little Princess is a classic American children’s literary work,in which the depictions of characters are detailed,vivid and thought-provoking.These characters show kindness and ugliness,tenacity and optimism,which play a positive role in guiding the growth of young readers.Therefore,it is of great significance to discuss the transference of characterization in the translated versions of this novel.Based on the dialogism theory,this thesis compares three Chinese versions of A Little Princess translated by Li Wenjun,Chen Yuncheng & Hu Suhui,and Mei Jing respectively by focusing on the five dialogic relations in the transference of characterization to analyze how the three versions transfer the characterization and to investigate how these dialogues in the translation process influence the reproduction of characterization in the translated text.On the whole,the three versions each have their own strengths and weaknesses concerning the transference of characterization.This current study finds that in these five dialogic relations,the translators usually adopt certain translation strategies and methods such as free translation,amplification and footnotes,and make use of Chinese linguistic structures in an attempt to adequately transfer the characters.It also discovers that deformed characterization may occur when the translator’s subjectivity deviates from the intended meaning of the source text and he or she fails to consider young readers’ cognitive ability.Based on the findings above,the thesis suggests that the effects of dialogues between the translator and other subjects in the translation process exert a great impact on the ultimate transference of characterization. |
