China’s Image In Jeffrey Kinkley’s Translation Of Border Town ——An Imagological Approach

For comparative literature,all images originate from the conscious awareness of the relationship between the Self and the Other,the local and the foreign.Image is embedded in literary works and is an epitome of the sociocultural world.Through translation,we could see the translator’s representation of certain cultural norms,and the ways in which individual or group images are created.An imagological perspective enables us to "see" the constructed images in the translation and explore the reasons behind,providing enlightenment for future studies on literary translation and image construction.Border Town is a representative work of native literature.It contains lots of folklore which can be put into four categories:spiritual,material,oral,and social.Folklore is the vivid portrayal of our sociocultural world,and can reflect the national image.Therefore,a study of the folklore translation in Border Town could help us explore China’s images and tell good stories about China.In this paper,Jeffrey C.Kinkley’s translation of Border Town is selected as the research material.The researcher aims to answer the following two questions:What strategies are adopted to translate the Border Town?What images of China are constructed through these strategies?Based on the classification in Introduction to Folklore（2010）,this paper puts Border Town’s folklore into four categories.Then,in the light of imagology,an intra-textual analysis is done to identify the reoccurring themes from three levels:the lexicons,the hierarchical relations and the plots,with reference to the thematic analysis of qualitative research by Miles and Huberman（1994）.Reasons for Kinkley’s choice of certain strategies are explored at the extratextual level.Through analysis,three main strategies of the translator are summarized:when Chinese expressions have English equivalents,the domestication approach is adopted;when it comes to cultural symbols,the foreignization approach is applied,with keeping the cultural symbols and explaining them in the text or endnotes in mind;the translator also tends to strengthen the tone of the author,putting the positive and negative traits of the characters in brighter spotlight.There are five images constructed in Border Town:a strong sense of duty,highly respectful to Heaven,enjoying mannature harmony,hard working for better lives,and an in-between personality.