目的论视角下中国志怪小说文本翻译研究——以《聊斋志异》为例.docx

ContentsChinese Abstract.2English Abstract.31. Introduction.41.1 Background of Study.41.2 Research Objectives.41.3 Significance of Study.52. Literature Review.52.1 Studies Abroad.52.2 Studies at Home.53. Overview of Skopos Theory.63.1 Development of Skopos Theory.63.2 Principles of Skopos Theory.64. Translation Methods Under Skopos Theory.74.1 Aims of Giles and Pu Songling.74.2 Translation Methods Adopted Under Skopos Rule.85. Conclusion.15References.17目的论视角下中国志怪小说文本翻译研究以聊斋志异为例摘 要聊斋志异是由清朝小说家蒲松龄所写的一部具有独特思想艺术特色的中国古典短篇小说集，其艺术价值之高，历久弥新，在国内外均负有盛名。尽管它被译介入多国，国内对聊斋志异的研究广度仍不够满足当前的学术需求。该篇论文旨在以翻译目的论为指导理论，从词、句、文本结构三个方面，探讨如何在保留其原文本风味及书中所蕴含的文化内涵的同时将其译介到英语世界的翻译策略。通过以上研究得出，在翻译聊斋志异时，应兼并采取异化与归化的翻译策略以达到保留原文本风味和传达中国古代文化特点的目的。关键词：聊斋志异；目的论；翻译策略Study on the Text Translation of Chinese Zhiguai Stories fromthe Perspective of Skopos TheoryA Case Study of “ Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio”AbstractLiaozhaizhiyi is a collection of classical Chinese short stories with unique ideological and artistic features, which was written by Pu Songling and it exerts high reputation both at home and abroad. Although it was translated into many countries, domestic research on Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is insufficient. This thesis aims to explore practical translation methods that are conducive to translate while retaining its original flavor and preserving cultural characteristics in light of Skopos theory from three aspects: words, sentences and text structure. And finally draws a conclusion that domestication and foreignization are complimentary in achieving translation purposes.Key words: Liaozhaizhiyi; Skopos theory; translation methods1. Introduction1.1 Background of StudyChina has a long history of more than five thousand years, the river of civilization has nurtured myriad marvelous literary works such as Zhiguai fiction. Zhiguai fiction, which refers to novels that record strange or supernatural events. Among Zhiguai fictions, Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, as the pinnale of Zhiguai novel, is worth mentioning. Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio, commonly known as Spirit and Fox Biography, is a collection of short stories created by Pu Songling in Qing Dynasty. It wins universal praise by its concise yet fantasy writing style, vivid characters, rigorous structure, unique plots with a combination of classic poem, historical biographies an so on, which made the masterpiece outstanding. All of these has built up a world distinguishes from that of the westerns. Readers found it innovative and it was studied by a crowd of scholars since then. As a result, the reputation of the masterwork is greatly boosted at home and abroad and became one of the earliest Chinese classic novels that have been translated to other countries.1.2 Research ObjectivesResearches at home is falling far short of need, which roughly falls into several categories: topics that are most studied are: on the overseas spread of Liaozhaizhiyi; following by researches on contrastive analysis and appreciation of different English versions; comparative studies of cultural differences such as social cultural awareness between Chinese and western cultures. Nevertheless, studies of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio under Skopos theory is few and far between. These inadequacies not only hinder the spread of Chinese culture but also block the research field of Zhiguai fiction to cast away the old research perspectives and establish new research perspectives. As far as the current studies are concerned, the paper is written under the guidance of Skopos theory. To analyze Giless translation methods adopted in his translation and delve further into a more appropriate translation methods. Just as paradise and hell exist in the western world, heaven and naraka also exist in the book Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio correspondingly. Mr. Zhao (2015) wrote in the preface of his book, Detailed Notes and New Comments of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio that Pu Songling entrusted a poor scholar in the mysterious world who was frustrated with the imperial civil examination with his sorrow, dreams, thoughts and feelings toward the contemporary world. The imaginative world in this book is worthy to be introduced to the west, thus foreigners can have an opportunity to learn more about ancient Chinese cultures or customs through this book. Skopos theory emphasizes that purpose determines translation strategy (Reiss, Vermeer, 2014). In this view, the author takes Giless translation of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio as research object and further explore the translation methods, thus gives suggestions for improvement under Skopos theory.1.3 Significance of StudyAs the most representative part of traditional Chinese culture, the literary language used in ancient China is of high literary value, and it is characterized by concise writing style, exquisite words. Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio is also in the form of classical Chinese, yet Pu Songling fuses classical Chinese with some colloquial languages which gives this novel new life. The mainstream translations were mostly translated from the thinking of a westerner, who failed to reproduce the original text, the unique cultural connotations and ideas.Therefore, this thesis aims to deliver a study on translation methods and methods of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio in light of Skopos theory, taking English translation version of Giless as study object, and to probe better translation methods by selecting words, sentences and context from several chapters where the translation can be further improved. 2. Literature Review2.1 Studies AbroadIn 1984, Allen Barr published Liaozhai Zhiyi and Shiji. The article concludes that Shiji has great impact on Liaozhaizhiyi in several aspects (Barr, 1984). In 1989, Allen Barr, analyzed the non-human female images in Liaozhaizhiyi in his article Disarming Intruders: Alien Women in Liaozhai Zhiyi. He refers to non-human females who do everything possible to obtain human identity as resident aliens; non-human females who only stay for a short time to pay a debt of gratitude as transient aliens; mischievous female ghosts that are hazard to the world (Barr, 1989).2.2 Studies at HomeLiu Yutian (2008) studies different sentences in Liaozhaizhiyi and concludes that the overall translation strategy for special sentences is: one should adopt the principle of coherence rule to optimize sentence translation methods. Li Lan (2010) published her master thesis. She draws a conclusion that in the translation of literary works, some translation methods that are not in the scope of translation methods will also be used to achieve translation goals. Li Haijun (2011) studies the acceptability of China English in Western countries by taking Liaozhaizhiyi as research subject, he draws a conclusion that the China English meets the requirement of English development and the need of cross-cultural communication between China and English speaking countries, while it is also crucial for the dissemination of the Chinese culture into the English world. Qiao Yuan (2015) discusses Giless translation purpose and draws that Giless purposes for translating Liaozhaizhiyi is to correct wrong ideas westerns have by introducing true face of China and let readers appreciate the value of Chinese literature works.3. Overview of Skopos Theory3.1 Development of Skopos TheoryFunctionalist Theory appeared in an embryonic form as Kathatina Reiss published her book Possibilities and Limitation in Translation Criticism. According to Reiss, she advanced “translation brief” after she realized that the result of equivalence between source text and target text (hereinafter referred to as ST and TT) is sometimes unsatisfying when fails to meet specific requirements (Nord, 2018). In this case, the top priority to be concerned will be the function of translation. Reisss contribution in translation theory laid the foundation for Hans Vermeer.Hans Vermeer conceives translation as an action and every action has its own aim or purpose (Nord, 2018: 11), Skopos theory was proposed by then. The word “Skopos” refers to “aim” in Greeks where it refers to aim or purpose in Skopos theory in translation behaviour (Reiss & Vermeer, 2014: 86). Vermeer (2014) promotes three principles in translation process which is Skopos rule, coherence rule and fidelity rule.Christiane Nord, as a leading light, made systematic summary of the teleology, clarified the definition between “aim”, “purpose”, “function”, “intention”. In the meantime, she raised that limitations exist in the Skopos theory, and perfect Skopos theory by introducing the loyalty principle into the functionalist model. 3.2 Principles of Skopos Theory3.2.1 Skopos RuleSkopos rule takes precedence in translation in which Vermeer puts “the highest rule of a theory of translation action is the Skopos rule: any action is determined by its purpose, it is a function of its purpose or skopos” (Reiss & Vermeer, 2014: 90). The function is subdivided into three sections which are: translator s basic purpose; communicative purpose; ones intended purpose (Nord, 2018: 27). The Skopos mostly implies communicative purpose under normal conditions. Therefore, translator is empowered to adopt proper translation methods to make sure that the book is appropriately received (Reiss & Vermeer, 2014). 3.2.2 Coherence RuleIn addition to Skopos rule, the coherence rule is alternative called intra-textual coherence rule which is aiming at settling the problem of understanding. This means it “should be coherent in itself and sufficiently coherent with the situation in which it is received” (Reiss & Vermeer, 2014: 98).3.2.3 Fidelity RuleFidelity rule, the so-called inter-textual coherence, was first proposed by Vermeer, which focuses on the coherence between the ST and the TT. On this basis, Nord further forwarded “function plus loyalty” approach (Nord, 2018: 116). Loyalty “means that the target-text purpose should be compatible with the original authors intentions” (Nord, 2018: 115), it shed some lights on the relationship between the translator, the source text sender and the target receiver (Nord, 2018).4. Translation Methods Under Skopos Theory4.1 Aims of Giles and Pu Songling Skopos theory prioritized Skopos rule, there exists “aim”, “purpose”, “function” and “intention” among Skopos rule (Nord, 2018), all of which distinguishes from each other. As Nord claims, aim is defined as the final result an agent intends to achieve by means of an action. Purpose is a provisional stage in the process of attaining an aim. Function refers to what a text is intended to mean in the eyes of the receivers, whereas the intention stands in the view of sender, pointing towards an appropriate way of producing or understanding the text (Nord, 2018: 27). In this paper, the author will set hands on the translation of Giles and discuss translation methods in light of Skopos theory.4.1.1 Translation Aims of GilesHerbert Allen Giles, an English sinologist, translated tons and piles of Chinese literature works during his tenure in China where he held as many positions as translator, consul, missionary and suchlike. It was under the influence of his friend that Giles was exposed to Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio and he was enchanted by the book. In spite of his death, we still have an access to probe into his translation purpose towards documentary sources.People of that time in Britain held incorrect or even distorted ideas about China owing to the profound impact brought by its own missionaries and sinologists. Hence, Giles attempts to justify ex parte, stereotypical impression that western world inflicts on China and to unveil the true aspect of China to target receivers.In the nineteenth century, Chinese literary novels were, in the eyes of most sinologists, only a relatively interesting instrument for them to master Chinese quickly. Whereas Giles, a friend keenly appreciative of Pu Songlings work, values and deems Chinese literature as an indispensable part of the world literature (乔媛, 2015(5): 97), which he desires to introduce into western world.For the pursuit of accuracy in translation, Giles believed that the basic goal of translation should be accurate translation. In order to achieve his function to bring the heterogeneous Chinese culture to target readers, he adopts a variety of translation methods to achieve his translation aims (乔媛, 2015(5): 97).4.1.2 Writing Intentions of Pu SonglingPu Songling was best known as the author of Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio in Qing dynasty. Pu Songling was poverty-stricken all his life and resolved to get an official position in the imperial civil examination but failed to gain admission. His experience of being an unrecognized talent helps to bring about the forming of the masterpiece which is unequalled in the former or even in later times.Pu Songling has been fond of miscellaneous works other than the Four Books and Five Classics since he was little. His non-mainstream interests cultivate the birth of the excellent work, which is evident in the preface that he dares not to compare his literary talent with Gan Bao, but just share a common ground of collecting strange tal