英语翻译论文

当前栏目:免费论文 更新时间:2019-04-16 责任编辑:秩名

 Abstract

The Deer and the Cauldron is a martial arts novel by Louis Cha and also the last and longest of his works. Louis Cha is one of the most widely known authors in modern China. His martial arts novels, originally serialized for newspapers, have been adapted for TV, films, cartoons, video games and they have been translated in numerous languages. And one of the most famous English versions of The Deer and the Cauldron is the version translated by John Minford, a sinologist and literary translator.

In recent years, the English version of The Deer and the Cauldron by John Minford has been studied from various perspectives by many scholars. Different from previous researches, however, this thesis mainly focuses on the translator’s role reflected in the English version. According to Lawrence Venuti, the so-called “transparency of translation version” is just the illusionary effect of “the translator’s effort to insure easy readability”, so the translator cannot be truly invisible and the translator’s role does play a vital part in translating process (Venuti, 1995, p. 1). Agreeing with Venuti’s opinion on translator’s role, the author finds that the Kungfu expressions in John Minford’s translation version do reflect the visible translator’s role. And Gadamer’s theory on “fusion of horizons” also promotes the research on the translator’s role. So we have the following two research questions. First, what factors do influence the translator’s role in The Deer and the Cauldron? Second, in what way The Deer and the Cauldron reflects the translator’s role?

To do this, this thesis is organized as follows. The first part of the thesis is introduction: the definition of martial arts novels and the related studies. And the second part is literature review. And the third part deals with the theoretical framework to explain the basic concepts of hermeneutics. The fourth part, also the most important part of the thesis, analyzes the translator’s role reflected in the translation of Kungfu expressions from the perspective of hermeneutics. And the last part is the conclusion.

Key words: The Deer and the Cauldron, Translator’s Role, Kungfu Expressions, Louis Cha, Hermeneutics

 

 

摘要

《鹿鼎记》是金庸(查良镛)先生的最后一部也是最长的一部武侠小说。金庸是现代中国家喻户晓的作家,他的许多武侠作品都广受欢迎,并被翻译成各国语言。在这些译本中,当属汉学家闵福德先生的译本最为出彩。

近年来,由闵福德翻译的《鹿鼎记》英译本被国内外许多学者研究。本文不同于前人的研究,主要着重于闵福德英译本中译者角色的体现。本文作者基于劳伦斯·韦努蒂有关于译者角色观点,认为该《鹿鼎记》译本中有许多有关功夫的表达体现了译者角色的显现,进而从伽达默尔的阐释学理论的角度,研究“视域融合”对译者角色的影响。

本文主要关注两个问题:第一,究竟是什么因素影响了《鹿鼎记》译本中译者的角色的显现?第二,闵福德译本中有哪些方面体现了译者的角色?

本文回顾了中国武侠小说的发展,在其他学者对《鹿鼎记》翻译研究的基础上,主要采用伽达默尔阐释学理论及其下属的重要概念作为理论框架。作者就案例讨论并分析了译者角色在闵福德《鹿鼎记》英译本中的体现,以及“视域融合”对译者角色的影响,得出了以下结论:译者角色表现在译者使用的翻译策略之中,是译者、原作者和目标读者“视域融合”的体现;从阐释学角度分析译者角色在武侠小说英译本的体现有助于肯定译者的作用,以提高译者在翻译中的地位,也能促进武侠小说这一中国文化的载体在西方国家的传播。

关键词:《鹿鼎记》、译者的角色、功夫的表达、金庸、阐释学

 

Research Methodology

The current study is based on the first volume of the first English edition of The Deer and the Cauldron published by Oxford University Press in 1997, which is translated by John Minford. And my basic text and data are from the comparison between this English version and its Chinese version. The study, conducted through reading the texts in detail, tries to find the distinct literal differences of Kungfu expressions between the two versions.

Among the differences of Kungfu expressions in the two versions, the study selects the most representative ones for a critical analysis of the translator’s role in The Deer and the Cauldron. According to Gadamer’ theory on hermeneutics, “prejudice” and “fusion of horizons” are the main factors that often influence the translator’s role of texts. The current thesis, accordingly, explores how translator’s role is influenced by these factors.

 

Thesis Structure

This thesis is divided into five parts. The first part is the introduction here. Chapter Two gives an overview of Chinese martial arts novels and reviews the historical studies on the translation of The Deer and the Cauldron. Chapter Three introduces the theoretical framework which is Gadamer’s theory on hermeneutics with his important concepts and explains its applicability to translation on martial arts novels. Chapter Four is the central focus of the whole thesis, which discusses the translator’s role influenced by considerations of “fusion of horizons” in the translation of The Deer and the Cauldron. Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis.

 

文献综述报告

武侠小说作为一种独特的文学形式,在中国文学史上有着不可取代的地位。虽然许多研究者和学者对于武侠小说的诞生持有不同的态度,但还是可以在文献中找到疑似武侠小说发源的痕迹。有学者证实,东汉时期由无名氏创作的游侠故事《燕丹子》可以被看作是中国武侠小说的起源(张兵,2004)。张兵(2004)还指出,之所以称《燕丹子》为武侠小说的起源,是因为其满足了武侠小说的两大特征:1.该小说是独立成文,没有依附于任何史书;2.该小说足够远离史实,有足够的虚构成分。

20世纪50年代,新武侠小说在中国台湾和香港出现。其中,金庸(查良鏞)先生所写的一系列武侠小说堪称是该时期武侠小说的典范。金庸在写完第一部武侠小说《书剑恩仇录》后,又写了14部武侠小说。这总共15部小说标题的第一个字可连成一副对联:飞雪连天射白鹿,笑书神侠倚碧鸳。金庸的作品在中国大陆的流行是在改革开放之后,其作品中蕴含的中国文化深深吸引着世界各地的读者,也促使著名汉学家,闵福德先生翻译了《鹿鼎记》。本文即在中国武侠小说英译潮流掀起之时,立足于前人的研究,从译者的角色入手,以闵福德《鹿鼎记》英译本为案例分析,研究武侠小说英译的发展状况。

本文以伽达默尔的解释学观点为理论基础。根据伽达默尔的理论,任何事物都处在不断的理解与阐释当中。在这一过程中,“偏见”和“视域融合”起到了决定性的作用。基于“偏见”这一概念,伽达默尔将“视域融合”解释为“限制”和“领域”。他相信,每个人都是在自己已有的知识体系上对他事物进行理解的。在20世纪70年代后,翻译研究经历了“文化转向”,这促使翻译界从其他学科中寻求理论支持。其中,解释学对解释过程背后的文化研究与翻译研究的文化转向不谋而合。伽达默尔认为,“视域”在翻译研究中可分为两种不同的类型:一是译者的视域;二是原文作者的视域。此外,他还进一步指出,“视域融合”也可分为两个类别:一是译者与原作者的视域融合;二是译者与目标读者的视域融合。这为翻译研究中进一步探讨译者的角色以及提升译者的地位提供了理论支持。

此外,国内一些对武侠小说及其翻译的研究也为本文提供了思维上的帮助。国内对武侠小说翻译的研究起源于20世纪90年代。唐洁(2015)对武侠小说的读者接受程度做了研究。他做了两种测试:网络调查和问卷调查。在收集了大量数据后,他得出了结论:虽然目前武侠小说的译介同数十年前相比有了很大的进步,但同外国小说在国内的译介相比,武侠小说的翻译在国外读者中的接受程度还是较低的。同时,他还为译者在目标读者和原文本的选择上提供了切实可行的建议。洪捷(2011)对近三十年来武侠小说译介的研究状况做了全面的回顾,她指出了在英语国家和非英语国家中武侠小书的译介情况,也分析了这些年武侠小说对外译介的成果和不足。

杨云帆和常月华(2011)对近十年《鹿鼎记》的研究做了较为全面的总结。他们发现一些学者集中研究了该小说的主题——侠义精神,而一些研究者将目光投放到故事的主人公,韦小宝的身上。此外,还有一些学者关心《鹿鼎记》在海外的接受情况,并从比较文学的视角出发,将《鹿鼎记》与《堂吉诃德》的主题相对比。陈刚(2006)首先关注到《鹿鼎记》的译介与译者采用的翻译策略息息相关。他进一步指出,归化的翻译策略更适合当前武侠小说的对外传播。再把目光放到翻译的文化层面,刘雪岚(2014)用改写理论中的意识形态因素分析了《鹿鼎记》中译者的显性,这也为日后《鹿鼎记》翻译的文化转向奠定了基础。

通过通读前人的研究,本文作者发现了武侠小说英译研究的不足之处,这促使本文作者从阐释学角度来分析《鹿鼎记》英译本中译者角色的体现,也为本文提供了必要的理论参考。