中南政法大学翻译理论与实践论文.pdf

1 姓 名 李柯颖 成 绩 学 号评卷人 中中 南南 财财 经经 政政 法法 大大 学学 研研 究究 生生 课课 程程 考考 试试 试试 卷卷 （课程论文）（课程论文） 论文题目 On the Aesthetic Effects of the Translation of Haunting Olivia 课程名称 翻译理论与实践 完成时间 2015.2 专业年级 2014 级翻译硕士 2 中文摘要中文摘要 文学翻译是语言再现的艺术, 是审美的翻译。小说作为文学文本，是一种特 殊的艺术形式，翻译小说的最终目的就是实现小说的审美再现。本文以美国作家 凯伦罗舒的短篇小说游魂奥莉维亚为研究对象，分析了小说中的人物语言 个性、人物塑造和修辞，介绍了小说的翻译过程。并且本小说的中文翻译文本， 以以上对小说的具体三方面的分析为基础，着重分析了本人翻译过程。本文结尾 还列出了本人在翻译过程中遇到的困难。 关键字：关键字：审美； 翻译； 人物语言个性； 人物塑造； 修辞 Abstract Literary translation is an art of language representation with aesthetic effect. As one kind of literary text, fiction is a special art form, and the aim of fiction translation is to represent the aesthetic effects. This paper analyzes character personalities reflected by their speech, characterization and rhetoric, introduces the process of translating this fiction. And this paper will emphasize on analyzing my translation process and some strategies and skills. Also, this paper lists some problems I have met during translation. Key words: aesthetic; translation; character personalities reflected by their speech; characterization; rhetoric 3 Contents ABSTRACT . 2 . Introduction of the author . 4 . Analysis of the short story 5 2.1 What is the story about . 5 2.2 Aesthetic analysis of the source text 5 2.2.1 Distinct character personalities reflected by their speech 5 2.2.2 Vivid characterisation 6 2.2.3 Rhetorical beauty . 7 . The analysis of source texts translation . 7 3.1 The translation of distinct character personalities reflected by their speech . 7 3.1.1 The translation of linguistic meaning 8 3.1.2 The translation of pragmatic meaning . 9 3.2 The representation of vivid characterisation 10 3.2.1 The translation of portrait description 10 3.2.2 The translation of action description 10 3.2.3 The translation of psychological description 11 3.3 The translation of rhetorical beauty . 12 3.3.1 The translation of metaphor . 12 3.3.2 The translation of symbol . 12 . Problems in the process of translation 13 . What Ive learnt from the project 15 Bibliography 16 Appendix 17 4 . Introduction of the author Karen Russell (born July 10, 1981) is an American novelist and short story writer whose haunting yet comic tales blend fantastical elements with psychological realism and classic themes of transformation and redemption. Setting much of her work in the Everglades of her native Florida, she depicts in lyrical, energetic prose an enchanting and forbidding landscape and delves into subcultures rarely encountered in contemporary American literature. The vividly realized stories in her debut collection, St. Lucys Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (2006), revolve around a cast of adolescents, often parentless, caught between the worlds of childhood and adulthood, wilderness and civilization, island and mainland, the living and the dead. In her novel Swamplandia! (2011), Russell revisits and expands on the opening story of her earlier collection, “Ava Wrestles the Alligator,” to explore the intricacies and consequences of a familys grief following the death of their matriarch. Narrated primarily by its thirteen-year-old protagonist, Ava, the novel weaves together a chilling odyssey into a swampland netherworld; lush descriptions of the flora, fauna, and history of the Everglades region; and profound observations about human nature in the face of irreparable loss. Russells recently published collection of stories, Vampires in the Lemon Grove (2013), navigates new and diverse terrain, from a nineteenth-century silk factory in Japan, to a drought-ravaged homesteader settlement on the plains of Nebraska, to the traumatic memories of an Iraq War veteran. Through the wildly inventive premises of these and other stories, Russell is widening the scope of her already far-reaching and distinctive imagination. Karen Russell received a B.A. (2003) from Northwestern University and an M.F.A. (2006) from Columbia University. Her short stories have appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, Granta, Zoetrope, and Oxford American. She was a fellow at the Cullman Center (2010) and at the American Academy of Berlin (2012), and she has taught writing and literature at Columbia University (20062009), Williams College (2009), Bard College (2011), Bryn Mawr College (2012), and the 5 University of Rutgers, Camden (2013). . .Analysis of the short story 2.1 What is the story about The short story Haunting Olivia is about two boys，Wallow and Timothy took a crab sled to look for their little dead sister and describes the wonderful scene they saw and their deep missing for their sister during search. In the novel, crab sledding is the closest thing island kids have to a winter sport. Wallow, Timothy and Olivia often played this game. One day, theyd spent all day crab sledding down the beach, and Wallow and Timothy wanted to go to Grananas house. But Olivia wanted to play for a while. While neither of them is willing to accompany Olivia who was only 8 years old. After giving her a final push that sent her racing down the slopes, they left. Sine then, Olivia disappeared for ever. Wallow and Timothy planned to look for their little sister by rowing crab sled, and they thought Olivia must be in a cave of Glowworm Grotto drawn by herself. They began working their way around the island to find that cave. This fiction describes what Timothy saw under the water wearing goggles, the night sky above the sea and the scene in the cave during the process of their searching for Olivia, and reflects their deep missing for Olivia. 2.2 Aesthetic analysis of the source text 2.2.1 Distinct character personalities reflected by their speech Fiction contains the aesthetic factors which hide in semantic information and exists in characters conversation(Hu Anjiang, 2005). In the fiction, character personality is an important factor inducing or restricting the variations of language style. Words are the voice of the mind; words are the reflections of one person. So the characters conversation is undoubtedly the best explanation of self image. The meaning of “words are the voice of the mind” is that the conversations can show characters ideological trend, convey the mood of characters and reflect the characters 6 psychology. That words are the reflections of one person means conversation can reveal ones characters personality and nature. In Haunting Olivia, all the conversations between characters convey a certain sense and highlight characters distinctive individuality. Conversations between Wallow and Timothy, including conversations taking place when they try the goggles, their first booty, founding in the process of two people looking for Olivia. It vividly portrays two little lovely and innocent kids whose relationship is close; Conversations between Olivia and her brothers reflect Olivia is a naughty，smart and cute; Conversations between the two boys and Granana reflect Granana is a very simple old woman having experienced hardships 2.2.2 Vivid characterization One important feature of fiction is to shape a large number of the vivid characters. These images not only inspired but also move the reader, and bring reader into poetic realm, and let them own extremely rich aesthetic experience at the same time(Hu Xianyao its lizard body is the size of Grananas carport. Each of its ghost flippers pinwheels colored light.” Target text： 它长长的脖子弯成一条 “S” 型曲线； 它蜥蜴般的身体如奶奶的车库那么大； 它鬼影般的蹼转动着，颜色光彩亮丽。 In the target text, I translate the last sentence of the above source text into: “它鬼 影般的蹼转动着， 颜色光彩亮丽” to conform to the former two sentences. The target text changes the second full stop into a semicolon to describe plesiosaur rhythmically, which can fully embody its shape characteristics and accurately convey linguistic meaning. 3.1.2 The translation of pragmatic meaning The significance of conversation is from which we can infer characters attitude and character. These inferences often hide in the pragmatic meaning of conversation. Both of these two kinds of languages can reflect the speakers character, identity and make the characters vivid. For example: Source text： “ I cant swim with this cast, and these bitches are too small for my skull. You try them. ” “ Nothing, he bubbles morosely through the snorkel. I cant see a thing. ” “ What do you see, bro? Oh, not much. I cough.” Target text： “带上它没法游，我的脑袋太大，戴不上这个鸟儿东西，你戴吧。 ” “没有， ”他透过通气管郁闷地说， “嘛玩意儿也没看到。” “你在看什么，老弟？” “啥也没看”。我咳了一下。 In the source text, I translated the words “bitches“, “I can t see a thing,“ and “not much“ into “鸟儿“, “嘛玩意儿也没看到“ and “啥“, because these expressions exist 10 in my dialect, so I just translated like that reflexively. But I think this translation will accord with local environment and accurately reflect local childrens unadorned quality. 3.2 The representation of vivid characterisation 3.2.1 The translation of portrait description Just as the analysis above this paper, portrait description is a method to reveal characters thoughts and characteristics while keeping both “form“ and “content“. The descriptions of characters in novel mainly express the mental state of characters and specifically describe a smile and a small action.When translating, you must pay special attention to crucial details. Here is an example: Source text： Not Wallow. Hes got this dental affliction which gives him a tusky, warthog grin. He wears his hair in a greased pompadour and has a thick pelt of back hair. Target text： 瓦洛一样也没有，疣猪獠牙般的牙齿，还顶着一个大背头，后脑勺头发浓 密，像摸了油一样。 Just as the analysis above this paper, the sentences of portrait description of Wallow in the source text is very long, but short sentences dominate in Chinese, so I used omission in the translation process by deleting the subject of the latter sentence and broke it into three short sentences. By doing so, I thought my translation become fluent and rhythmical. 3.2.2 The translation of action description Just as the analysis above this paper, action description often consists of a series of verbs, so we must find out the equivalent and expressive verbs to vividly reproduce the characters in target text. Please look at the following example: Source text： I take a running leap down the pier “Ayyyyiii!” and launch over the water. Its my favorite moment: Im one toe away from flight and my body takes over. The choice is made, but the consequence is still just an 11 inky shimmer beneath me. Im rushing to meet my own reflectiongah! Target text： 我跳跃着下了码头 “嗨-一-！ ” 一跃而起，扑到了水面上。这是我最爱的时刻：只差一个脚趾头的距离我 就飞起来了，整个身体都飞起来了。一旦作出决定，就要承受后果地下是漆 黑的、 闪着微光的水面， 我飞奔着去迎接我的倒影 “嘭” 地一声， 落在水里。 。 The above translation is Miss Zengs version. Because my version is too bad, I analyzed teachers version. There are a series of lively verbs such as “take a leap“, “launch“, “take over“, “rush to“ and “meet“, and the corresponding words in target text like “跳跃” 、 “扑” 、 “飞” 、 “飞奔”and“迎接” vividly depict Timothys characterizes: lively and lovely. Miss Zengs translation has accurately retained the original style of source target. 3.2.3 The translation of psychological description Just as the analysis above this paper, psychological description is well organized, and readers can logically see characters rational spirit world. Therefore, in the process of translation, we should pay attention to narrators identity and character and interpret the characters psychological condition in an appropriate tone (3). Here is an example: Source text： I want my parents to stop sailing around taking pictures of Sudanese leper colonies. I want Wallow to row back to shore and sleep through the night. I want everybody in the goddam family to leave Olivia here for dead. Target text： “我想爸妈不要旅行去拍苏丹拍一些麻风病人隔离区的照片；我想瓦洛划 回岸上然后好好睡一觉； 我想这个该死的家庭中每个人都让奥莉维亚死在这儿。 ” This is the psychological description of Timothy. He was scared of what he just saw and was quite tired after swimming for a long time in the water to look for his sister Olivia. The vulgar slang “goddam“ in the source text together with a parallelism starting with “I want“ vividly produced a kid who is young and full of fear. I I translated “goddam“ into “该死的“ are consistent with Timothys mood at that time. 12 3.3 The translation of rhetorical beauty 3.3.1 The translation of metaphor Its suit to use literal translation in the process of translation when the meaning of metaphorical objects are equivalent in two languages. Here are two examples: Source text： Dad used to tell Olivia that a merman artisan had made them, out of bits of sea glass from Atlantis. Wallow and I do an autonomic, full-body shudder. I get a sudden mental image of two shelled walnuts floating in a glass. Target text： 爸爸曾告诉奥莉维亚她的眼睛是人与工匠用亚特兰蒂斯的海玻璃片做成。 瓦洛和我不禁打了个寒战， 我突然想到两个带皮的核桃在玻璃杯中漂游的场 景。 3.3.2 The translation of symbol Just as the analysis above this paper, the light coming from the cave symbolize the change of Timothys mood. Here are some examples： Source text： Sure enough, there is a muted glow coming from the far end of a salt-eaten overhang, like light from under a door. 一The stars here are all equally bright and evenly spaced, like a better-ordered cosmos. 二Everything down here is dancingthe worms green light and the undulant walls and the leopard-spotted polyps. Everything. 三Every fish burns lantern-bright, and I cant tell the living from the dead. Its all just blurry light, light smeared like some celestial fingerprint all over the rocks and the reef and the sunken garbage. Target text： 13 一：一定有，崖壁的一端被盐水侵蚀了，透出一束柔和的光，像是从门缝底 下射出来的。 二：这里的星星同样明亮，被整齐的分开，就像一个整齐有序的宇宙。 三：水下的一切都在舞动萤火虫绿色的亮光、起伏的洞壁和豹点状的珊 瑚，一切事物。 四： 每只鱼都散发亮光， 我分不清他们是死是活。 那只是些模糊不清的亮光， 就像是映在岩石上，暗礁上和沉没的垃圾上的神仙手印。 The sentence one describes the “light” that Timothy saw shooting from the cave, and we can infer from the context that Timothy was a little scared at that time. Sentence two, three and four depict different kinds of light in the cave， which echoes the Glowworm Grotto drawn by Olivia. The light shining from glowworms and tiny fish evoked Timothys the deep missing for Olivia. The reduplicative appearance of the imagelight has formed a specific symbol that symbolized the change of protagonists mood. .Problems in the process of translation The most difficult problem in the process of translation is how to exactly understand the meaning of sentences. The following are some examples. “Instead, he slaps at the ocean with jilted fury.” I knew the meaning of “fury”, but I struggled to understand the words “jilted fury”. I began to imagine that picture in my mind and gradually got it. Someone will feel be abandoned when he or she couldnt gain others trust. So, I translated this sentence into: “相反，他气冲冲地拍打着海水，感觉自己 被抛弃了。” “Battered sailboats and listing skiffs, yachts with stupid namesKnot at Work and Sail-la-Viethe paint peeling from their puns.” We can get that the names of sailboats and skiffs, yachts are stupid. So we should found some corresponding Chinese words to represent their foolishness. But it was so difficult to understand the meaning of “Knot at Work”. Besides, “Sail-la-vie” is a French vocabulary and its meaning is not stupid. Maybe Timothy is too young to understand life, so he thinks it is stupid. I translate this sentence into: “破烂不堪的帆船、重心失衡的小艇，名字傻 14 到不行的游艇，什么“工作打结” 、 “人生之帆”之类的，船名的油漆都脱落了。” But I dont think my translation of this sentence is suitable. There are still many sentences in the source text I couldnt understand exactly. Hope Miss Zeng can give me some advice. The second problem is how to vividly and smoothly some long sentences. Such as: “Its long neck is arced in an S-shaped curve; its lizard body is the size of Grananas carport. Each of its ghost flippers pinwheels colored light.” In the beginning, I translated this sentence into “它长长的脖子弯成一条“S”型曲线；它 的身体像蜥蜴一样，有奶奶的车库那么大。脚蹼像鬼影转动着，颜色光彩亮 丽。”But when I check it again, I find that my translation are not vivid and smooth enough. But how to modify it? I thought about for a long time and read some proses, then I changed it into“它长长的脖子弯成一条“S”型曲线；它蜥蜴般的身体如奶 奶的车库那么大；它鬼影般的蹼转动着，颜色光彩亮丽。” This version are quite normal in some articles, but I couldnt think of it in a short time by myself, which shows the significance of the good knowledge of our mother tongue. The second version is a parallelism. Then it become lively and smoothly. The third problem is how to choose proper words when translate. In this short novel, there are many action description which connected by a series of verbs. So Its a challenge for me to choose proper Chinese words to represent its vivid picture. Such as: “ I take a running leap down the pier Ayyyyiii! and launch over the water. Its my favorite moment: Im one toe away from flight and my body takes over. The choice is made, but the consequence is still just an inky shimmer beneath me. Im rushing to meet my own reflectiongah!” The verbs in the source text such as“take a leap”, “launch”, “takes over” and “rush to” graphically describes a picture of Timothy jumping into water. In order to this vividly keep this scene, we need to find corresponding Chinese words to represent it. My translation couldnt gain that effects, so I took out Miss Zengs version. Its a long journey! Fighting! 15 .What Ive learnt from the project In the process of translating the fiction, I learnt a lot from it. First of all, we should make full preparation before translation. If you want to have a quite good translation report, a good understanding of the authors writing style and a careful analysis of and source text are indispensable. Karen Russell, the author of this fiction, is a novelist and short story writer whose haunting yet comic tales blend fantastical elements with psychological realism and classic themes of transformation and redemption. It will much easier for us to translate this text guided by her introduction, We should analyze the source text on the basis of its stylistic features. Haunting Olivia is a novel whose language is vivid and expre