Representations of Late Ming Culture in English Translations of Jinpingmei

The Ming novel Jinpingmei 金瓶梅 contains numerous references to late Ming culture and society, which can be extremely challenging when the novel undergoes interlingual translation. The present paper presents a descriptive study of the treatment of cultural references in two English translations of Jinpingmei, with a particular focus on the translators' choices and employed strategies for rendering the aforementioned references. Based on Toury's paradigm of descriptive translation studies, the present study employs a mixed-methods design, combining qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The study mainly addresses three topics: How cultural references are treated in the two English translations of Jinpingmei; translator tendencies in rendering cultural references; and the possible reasons underlying these tendencies. The findings indicate that the two translators employed numerous strategies ranging from omission to complete retention of cultural references. Egerton demonstrated a tendency to use more domesticating strategies, whereas Roy demonstrated a tendency to employ more foreignizing strategies. The tendencies of the two translators related to rendering cultural references were largely influenced by differing translation philosophies, expectations regarding targeted readerships, and sociohistorical contexts in which the translations emerged. Egerton's tendency toward domestication diluted the late-Ming cultural atmosphere of the original work, improved the fluency and readability of the translation, and improved the accessibility of the translation for target-language readers. Roy's tendency toward foreignization led the translation to have an exotic feel and caused the cultural heterogeneity to be observable, which can enable target readers to learn more about the cultural knowledge and history of the Ming dynasty.

關鍵字

cultural references ； Jinpingmei ； translator choices and strategies ； domestication and foreignization ； cultural reception

並列摘要

明代小說《金瓶梅》蘊含豐富的晚明文化元素，這些歷史文化資訊給語際翻譯帶來了極大挑戰。本論文旨在對《金瓶梅》中的文化資訊之英譯進行描述性研究，特別關注兩位譯者在翻譯文化內容時所採取的翻譯策略。依據圖裡（Gideon Toury）所提出的描述性翻譯研究範式，本篇論文採用定性和定量分析的研究方法以解決三個問題：《金瓶梅》中不同類型的文化元素是如何翻譯的，譯者主要採取了哪些翻譯方法和策略；兩位譯者所採用的翻譯策略呈現出什麼樣的傾向，是趨向於異化還是歸化；如若有這樣的不同傾向，那麼產生這些傾向的可能原因是什麼，會給譯作和譯文讀者帶來怎樣的影響。研究表明，艾格頓（Clement Egerton）表現出使用更多歸化策略的趨勢，而羅伊（David Tod Roy）表現出使用更多異化策略的趨勢。兩位譯者選擇翻譯策略的不同傾向在很大程度上受到他們所秉持的不同的翻譯理念和各自不同的翻譯目的影響，其次，還受不同譯文讀者的期待規範以及他們翻譯《金瓶梅》時所處的不同社會歷史語境的影響。艾格頓的歸化傾向淡化了原作濃厚的晚明文化氣息，提升了譯文的流暢度和可讀性，使得譯作更容易被目的語讀者所接受。羅伊的異化傾向讓譯文充滿了異域風情，使得文化異質性變得非常明顯，這有利於他的目標讀者了解到更多的明代文化知識以及歷史。

並列關鍵字

文化元素；《金瓶梅》；翻譯策略與趨向；歸化與異化；文化接受

參考文獻

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