A brief discussion on the creative rebellion of translators in literary translation
In study, work and life, everyone is inevitably exposed to papers. There are many types of papers, including academic papers, graduation thesis, Dissertations, scientific papers, achievement papers, etc. There are many things to note when writing a paper. Are you sure you can write it? Below are some essays I have collected for you that briefly talk about the creative rebellion of translators in literary translation. You are welcome to learn from and refer to them. I hope it will be helpful to you.
[Abstract] The essence of any translation is to transfer information expressed in one language to another language. Literary translation, as the main medium through which readers come into contact with foreign literature, has one fundamental difference from other translations - the language it uses is an artistic language, which must be able to produce the same artistic effect as the original when readers read the translation. Therefore, literary translation is not a simple conversion of language and text, but a creative work. This article mainly analyzes the translator's "creative rebellion" in literary translation and the manifestations of the translator's creative rebellion, and further demonstrates the important role of creative literary translation in cross-cultural communication.
[Keywords] literary translation; creativity; translator; form of expression
[Abstract] any translation, its essence is to pass information expressed in a language to another language go. And as a reader of literary translation of foreign literature into contact with other major media translation there is a fundamental difference - the language it uses is an art language, it must be able to let readers and original artistic effect at the same time reading the translation. Therefore, literary translation is not a simple language conversion, but a creative work. This article mainly through the analysis of literary translation translator "creative betrayal", and the translator's creative treason manifestation, further demonstrate the important role of creative literary translation for intercultural communication .
[keyword] Manifestations; creativity;; translator Literary Translation
Literary translation is a form of understanding and creation. It not only helps readers get closer to foreign literary works, but also In order to allow readers to get closer to the artistic reality reflected in the original work, the famous translation theorist of the former Soviet Union, Givi Gachechi Ladze, said: "Translation is always a reflection of the artistic reality of the original work, or to borrow Lenin's words, it means that the translator's thoughts are infinitely Close to the object of its reflection - the original work. The translator must 'reproduce' the original work into a unity of form and content, and create a complete work of art similar to the original work. "Octavio Paz pointed out in his article Translation: Literature and Letters: Translation and creation are twin processes. French literary critic and theorist Michael Riffaterre also proposed: Literary translation must also reproduce those features of the original text lhat are the traces left by its production. The two quotations clearly point out the relationship between translation, creation and reproduction - as a link of cultural exchange, the translator must fight for the creative principle of translation art, and must creatively process the original work and change the appearance of the original work. and make it serve its own purpose.
1. The introduction of the concept and its relationship with literary translation
“Creative rebellion” was first proposed by French literary sociologist Robert Escarpit. He believes that “translation is always a kind of creative rebellion”, “If translation is rebellion, it is because it places the work in a completely unexpected reference system; if translation is creative, it is because it gives the work a brand-new The appearance enables it to have a new literary exchange with a wider range of readers, and because it not only extends the life of the work, but also gives it a second life." Professor Xie Tianzhen also gave a concise explanation of "creative rebellion" in his "Methodology of Translation": "Creative rebellion in literary translation is a kind of distortion of the original work caused by the translator in order to achieve a certain subjective desire during the translation process. Objective deviation. Creative rebellion is not unique to literary translation. It is actually a basic law of literary communication and reception. We can even say that without creative rebellion, there would be no communication and reception of literature. "As a human culture, Literary translation is a rather subtle and contradictory phenomenon. As literature, it should turn a literary work in a non-native language into an authentic work written in the native language; and as translation, it should convey a foreign literary work. Therefore, the purpose of literary translation is to "use a language to convey the artistic conception of the original work, so that readers can get the same inspiration, touch and beauty when reading the translation as they do when reading the original work." Indeed, in this sense, literary translation is also creation, a process in which the translator creatively and artistically reproduces the style of the original work, and creative rebellion is an inevitable and inevitable path in literary translation.
2. The translator’s creative rebellion
Lenin proposed: “Human consciousness not only reflects the objective world, but also creates the objective world.” Faced with a literary work, the translator needs to delve into It can penetrate the shell and soul of the original work, but it is impossible to completely copy the original author's intention, because each translator understands and accepts the work based on his own prejudices. The historical reality, aesthetic standards, and cultural value orientation of the translator, as well as the translator's personal aesthetic taste, creative personality, and creative techniques influenced by them all give the translation a brand of "recreation." The dual constraints of socio-cultural factors and personal factors determine that the translator's subjectivity is inevitable.
As the translator is the first reader of the original work, the existence of "pre-understanding" constitutes the translator's choices during translation. Philosophical hermeneutics explains "pre-understanding" as: a certain point of view, opinion or information that exists before specific understanding begins, which mainly manifests as stereotypes or prejudices. The so-called prejudice or prejudice means that in the process of understanding, the work cannot be objectively understood from an objective standpoint, which will inevitably lead to prejudice. Pre-understanding forms the basis for the translator's understanding of the text and determines the translator's special perspective. On the other hand, after the translator fulfills his identity as the recipient of the original work and understands the deep meaning of the original work, he changes his identity and becomes the creator of the translation. Of course, the two identities of the translator are dialectically unified and interpenetrated. Certain impressions of social life and the image of the writer exist objectively in the original work. Such objective things can only be re-objectified and naturalized in the translation after being processed by the translator's mind. In this sense, a good literary translation is not only different from the original work in the language used in its re-creation, but also has the unique creative personality of the translator.
"The Death of the Author" by Roland Barthes, a representative figure of deconstruction, expelled the author of the original text from the unreachable altar, and suggested that only when the author's dominant position is subverted can readers gain complete freedom. . When Barthes explained the relationship between readers and text and analyzed the meaning of the text, he clearly declared that "the author is dead." In his view, once a work is completed, the language symbols in the text begin to work, and whether the text has vitality completely depends on it. Regarding readers, he emphasized that meaning is the product of contact between readers and text. The translators, as the first readers of the original work, are thus liberated. They no longer follow the original author step by step. They can give the original work a new life and are the creators of the translation.
3. Expression forms of creative rebellion
According to Professor Xie Tianzhen’s point of view, the expression forms of creative rebellion can be roughly summarized into the following four types: personalized translation, mistranslation and omission, and abridged translation. and compilation, translation and adaptation. In view of the subjective initiative of the translator and the characteristics of literary translation itself, the expressions of creative rebellion are divided into the following four points: personalized translation, intentional mistranslation, abridged translation, and adaptation.
(1) Personalized translation
Due to the different styles of translators, the translation of the same work by different translators must have different styles. It is not difficult to understand that when translating literature, different translators will always put their own imprint on the translation to a greater or lesser extent. For example, translators of all generations showed their own distinct styles when translating A Red, Red Rose by Scottish poet Burns. The following is a brief analysis of the translation of the first section of the excerpt.
Through comparison, it can be seen that Guo Moruo adopts the form of seven-character ancient poetry, uses domestication and adaptation methods, uses ancient words that are similar to the original text, and corresponds one-to-one with the original text in form, which embodies the translation The author has always insisted on "trying to make the translation consistent with the original text, making the translation concise and clear, and fully displaying the original charm."
However, the only fly in the ointment is that the translation has rhyme and meaning, and the style is also different from the original text. Wang Zuoliang adopted the form of translating new poems and followed his consistent style of translating English poems - translating poems into poems, expressing the simple and sincere feelings of the original poems in simple, clear and musical language. He also creatively used "windward" and "in tune and harmonious" to translate the original text, making the translation have both form and spirit. Therefore, comparing the two translations, it is not difficult to find that Wang Zuoliang's translation successfully reproduces the original text in terms of content, form, style and artistic skills. This also confirms what he advocated "according to the original work, the elegance and vulgarity are the same, the depth is the same, the tone is the same, and the style is the same". It is not difficult to see that the two translators have different opinions on the translation of the same short poem, and their distinctive and personalized translation is also fully reflected here.
(2) Intentional mistranslation
Under different cultural backgrounds, in order to cater to the cultural mentality and acceptance habits of readers of their own nation, translators deliberately do not use correct means to translate, resulting in intentional mistranslation. Mistranslation. Lin Shu's translation highlights the word "righteousness": "The girl died with righteousness, for my family, for my son, and not for grass..." "Yi" carries the moral code of China's feudal "Wuchang". Yin became a virtuous and virtuous woman, a guardian of traditional Chinese moral order. Lin Shu's intentional mistranslation created a distance in humanistic spirit between the translation and the original text, but it was conducive to promoting the acceptance of Western novels by Chinese readers at that time.
(3) Vertical translation
Vertical translation is when the translator "cuts out the complex and simplifies", deliberately omitting some words and phrases from the original text in the translation, in order to achieve the purpose of better expressing the meaning. In the process of translating "The Short Life of Cain", Pan Xizi, the translator of Joan Haste, deliberately concealed the romantic story of Cain and Henry's meeting and climbing the pagoda to get a baby, deleted the plot of Cain and Henry becoming pregnant before marriage, and The content of Henry's free love with Cain despite his parents' orders for the sake of love was also omitted. The reason why the translator did this was restricted by the dominant ideology at that time - traditional Chinese ethics, especially "men and women should not be intimate with each other". This excerpt conformed to the ideology of the time and also satisfied the expectations of the readers at that time.
(4) Adaptation
Adaptation in literary translation mainly refers to the translation in which the literary style and genre of the work have been changed. A typical example of this and familiar to Chinese readers is Tolstoy's novel "Resurrection". Tian Han and Xia Yan adapted it into a drama script respectively, and adapted the original work according to their own understanding and the cognitive situation of the Chinese readers the work faced, diluting the religious color of the original work and highlighting its progressive significance. This kind of creative rebellion plays a significant role in helping Chinese readers understand and accept the spiritual connotation of the original work, and in the dissemination of the original work in China.
4. Conclusion
The definition of the creative and rebellious nature of literary translation does not necessarily exaggerate the subjectivity of the translator in translation, so that creative rebellion becomes a refuge for nonsense translation and haphazard translation. . As a translator, you must comprehensively consider all factors and exert your subjective initiative within the scope permitted by the cultural norms of the original language and the target language, so that the meaning of the original work can be recreated in the world of different languages ??and cultures, and achieve due literary, cultural and social benefits. .
Extension:
Principles for selecting topics for graduation thesis
1. Connect theory with practice and pay attention to practical significance
The subject matter of graduation thesis is very Broadly speaking, all aspects of social life, economic construction, scientific and cultural undertakings, and issues in various fields can become thesis topics. Marxist epistemology tells us that theory comes from practice and theory serves practice. Therefore, when selecting scientific research topics, we must first pay attention to integrating theory with practice.
First, pay attention to the practical value of the topic and choose a topic with practical significance.
First, there are major theoretical and practical issues that urgently need to be answered in the cause of socialist modernization. Such as establishing a modern enterprise system, curbing inflation, building spiritual civilization, building democracy and the legal system, strengthening clean government, etc.
The second is the theoretical and practical problems encountered in the work practice of this region, this department, and this industry. For example, comrades engaged in agricultural work will encounter problems such as large-scale management of rural land, construction of rural grassroots party organizations, education of rural teenagers, comprehensive management of rural social security, technological transformation of township enterprises, etc.
The third is the theoretical and practical issues raised by the author himself in his work practice. Such as employees' ideological and political work issues, leadership methods and leadership art issues, professional ethics education issues, etc.
When choosing a topic with practical significance, we should pay attention to three aspects:
First, major issues related to the party and the country or the national economy and people's livelihood. This type of issue is related to the direction and speed of national development and is a hot topic of public concern, so it has universal social significance. For example, before and after the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, on practice is the only criterion for testing truth, the focus of the party's work has shifted, the rural joint production contract responsibility system, absorbing foreign experience and technology, introducing foreign investment, severely cracking down on criminal crimes and other issues.
In the current implementation of the spirit of the 14th National Congress and the Fourth Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee, we must pay attention to establishing and cultivating a socialist market economy, deepening reform and opening up, linking reform, development and stability, strengthening the construction of the legal system, fighting corruption and promoting integrity, and strengthening party building. , strengthen the study, research and publicity of the theory of building socialism with Chinese characteristics, etc.
The second is an issue of general concern to the masses. Although this type of problem is not global, it is a problem that people are concerned about, or expect to solve, or have doubts that need to be theoretically discussed and answered. For example, some specific policies in the economic system reform, such as wage reform, labor employment and social security system reform, public medical system reform, price adjustment, housing system reform, urban construction, social security, legal education, etc. There are also experience summaries, reform forecasts, research decisions, etc. from various industries. In addition, some topics may seem like trivial matters, but are related to thousands of households, so they can also be selected as topics. Such as the food basket problem for urban residents, the education problem for only children, the problem of thrift and housekeeping, etc.
The third problem is that although it is specific and has not attracted social attention, it represents a certain tendency. One is that the meaning has not yet been recognized, and the author uses a theoretical perspective to analyze and foresee its vitality. For example, rural land is transferred to farming experts, rural village-level cadres are sent to college, and rural leaders are trained to get rich, etc.; or the dangers and consequences are predicted and problems are raised in a timely manner to attract social attention. For example, building houses and building tombs in rural areas occupy and destroy cultivated land, the construction of small towns lacks unified planning, and the infrastructure is not matching, and farmers introduce seeds and products from other places without market research, and so on. The other type is where people are talking a lot and reacting very strongly. It is necessary to make a theoretical analysis and guide them to treat it correctly. Such as efficiency and fairness on distribution issues, getting rich first and getting rich last, opposing egalitarianism and preventing polarization, etc.
Second, we must pay attention to the theoretical value of the topic.
We emphasize the practical value of topic selection, which does not mean that we are eager for quick success and pragmatism, nor do we advocate that topic selection must have direct benefits. As a paper, it is different from work summaries and investigation reports in both form and content. Generally speaking, it consists of three major elements: argument, argument, and demonstration. The article should be based on logical thinking, carry out a rigorous reasoning process based on facts, and draw a convincing conclusion. It focuses on exploring and studying the objective laws of the development of things, expounding its own understanding and understanding of these laws, and providing people with cognitive enlightenment. Therefore, when choosing a topic with strong practicality, we must also consider whether it has theoretical and cognitive value, that is, whether it has universal significance, and whether it can be analyzed and synthesized theoretically, from the individual to the general, and from the specific to the specific. for abstraction. Some topics are not necessarily directly linked to reality or have direct practical use, such as the study of historical issues, classics issues, foreign issues, etc. However, from a development perspective, these themes can represent a certain trend or serve as a reference for reality, and therefore have theoretical value. Of course, such topics can also be chosen. What we want to oppose is just meaningless things that are divorced from reality, pretentious, cumbersome research, and the pursuit of fashion.
2. Be diligent in thinking and deliberately seek novelty
The success, quality, and value of a graduation thesis largely depend on whether the article is innovative. The so-called new ideas refer to the new views, new insights, and new perspectives expressed in the paper. With a more novel point of view (that is, it can enlighten people in a certain aspect or point), the article has a soul and the value of existence. For the novelty of the article, you can focus on the following aspects:
First, everything from the viewpoint, title, materials to argumentation method is new. Once this type of paper is written, it has high value and great social impact, but it is difficult to write. To choose this type of topic, the author must have quite in-depth research on certain issues and have solid theoretical foundation and writing experience. For graduation thesis, due to limited conditions, you should be very careful when choosing this type of topic.
Second, use new materials to demonstrate old topics, thereby proposing new or partially new viewpoints and new opinions. For example, the subject of employee ideological and political work was one of the "hot" issues studied in the past few years. A large number of research results have been published, and it can be said that it is an old subject. However, some people keenly grasped the fluctuations and changes in employees' thinking after the implementation of joint-stock enterprises, collected a large amount of new first-hand materials, and wrote the article "Characteristics and Methods of Ideological and Political Work of Employees in Joint-stock Enterprises", read It leaves people with a refreshing feeling.
Third, redo existing topics from new angles or new research methods to derive all or part of new perspectives. For example, on the theme of employee ideological and political work, some students pointed out that in recent years, the textile industry has used a large number of rural contract workers and the structure of the workforce has changed. The transformation from a natural and semi-natural economy to a commodity economy, and the transformation from small producers to industrial workers. Transformation, from different perspectives such as rural to urban transformation, analyzes and demonstrates the ideological characteristics of rural contract workers and their impact on the thinking of the entire workforce, and explores methods and measures for ideological and political work. Such articles are also innovative.
Fourth, questioning existing viewpoints, materials, and research methods. Although it does not put forward new opinions, it can inspire people to rethink the problem.
The above four aspects are not a complete summary of "new ideas", but as long as one of them can be achieved, the topic selection of the article can be considered to have new ideas.
To discover innovative topics, you must first be good at observation. Social life is like an endlessly changing "kaleidoscope". Things and their contradictions in various fields and aspects are constantly moving, changing, and developing. Old contradictions are resolved and new contradictions arise. In the current cause of socialist modernization, we are faced with many new situations and new problems such as the transformation of old and new systems, the development of market economy, party style and social atmosphere. Not only do the original theories need to be re-understood and re-developed, but also many new ones need to be created. theory. We must be good at observation, diligent in thinking, look at the big picture, start at the small, and look for innovative graduation topics suitable for ourselves in the movement and development of things. Secondly, we must be good at accumulating and analyzing data.
Goethe once said that theory is gray but the tree of life is evergreen. The theories that have been formed in the past, including some opinions in textbooks, can be re-understood with the development of practice and the deepening of research. This requires us to pay attention to collecting data, accumulating data, and analyzing data. For relevant issues, you need to find out what others have written, what arguments they have, what are the arguments and the focus of disagreement, the current progress and development trends of research on this issue at home and abroad, etc. On the basis of in-depth study of existing results, we will process and organize the collected materials, use the results recognized by others as our starting point, and write a paper with our own opinions based on the understanding of predecessors and others.
3. Know yourself and your enemy, be easy and moderate
(1) Know yourself and know your enemy, and act within your ability
The graduation thesis is a comprehensive assessment of students’ learning knowledge and achievements. , the direction, size, and difficulty of the topic selection should be compatible with your own knowledge accumulation, problem analysis and problem-solving abilities, and writing experience, and you must "know what you know".
The so-called "confidant", first of all, must fully estimate one's own knowledge reserves and ability to analyze problems. Because the accumulation of knowledge and abilities is a long process, it is impossible to make rapid progress just by writing a graduation thesis. Therefore, when choosing a topic, you must act within your ability, objectively analyze and estimate your own abilities. If you have a good theoretical foundation and a strong ability to analyze and summarize, you can choose more difficult and complex questions and set higher standards for yourself. This will help you train yourself and grow your talents; if you feel It is difficult to comprehensively analyze a big problem, so the topic should be smaller so that you can concentrate on the key points and explain a certain problem in depth. Secondly, you must fully consider your own strengths and interests. It should be noted that there are differences in the academic level of college students. Some may be more knowledgeable, some may have deeper research in a certain aspect, some may be superior in this aspect, but inferior in another aspect. When choosing topics, you should try your best to choose topics that can bring your expertise into play, learn something, and feel something about what you have learned. Also consider your own interests and hobbies. If your interest is deep, your desire for research will be strong, your inner motivation and writing mood will be high, and your chances of success will be greater.
The so-called "knowing the other" means that one must consider whether there is information or sources of information. Data is the basis for writing a paper. If there is no data or insufficient data, the paper cannot be written. Even if it is written reluctantly, it will not be convincing. Data can be divided into primary data and secondary data. First-hand information refers to the author's personal investigation, including various observation data, survey results, etc. The main source of secondary information is documents from libraries and reference rooms. The second is to understand the research trends and research results of the selected topic, and roughly grasp the difficulties that may be encountered in writing, so as to avoid blindness and ineffective work. Pay attention to looking for weak links in existing research results, that is, doubts, loopholes or deficiencies in other people's research. Many of the questions with doubts and loopholes are important academic topics, which can be used as a breakthrough in research to theoretically modify, supplement or enrich existing conclusions. As long as you know yourself and your enemy, you can choose a more suitable graduation thesis topic. For example, students majoring in politics who are engaged in party and government work should write about topics related to "spiritual civilization construction and ideological and political work"; students who are good at party history and party building should write about the party's basic line, party building, party leadership, and anti-corruption. Issues such as promoting integrity and party discipline and style are easy to write well. For those majoring in economics and working in economic departments or enterprises, write about topics related to "economic system reform and economic development", such as socialist market economy, reform of enterprise property rights system, establishment of modern enterprise system, economic management, enterprise management, etc. The circulation department's work covers market system and socialist market competition, circulation system reform, price system, cleaning up triangular debt, etc. The foreign trade system's work covers opening to the outside world and foreign trade, etc., and it is also easy to be effective. For those who work in rural areas, it is easy to get ideas when writing about small town construction, land issues, township enterprise issues, strengthening village-level organization building, etc.
(2) Moderate difficulty and moderate size
To choose a good graduation thesis topic, it is very important to grasp the principle of "moderate".
First of all, the difficulty of the questions should be moderate. When choosing a topic, you should not only have the courage and confidence to "advance despite difficulties", but also "act according to your ability."
When choosing a graduation thesis topic, many people are eager to give it a try and want to fully reflect their learning over the past few years through thesis writing. Therefore, they focus on topics with higher academic value, newer angles, and more surprising content. This kind of The spirit of daring to think and do is worthy of recognition, but if the difficulty is too great and exceeds the scope of what one can bear, once he starts writing blindly, he is likely to fall into a passive situation where he cannot continue writing in the middle, and in the end he will be forced to start over and change the topic. Not only does it cause a waste of time and energy, but it also easily makes you lose your confidence in writing. On the contrary, if you have certain abilities and conditions, but choose a thesis topic that is too easy, it will not reflect your true level, and it will not achieve the purpose of training yourself and improving yourself by writing a graduation thesis.
Secondly, the size of the topic should be appropriate. Generally speaking, it should be small rather than large, narrow rather than wide. The topic is too big to grasp, it is difficult to think deeply and carefully, and it is easy to make general remarks. Because big topics require mastering a large amount of material, not only local but also overall, not only certain aspects but also comprehensive. However, the time for writing a graduation thesis is limited, and students who study part-time are also burdened by work, housework, etc., so it is difficult to complete a large amount of data collection in a short period of time. In addition, after several years of university study, students have only mastered some basic theories, but they still lack theoretical preparation when it comes to independently researching and analyzing some major issues. Coupled with the lack of writing experience, it is often difficult to handle a large amount of materials, which can easily cause the materials to accumulate or be too scattered, and the writing is general. There are two ways to select a small topic. One is to directly select a small topic, and the other is to select a small argumentation angle among the big topics. For example, there are three topics: "On the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests", "On the Protection of Women's Economic Rights and Interests", and "On the Protection of Women's Property Inheritance Rights". The first topic is obviously too big, because women's rights and interests include a very wide range of content. , including political rights, cultural and educational rights, labor rights, property rights, personal rights, marriage and family rights, etc. It is not easy to write an article if it involves so much content. The second topic is smaller than the first one, but the content of economic rights and interests is still more complex, and it is not too big to write as a graduation thesis. The third topic captures the aspect of property inheritance rights in women's economic rights and interests. It seems to have a small angle, strong pertinence, and is easy to study in depth.
Of course, whether a larger topic is better or a smaller one is better. Everyone’s situation is different, so it is difficult to generalize. Some have good theoretical literacy, know more about the situation, have higher writing skills, and can also write larger topics. But generally speaking, it’s better to keep the topic smaller and more specific. Small topics are easy to master, but as long as they are written in a comprehensive and in-depth way, they are also valuable. In addition, the distinction between question sizes is also relative, and there is no absolute or immutable limit. A big topic can be made small, or a small topic can be made big. This should be determined according to the author's actual situation.
The title of the graduation thesis should be more specific and smaller, but we should also be careful not to limit the scope to too small and specific, so that it loses its typical meaning or fails to demonstrate its theoretical level. For example, "A Preliminary Discussion on the Job Responsibility System of the Administrative Section of XX Factory". It is enough to write an opinion letter on such a topic. If you insist on writing a paper, it will not make much sense.
Thirdly, when choosing a topic, you should also be careful not to follow the crowd or rush to write about issues that you do not understand or have no conditions to research. For example, some people have had only half-exposure to some foreign materials and collected a few new terms and concepts. In order to "seek novelty" and to forgive others, they copy other people's things, swallow them wholeheartedly, and piece together things here and there. In this way, Of course, the paper cannot be written well, so you should take this as a warning when choosing a topic.
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