A Comparative Analysis Of The Translations Of A Rose For Emily From The Perspective Of New Criticism

New Criticism is one of the most famous schools in British and American literary criticism. Such a theory advocates a text-based analysis of meaning and close-reading. Close-reading refers to detailed scrutiny of the original text. The method of New Criticism is widely used in literary work analysis and it plays an essential role in western literary criticism. As a tool for cultural exchange, translation plays an important role in people’s daily communication. Translation is a process of understanding and reproducing. The method of New Criticism contributes to the understanding of translation and it also helps readers have a better understanding of the original text.This thesis presents a comparative analysis of the translations of A Rose for Emily under the guidance of New Criticism. Translation activities include understanding of the original text and reproducing of the target text. As for the process of understanding, translators should have a deep comprehension of the original text. The method put forward by New Criticism is close-reading, which focuses only on the study of text itself. Such a method especially highlights dealings with details, including text’s diction, figures of speech, tension, and ambiguity and so on. In this sense, the method of New Criticism provides methodological guide to analyze the original text and it is also helpful to the comparison of translated versions. Under the guidance of the specific methods of New Criticism, the writer of the thesis makes a comparative analysis of two Chinese versions from seven aspects, namely, text’s diction, allusion, figures of speech, structure, tone, ambiguity and tension.Translation is a multi-layer and interdisciplinary subject. The thesis combines literary criticism theory with translation practice and applies the theories of New Criticism to make a comparative analysis. After comparison, the writer of the thesis aims to point out that it is better to focus on text itself in translation under the framework of New Criticism, such as emphasis on the details of the text including text’s diction, figures of speech, tone, ambiguity and so on. In this way, the translated text can be faithful to the original meaning.