On The Fictional Translation Of Sense And Sensibility From The Perspective Of Literary Stylistics

The thesis takes as its subject matter Jane Austen’s maiden work of Sense andSensibility and three popular Chinese versions. It attempts to explore the relationshipbetween the writer’s linguistic artistry in style and the intended thematic and aestheticeffects. The thesis especially adopts the research approach of literary stylistics and selectsrepresentative examples with stylistic prominence from three popular translations.Concerning the stylistic aspects in lexis, syntax, discourse presentation and rhetoricalirony, it conducts analysis on the stylistic arrangements and literary functions of theoriginal text, compares and comments on the translations in achieving thematic values aswell as the rationale in translating in the way.Enlightened by Professor Shen Dan’s studies in the application of literary stylisticsto fictional translation, the thesis appeals to her call for more academic attention to thetopic. It’s a fresh attempt to analyze the translation of Sense and Sensibility in theperspective of literary stylistics in an all-round way. In the fiction, the two femalecharacters’ views on marriage and love story are revealed in a whole thematic unitythrough witty dialogues, vivid characterization and prevalent ironies. For the threeChinese translations, such thematic values are conveyed in different degrees for specificdiscourses, which direct us to delve into the stylistic functions in reconstructing thethematic design. The double nature of literary stylistics in linguistic and literary aspectsprovides an effective remedy for “deceptive equivalence” and shed lights on reproducingthe stylistic properties and enhancing thematic significance.