Translation Equivalence--Viewed From Translation Of Female Image In Literature

Translation has always been acted as a bridge of communication, an effective way of cultural exchange. "Translation Equivalence" is the ever-lasting dream of all translators that has never been absolutely fulfilled, which is caused by the subtle combination of many elements, among which are cultural differences, various translators with different translation aims, different groups of target language readers and change of the times, to name just a few.Female image, as an eternal theme of literary works, is regarded highly in literary translation. It's a new and interesting subject to study TE from the perspective of female image, which deserves a systematic and theoretical exploration. According to the author, the shared features of females make it possible to achieve TE of female image in literary translation. However this equivalence can never be absolutely satisfactory, as the aesthetic conceptions and moral standards set by social mainstream vary enormously different cultures and different times as well.A Snow-White, a Cinderella and a Scarlet Whore in a given culture, may be interpreted and rendered into strikingly different images by different translators and different target language readers.Feminism blooming in 60's of the 20th century has greatly shaken the traditional standards for female images, which makes TE offemale images even more difficult to obtain.This dissertation aims to explore the subject in the following sections:The first section gives a brief introduction to and a general conclusion on several major and influential translation theories at home and abroad from various aspects on TE, together with the author's view based upon them.The second section is the body paragraph, which explores in detail "female image" in literature and its translation. First of all, the common characteristics of both oriental and occidental women make TE of "female image" possible. However it must be observed since social norms set by different cultures have been well accepted within their own circles and have accumulated as national psychology, it follows that different social conventions for females, ranging from moral standards, aesthetic conceptions, to appealing appearances and dresses, appropriate words and behaviors, will unavoidably lead to "cultural obstacle", which is a severe challenge to the realization of TE. This dissertation, with plenty of examples, explores the enormous influence of cultural difference on "female image" from different aspects. Meanwhile by the comparison between the original and the translated versions and several translated versions for the same original, the author intends to reveal the possibility of realizing TE ingiven cultural context and the corresponding strategy, which is composed of both the translators' and the target language readers' efforts, including the translators' intelligent and creative use of "adaptation" and "alienation", "literal translation" and "liberal translation" under various circumstances for specific purposes, the TLR's enriching their cultural background information, cultivating their cultural sensibility.The third section is a re-examination of the classical Chinese female image -Lin Taiyu in "A Dream of Red Mansions" and its Chinese version by the Yangs. By the analysis of some paragraphs of the original and the translated version, an illustration is made to show the great impact of cultural difference upon "female image" and the merits and demerits of the Yangs' version in realizing TE.The forth section is a conclusion. As is illustrated that "cultural obstacle" caused by cultural difference is a severe challenge to realizing TE of "female image", it follows that the more ancient the works are, the stronger cultural tint they will have, the more different "female image" will be, and the more difficult it is to achieve TE. However, with dramatic development of cultural communication and cultural exchange, "cultural globalization" is being realized. People from various cultures are acquiring more and more from each other, at t...