Politeness And Literary Translation

This thesis is aimed at applying politeness theories of pragmatics to the study of literary translation. Existing in all cultures, politeness is a universal aspect in human interaction and a decisive factor for successful communications. It embodies different cultural and linguistic characteristics. Therefore, it has an important role to play in the translation of literary works. Yet how to achieve politeness equivalence in literary translation is quite challenging for translators.The present paper offers a systematic study of politeness theories and a deep-going discussion of the feasibility and significance of applying politeness to literary translation. The nature of literary translation is constituted of cultural transference and morphological variation. As politeness is an important aspect of culture, the borrowed concept from House— 'politeness equivalence' is an indispensable element in functional equivalence in literary translation. Because politeness theories possess an important position in the pragmatic studies in relation with literary translation, ? adequate knowledge of relevant politeness theories as well as cultural and linguistic differences in politeness will surely lead to a more thorough understanding of the original text and, furthermore, a more successful translation.The present thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One gives a systematic account of politeness theories. Politeness is presented in the perspective of pragmatic views because of their close relationships with literary translation, including politeness in terms of principles and maxims, politeness as management of face, politeness scale, politeness system and politeness at two levels: speech-act level and text-act level. By doing so, a solid theoretical basis has been laid for the application of politeness theories into literary translation in the following chapters.Chapter Two analyzes the cultural and linguistic differences in politeness between Chinese and English. It is clearly stated that differences in politeness mainly stem from the different thinking patterns, the different national characteristics and the different concepts of...