Creative Treason In Literary Translation: A Semiotic Approach

In traditional translation studies, concepts like fidelity and equivalence have been enjoying a central position. The translator is like a servant, who should be faithful to the reader as well as the author. However, the notion of fidelity is based on a series of false hypotheses. For instance, there exists an invariant meaning in the source text, and the authorial intention can be precisely expressed in the source text, etc.As translation involves the transference and regeneration of meaning between two semiotic systems, all translation phenomena including fidelity and treason can be satisfactorily explained by semiotics. The thesis analyzes the objective and subjective necessity of creative treason in literary translation, its representations and factors from the perspective of semiotics. In addition, the thesis touches upon the extent to which creative treason is acceptable.The thesis is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 is an overview of the contemporary research into creative treason in literary translation both at home and abroad and a brief introduction to some basic notions of semiotics. This chapter points out the feasibility of the research methodology and the importance of the project. Chapter 2 analyzes the nature of translation from the perspective of semiotics. Moreover, the characteristics of literary translation and language are discussed in this part. It is concluded that equivalence in literary translation is a complex three-fold concept, consisting of syntactics, semantics and pragmatics. Chapter 3 is a microscopic study of the meaning-generation mechanism of individual signs, indicating that the meaning of a sign bears a certain degree of indeterminacy either synchronically or diachronically. Meanwhile, the meaning of a sign changes over time. Consequently, the interpretation of the literary text is potentially unlimited. Chapter 4 observes creative treason at the text level. Firstly, it is claimed that semiotic relations is an intrinsic quality of literary texts, which should be retained in the process of translation. Then, it analyzes some basic semiotic relations in literary texts such as syntagmatic relations, paradigmatic relations and intertextuality, arriving at the conclusion that in interlingual communication these relations are not likely to be restructured in a new language framework. Both chapter 3 and chapter 4 establish the objective necessity of creative treason in literary translation. Chapter 5 analyzes the subjects in translation, namely, the author, the translator, and the reader and their interrelations. By denying the efficacy of the authorial intention in text interpretation and acknowledging the equality between the reader and the author in creating the meaning of the text, the paper justifies the stance that the translator and the author enjoy equal importance in text interpretation. Besides, this part differentiates the translator from the ordinary reader. Unlike the ordinary reader, who can forge the text in his desired shape, the translator must identify the lurking text intention in order to make legitimate conjectures about the text. Chapter 6 classifies the representations of creative treason in literary translation and briefly accounts for them from the semiotic perspective. This part analyzes the semiotic nature of culture and literary system, contending that culture plays a decisive role in the strategies adopted by the translator and in the reception of the target text. Firstly, culture is the semiotic space where language or texts can only function, outside which there would be no language or communication. Secondly, culture is a multi-level semiotic system, which evolves as a result of the interaction between the elements in it. Culture is an important contributor for creative treason. There exists a series of norms in the target culture, which plays a decisive role in the whole process of translation. In addition, the evolution of the culture polysystem leads to changes in the reception of the target text. Chapter 7 briefly summarizes the main points in the thesis.Literary translation has always been an interdisciplinary issue that involves diverse theories such as Reception Theory, Polysystem Theory and Hermeneutics, etc. the different perspectives often lead to ambiguity of such concepts as fidelity and treason. This thesis analyzes the necessity, representations and factors of creative treason, establishing its legitimacy in literary translation. In addition, it clarifies the connotation and denotation of the term so as to avoid misconception or misuse of it.