On Metaphor Translation In Fortress Besieged From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Metaphor has long been a heated topic for scholars both at home and abroad, and metaphor translation accordingly has been paid more and more attention to among the translation circle. But a cursory review of metaphor translation studies shows that these researches bear limitations and drawbacks in one way or another due to their static or partial study angle, therefore, a coherent and integrated framework which takes into account various factors comprehensively in the dynamic process of metaphor translation is badly needed. Qian Zhongshu's novel Fortress Besieged abounds in metaphorical expressions which play an important role in enhancing the aesthetic effect, intensifying the theme of the story and portraying the characters of different people. This paper, based on Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao's translated English version of Fortress Besieged, makes an attempt to explore metaphor translation under the guidance of Adaptation Theory proposed by Verschueren.Verschueren's Adaptation Theory is a relatively new pragmatic theory, providing an overall systematic description of linguistic communication from a general perspective, namely, the linguistic, cognitive and socio-cultural perspective. In Adaptation Theory, Verschueren assumes language use to be a continuous choice-making process with various degrees of salience for the purpose of successful communication due to three basic properties of language:variability, negotiability and adaptability. Variability and negotiability are the foundation, and adaptability is the result, which enables human beings to make negotiable linguistic choices from a variable range of possibilities in such a way as to approach points of satisfaction for communication needs. And translation, a cross-cultural communication, is a special form of language use, which therefore can be approached from Adaptation Theory. This is also true with metaphor translation. Then the author tentatively builds up a metaphor translation model within the framework of Adaptation Theory. On the basis of the model, the author makes a detailed analysis of the adaptive process of metaphor translation in Fortress Besieged from two aspects:linguistic reality and extra-linguistic elements. It is found that metaphor translation has to adapt to a variety of factors:structures and structuring principles of the target language, temporal and material conditions of the physical world in which it takes place, the target readers' psychological needs and cognitive ability, and the social and cultural elements of the communication. The study reveals that choice-making goes through the entire process of translating metaphors, and a successful translation of metaphors, to a great extent, depends on the adaptability and creativity of the translator. Investigated from a linguistic, cognitive and socio-cultural perspective, the present study will contribute to theoretical studies of metaphor translation and meanwhile give some practical guidance to translators in their process of translating metaphors. Besides, the adaptive analysis of metaphor translation with regard to various linguistic and extra-linguistic factors in this study may enhance our deep understanding of the process and nature of translation activities.