A Report On The Translation Of Roderick Hudson (Chapter1)

This translation assignment of Roderick Hudson (chapter1) is a part of a bilingualproject between Henan University and the Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.Roderick Hudson’s writer is Henry James, who was an American-born writer, regarded as oneof the key figures of19th-century literary realism. He was the little brother of the philosopherand psychologist William James. He is primarily known for the series of novels in which hewrites about the encounter of Americans with Europe and Europeans. His method of writingfrom the point of view of a character within a tale allows him to explore issues related toconsciousness and perception, and his style in later works has been compared to impressionistpainting. The article was published in1875as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly, and it is astory that traces the development of the title character, a sculptor. Roderick Hudson had thegift in sculpt. Rowland thought he had a bright future, so he help Roderick go to Europe forthe further study. But Roderick lost himself in the lotus-eating life. He started to cheat on hisfiancée and forget the pursuit of art. At last, he wasted his gift and died in the endless sorrow.The Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press makes the request of translation asfollowing: the translation should be loyal to the source text without over-explanation, and thetarget text should be fluent for Chinese readers. The source text is a literary writing withstrong culture background. So the translation should reflect the style of the source text andmake the target readers have the familiar response with original readers. Therefore, the authorchooses the “Functional Equivalence” as the translation strategy and tries to reproduce in thereceptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source language message.