An Intertextual Approach To The Self-translation Of Se Jie By Eileen Chang

Eileen Chang was no doubt a most talented Chinese female writer in the20th century. Meanwhile, she was well-versed in various studies like redology, translation and so on. As one of the few bilingual Chinese writers, she composed English and Chinese novels respectively, and as a heated self-translator, she was keen on transforming her works into another language in person to impress more readers. Due to her rich life experiences and skilled language competence, it is perceived that her translations involve with typical intertextual phenomenon, which is worthy of probing into.From the perspective of intertextuality, this thesis is attempted to give reasonable explanations about the inner connections and differences existing in the two versions of Se Jie. This paper thus reveals two forms of intextuality:one is the intertextual relations at the textual level and the other is that at the non-textual level. On the one hand, the intertextual techniques such as quotation, rewriting, and adaption are clearly manifested. Besides, her Chinese literary writing features, such as the style of petty bourgeoisies as well as the employment of irony, metaphor, and dashes, can be intertextually noticed. On the other hand, it is verified that both the intertextual interaction between different translating subjects and the intertextual field play an important role in generating the Chinese version of Se Jie.It is hoped that through this multi-dimensional case study, we can gain a better understanding about the interactive relationship between literary works and translations, and a more open and dynamic way of thinking by taking the external factors into serious consideration.