Translating Metaphors In Fiction: Preserving Or Omitting

Metaphor, with abundant cultural connotations, has been a focus in translation studies for a long time. In the research of metaphor translation, the fundamental issue is to judge whether to preserve the original metaphors or not in the translated version. However, scholars have debates on this issue. Some of them claim to preserve the original metaphors in order to spread unique culture, while some scholars think that for readers’ acceptance, the metaphors which do not have corresponded expressions in the target language should be omitted. It could be found that nearly most researchers lack an objective criterion, thus it is difficult for them to reach an agreement. Against this background, this thesis will apply conceptual metaphor theory in cognitive approach and foregrounding theory in stylistic approach to analyzing the translation of metaphors in Fortress Besieged. The ultimate purpose is to put forward a relatively objective method to judge whether metaphors should be preserved or omitted in translation.The methodology of this thesis is chiefly inductive. After a statistic accounting of all the metaphors in Fortress Besieged, it could be found that four important metaphorical systems, including “HUMAN IS FOOD”, “HUMAN IS ANIMAL”, “LOVE IS WAR” and “UP-DOWN metaphors”, are prominent throughout the whole story. According to Lakoff and Johnson’s classification of metaphors(1980), the first two are ontological metaphors, “LOVE IS WAR” belongs to structural metaphors, and the last one is orientational metaphors. Following this manner of classification, the thesis will divide the body part into three chapters besides the first chapter devoted to theoretical foundation. By analyzing each metaphorical system and its foregrounding effects, this thesis exposes that the first three metaphors are all foregrounded, so they need to be preserved in translation; none of “UP-DOWN metaphors” are foregrounded, so they can be omitted by translators. Furthermore, the possibility of preserving a certain metaphor in translation is associated with the category of the metaphor involved.In summary, in order to judge whether a metaphor should be preserved in translation, the first step is to find the metaphorical system to which this metaphor belongs with the help of conceptual metaphor theory. The second step is to analyze the foregrounding effects of this system. If the system is foregrounded, the metaphor in it should be preserved; if not, it can be omitted. Further studies show that ontological metaphors often carry the author’s specific creative motive and they are most likely to be preserved in translation, the possibility of preserving structural metaphors ranks the second, and that of preserving orientational metaphors the least.