On Rewriting In The Translation Of Children's Literature

The research background of this thesis is closely related to the research objective,previous studies and research significance.With Andre Lefevere's theory of rewriting as the theoretical underpinning,this thesis examines the translations of six typical children's literary works which are rewritten at different levels,and analyzes the specific rewriting forms,the manipulating factors and the effects.The previous studies related to this thesis are mainly reflected in two aspects,the research on the translation of children's literature targeting the translation texts,and the comparative study and case studies of the translation of children's literature from a variety of theoretical perspectives.The innovativeness and research value of this thesis lies in three aspects.Firstly,this thesis adds a modern translation of a classical text The Tale of Peter Rabbit to five other typical children's literature works including Gulliver's Travels to enrich the research participants and content.Secondly,from the perspective of the theory of rewriting,this thesis analyzes the target texts from the four levels of lexicology,syntax,rhetoric and style to expand research perspectives and fields.Thirdly,this thesis researches on the rewriting forms,manipulating factors and effects of multiple historical texts to deepen the research depth and enhance the comprehensiveness.Based on the theory of rewriting,this paper researches the rewriting in the translation of six typical children's literature works.This thesis strives to answer three questions of how rewriting forms at different levels manifest themselves in the case studies,why the rewriting happens and what the manipulating factors and effects are at different levels,and the conclusions are made.The research method of this thesis includes a historical literature search,data analysis,a comparative analysis and case studies.Firstly,by reading previous texts and achievements,the author applied the historical literature search and data analysis to the finding of research gaps,researchable texts and theoretical perspectives.On the basis of data classification,six researchable texts were chosen.After comparing and analyzing the source texts and target texts,the author found that rewriting mainly occurred at levels of lexicology,syntax,rhetoric and stylistics.Then,the author applied case study to the classifying cases which reflect different aspects of the four levels.By selecting effective cases and disposing ineffective ones,the author compared the rewriting forms and analyzed the manipulating factors and effects,thus drew the conclusions.Based on the above research,the major findings of this thesis are as follows.It is found that there is an abundance of rewriting phenomena in the translations of the six target texts mentioned above.The rewritings mainly occur at the lexical level,syntactic level,rhetorical level and stylistic level.Rewriting at the lexical level concentrates on two aspects of modifying supplements and the four-character structure.On the one hand,due to the influence of traditional cultural ideology and the translators' poetic views,translators tend to add modal particles and "Erhua",which conform to the narrative feature of children's literature and shorten the distance between the source text and target readers.On the other hand,the usage of a four-character structure is beneficial to the expansion of children's literary imagination and improvement of children's cultural appreciation level.Rewriting at the syntactic level manifests as the implicit supplement and splitting of complex sentences.The implicit supplement facilitates the conveying of semantic meanings,which are agreeable to the cognitive level,knowledge and experience of children.It also benefits the deep understanding and intellectual development of children.In addition,the splitting of complex sentences strengthens the readability and acceptance of target texts,which produces positive effects in the improvement of children's aesthetic consciousness and the ability of discourse analysis.At the rhetorical level,the usage of onomatopoeia and repetition brings taste and an enjoyment of beauty to the target readers.As children rely on their sense organs to know the world and repeat the remembrance of things,the addition of onomatopoeia and repetition makes the language expression more specific and vivid,helping children to input semantic meanings and expressions.This also exhibits the vitality and diversity of language.At the stylistic level,rewriting is presented by the translations of different styles selected by translators.Affected by the social and cultural ideology of a certain time and the translators' own aesthetic ideology,the translators often adopt different literary styles to rewrite,which to some extent would enrich the expressions of the target culture and fulfil the goal of cross-cultural communication.According to the above research results,the conclusions are drawn from this thesis.Firstly,the application of rewriting in the cross-cultural communication and transmission of children's literature has become a common phenomenon,which helps to present a special literary value and various literary effects.Translators tend to rewrite the source texts due to the restriction of the dominant ideology,poetic views and patronage in their own times.This helps to promote cultural communication and transmission.In the meantime,the transition of the texts also encourages the rebirth of the texts,which serves as an important medium of circulation.Secondly,in the context of cultural globalization,the rewriting of children's literature ought to stick to the moderate principle.It is not acceptable that translators deliberately damage and abandon the original meanings and cultural connotations.The research focus of this thesis has a certain academic value and practical significance.Firstly,rewriting at different levels helps to strengthen the acceptance and aesthetic value of the target text.It also helps to accomplish the educational function of the translation of children's literature through mind influencing and mental development.Therefore,the research results of this thesis will play a positive role in the introduction and transmission of foreign children's literature works,the development of the domestic children's literature and the education of children.Meanwhile,the implementation of a rewriting strategy also possesses the modelling and referential significance in terms of the translation practice of the translation of children's literature.There are still limitations in the study due to the restrictions of time and length.In the aspect of selecting translations,it is not able to cover all the translations of children's literature.Besides,the case study is limited to the selected texts.Therefore,the conclusions may not be entirely applicable in explaining other texts.There is still a broader prospect for the research on rewriting in the translation of children's literature.