| Middlemarch,a great Victorian novel by George Eliot,is critically acclaimed for the depth and penetrating power of its psychological narrative concerning the characters.Among its narratives,the author frequently utilizes free indirect discourse(FID)to constitute a co-existence of voices of character and narrator which then serves to evoke the critical sympathy from readers.As an important narrative device,FID has been studied elaborately during the past two decades or so,and in the field of Translation Studies scholars have started to adopt a stylistic approach to analyze the rendering of FID.The only Chinese translation of Middlemarch,published in 1987,was created by Xiang Xingyao(1924-1997).The present study is devoted to studying this translation from the approach that focuses on how the translator renders the stylistic features of FID into Chinese.Through comparative analysis,what are manifested are,on the one hand,Xiang’s prominent adherence to the stylistic features,and,on the other hand,his continual shift-making to those features of FID to ensure a natural,clear and concise translation.As he skillfully preserves and shifts the stylistic features of FID,Xiang achieves a state of balance in transferring the stylistic features of FID of the English novel into Chinese.Unlike some domestic scholars whose discussion largely centers on the formal equivalence of FID’s translation,my descriptive analysis is followed by a re-evaluation of their criticism.Recognizing “shifts of expression” in translations,the author points out the critics’ purposeful ignorance of the translator’s individualized choices made under the influence of their translation preference or aesthetics;and based on the analysis of the Chinese translation of Middlemarch,this study stresses that a dialectic tension always exists in the translation process when the translator tries to establish a good position under pressure of preservation and shifts-making regarding the stylistic features.In this very process,a translator could form his/her own “voice” embodied in the work of translation.Thus,by analyzing the translator’s rendering of FID and reflecting on the current trend of criticism on FID’s translation,this thesis proves the balanced state of Xiang’s translation and exposes the narrowness of the criticism.Hopefully,this study may shed light on the stylistic approach to translation,and provoke us to ponder on the translator’s aesthetics and creative power manifested in the choice-making process. |
