A Comparative Study On The English Translation Of Xi You Ji Under Foregrounding Theory

As an important concept in stylistics,“foregrounding” originates from the art of painting and now refers to certain parts of the discourse being more remarkable to attract the attention of the readers,being first put forward by the Russian formalism scholar Shklovsky and then experienced the development and perfection of many other stylistics.One of the major representatives was the British linguist Leech,who divided foregrounding into two categories: syntagmatic foregrounding and paradigmatic foregrounding and he reiterated the concept of foregrounding and its application in his later monographs.The combination of foregrounding and translation was first proposed by Ye Zinan in the book Translation Theory and Practice.Later some scholars also put forward similar propositions and illustrated the guiding role of foregrounding in translation theory and practice.As one of the four classical novels of Chinese literature,Xi You Ji occupies an important position in Chinese classical novels.The current research on Xi You Ji is diverse in categories.However,there are few studies focusing on its English translation from the perspective of literature and linguistics.In the history of translation,a wealth of English translations of Xi You Ji have been produced,of which the translations by Anthony C.Yu and W.J.F.Jenner are the only two complete versions to date.Both came out in the 1980 s and have been circulating among a large number of readers for a long time.On this foundation,the comparative study of the two English versions of the novel under foregrounding theory will provide a new perspective for translation research,deepen the translation study of the complete translation of Xi You Ji and provide guidance and inspiration for translation practice.The thesis aims to conduct a comparative study of the two English translations of Xi You Ji under foregrounding theory.According to the classification of foregrounding by Leech,it will study the representation of foregrounding language in the two English versions from phonological,lexical and grammatical levels in syntagmatic foregrounding and lexical deviation,grammatical deviation,semantic deviation,deviation of register and that of historical period in paradigmatic foregrounding.The major findings of the study are as follows: 1)By application of foregrounding language,the narration and style of Xi You Ji gets more prominent.Syntagmatic foregrounding makes the language concise,neat,and rhythmic,while lexical deviation,grammatical deviation,semantic deviation,deviation of register and that of historical period in paradigmatic foregrounding add more vitality and creativity to the whole text.The two categories of foregrounding contribute a great deal to the flexible language of Xi You Ji.2)In the two English translations of Xi You Ji,Yu's translation is superior in the representation of foregrounding language than that of Jenner's.Yu mainly adopts the translation strategy of alienation,with domestication as a supplement while Jenner is on the contrary.The translation of Yu strives to be faithful to and render foregrounding language of the original text as far as possible.Jenner focuses more on the readability of the translation and thus ignores the retention of foregrounding language to some extent.3)It is almost impossible to fully represent foregrounding language of the original text,which includes two main reasons: one is the cultural differences of language,the other is the differences between translation strategy and knowledge reserve of translators.Thus,in order to better reproduce foregrounding language in the original text,translators should mainly adopt the translation strategy of alienation and fully understand relevant background information.In the case of cultural defaults,it is advisable to make domesticating translation and annotation so as to avoid misunderstanding.To sum up,the study discusses the language style of the two English translations of Xi You Ji under foregrounding theory in detail and summarizes the differences between translation strategies and quality of the two by case study.Furthermore,it put forward some suggestions on the translation of foregrounding language in novels.The study extends the depth and breadth of researches on the English translation of Xi You Ji,promotes literary translation in the related fields,and provides an important reference for readers to understand Xi You Ji and Chinese classical culture.