| Once published in the Xiaoshuo yuebao,a monthly literary journal,in 1929,Er Ma,the last work Chinese novelist Lao She wrote while abroad,instantly became popular for its original content and plain but amusing language.Up to now,there have been four English translations,on which many scholars have carried out research under the guidance of several translation and/or linguistic theories,but to my best knowledge none whatsoever has been conducted from the perspectives of General Theory of Verbal Humor(GTVH)and cultural meme.Under that theoretical framework,this thesis conducts a comparative analysis of Mr.Ma and Son: A Sojourn in London(Jimmerson,2001)and Mr.Ma and Son(Dolby,2013)in their handling of humor permeated in Lao She’s original work.By analyzing the source text on the basis of the six parameters of the GTVH,this author first identifies the humorous texts in Er Ma and divides them into two types:universal humor and non-universal humor.The latter is subdivided into lexical humor,idiom-based humor and rhetoric-based humor.This author then annotates the humorous texts and their target texts with the six parameters and compares their humor structures in light of similarity metric in three different situations: humor structure unchanged,humor structure partially changed and humor structure completely changed.Through comparative research,this study finds that the differences exist between the two translations in translating humor in Er Ma.The two translators adopt different translation methods.Julie Jimmerson mainly adopts explanation,explanation plus restoration and omission whereas William Dolby mainly employs replication,replication plus explanation,replication plus addition and explanation plus restoration.Consequently,the two translations differ in the humorous effect.Generally speaking,Julie Jimmerson changes the humor structure of the ST,hence the humorous effect is often weakened or lost;while William Dolby maintains the humor structure of the ST and complies with the principles of successful memes,and the humorous effect is fully delivered.This thesis also offers methods of translating humor for translators.For universal humor type,the humor structure of ST can be reproduced in TT by replicating the humor meme of ST so that the humorous effect can be fully delivered.For non-universal humor,however,the humor structure is changed more or less,so various translation methods are adopted by translators in this regard,such as replication,synthesization,substitution,explanation and omission.When translators replicate the humor meme,the humor effect can be fully maintained according to GTVH,but translators should also take into consideration the acceptability of target readers.When translators adopt synthesization or substitution,the humor transmission is successful under most circumstances.If translators explain the core meaning of the humor meme and create new opposite scripts in the TT,the TT remains humorous but less eye-catching.If translators omit the original humor meme in the TT,the humor transmission is a failure. |
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