| The latest published modern Chinese novel by Yu Hua,Wencheng,features unconventional tropes like simile,metaphor and metonymy.Hard to comprehend as they are,these tropes enhance the novel’s literary texture and guarantee an enjoyable reading experience.This thesis is based on the English translation of selected chapters from Wencheng.Given the characteristics of the tropes in the novel and the cultural difference,these tropes pose a significant challenge to the author’s translation practice.Before starting with translation,the author found that two major concerns should be addressed:the identification of tenor and vehicle and the analysis of their relation.Most previous studies on the translation of simile,metaphor or metonymy are based on linguistics or rhetoric.Scholars regarded these tropes merely as either linguistic phenomena or rhetoric devices and put forward strategies and methods to solve the difficulties in translating these tropes.However,they fail to factor in the thorough analysis of the tenor-vehicle relation.Therefore,the author conducts a case study and explains how to analyze the three tropes from the cognitive perspective by analysing typical examples,thus helping translators better deal with tropes in literary translation.Referring to the definitions of the troped aforementioned and the Conceptual Metaphor Theory established by Lakoff and Johnson,the author found a close relationship among these tropes,which are equally composed of source concept,target concept and conceptual mapping.Since simile and metonymy are analysed by virtue of conceptual metaphor,the author discusses them jointly as "metaphorical expressions" in this thesis.Based on the typology of conceptual metaphor discussed by Grady and Mari,the author found the conceptual mappings of the metaphorical expressions in Wencheng can be analysed in terms of cognitive experience,resemblance,and socio-cultural factors and attempted to establish an analysis model which inspired the author throughout the translation process.While finishing the translation task,the author found that the conceptual analysis can complement the linguistic or rhetoric analysis of metaphorical expressions.By investigating the aspects entailed by the source and target concepts,the author identified the essential mapping of every Chinese metaphorical expression.With the translation methods concluded from previous studies-retainment,replacement,refinement and paraphrase,the author looked for the linguistic expressions in the target culture that adequately reflect the conceptual mapping of the original metaphorical expressions.Eventually,the author managed to convey the meaning and characteristics of the original metaphorical expressions and minimized the damage to their literary images. |
