Reproduction Of Semantic Foregrounding Through Metaphors In The Translation Of Verse Novel ——A Case Study Of Lara

The translator chooses the first seven chapters of Lara as the translation practice material.Foregrounding is prominent in this verse novel,and the author applies a lot of metaphors to produce semantic foregrounding.Foregrounding is a key concept in literary stylistics,which is defined as deviations from linguistic or other socially accepted norms in the text.In general,the significance and value of a literary work lie in such interesting and surprising elements deviating from norms.Therefore,in order to reproduce the unique style of the original work,the translation of such foregrounding should be valued.The report aims to address three difficulties.How to identify whether a metaphor produces foregrounded effect?How to determine the key elements in a metaphor and then translate them?According to the foregrounding theory,a foregrounded metaphor contains a juxtaposition of semantic incompatibles,and its figurative meaning is not recorded in dictionaries.Based on this principle,after checking OED,the translator selected the metaphors with foregrounded effects from all the metaphors in the source text.Then,according to the ways of producing semantic foregrounding,the metaphors are categorized into five types:concretizing metaphor,vitalizing metaphor,synesthetic metaphor,humanizing metaphor,and dehumanizing metaphors.By means of case study,the report analyzes the foregrounded effects and the translations of those metaphors in the source text.It is found that literal translation is mainly adopted for the reproduction of semantic foregrounding through metaphors.Meanwhile,due to some factors,such as the differences between English and Chinese in linguistic structures and cultures,these methods are also favored:（1）combining the metaphor with its figurative meaning;（2）translating the metaphor to simile.（3）converting the original metaphor to another one that is more acceptable in the target culture.Besides,methods like converting the part of speech and changing word order are adopted,so that the translated text can be fluent and coherent.