A Report On E-C Translation Of I Am Not Sidney Poitier(Excerpts) From The Perspective Of Paratext Theory

I Am Not Sidney Poitier is one of the masterpieces of the American writer Percival Everett,whose writing style enjoys the features of post-modernist literature.The whole source text integrates movies starring Sidney Poitier into the storyline through collage,parody and irony.In addition,such methods as parody and irony adopted in the novel are carried out through specific American cultural characters or events.Therefore,the difficulty faced by the translator is how to preserve the characteristics of the original text while presenting the cultural connotations to the reader.Gérard Genette’s Paratext Theory,including the epitext,the peritext and relevant classifications,can provide effective guidance for the translator on engaging in the translation practice.Therefore,the translation practice,based on the theory of paratext,is carried out from two aspects,namely,the epitext and the peritext.The translator needs to collect a large number of epitext of the relevant texts before translation so as to understand the author’s purpose and his writing style as well as the relevant cultural background.In the translation process,endnotes,interlinear notes and other peritext are added to the specific contents respectively based on three categories of collage,parody and satire,in order to explain the cultural meaning of specific sentences and facilitate reading.It is hoped that the report can provide some help for translators.