A Report On The Translation Of The Desolations Of Devil’s Acre (Excerpts) From The Perspective Of Adaptation Theory

Since the reform and opening up,a large amount of overseas fantasy literature has been imported into China,which has profoundly impacted the Chinese language and literature and promoted the development of Chinese cultural industry.Due to the difference in cultures and modes of thinking,the fantasy of the West and China differs markedly.Under this background,the translation of fantasy literature is an essential field for attention.The original text of this translation report,The Desolations of Devil’s Acre,is excerpted from the final book of the series,Miss Peregrine’s,which creates a fantastic world,portrays various characters with distinctive personalities,and conveys the values of humanity and pacifism.This report adopts the Adaptation Theory as its theoretical guidance.According to the Adaptation Theory,language use is a process of making continuous choices with different levels of salience to adapt to communicative needs.Translation,as a cross-cultural communicative activity,requires translators to consciously make language choices to express the authors’ intentions and satisfy target readers’ cognitive expectations.In the translation process,the translator analyzed the source text and chose effective translation strategies and methods from four angles,namely,the adaptation of structural objects,the adaptation of contextual correlates,the dynamics of adaptation,and the salience of the adaptation processes.From the perspective of the adaptation of structural objects,given that the source text is characterized by fantasy elements such as mythical species,supernatural powers,miraculous images and space-time dislocation,as well as plots constructed in a virtual world which provokes magical and metaphysical feelings,the translator made adaptations to the linguistic features and the style at the levels of phonetics,lexicon,syntax,and discourse.From the perspective of the adaptation of contextual correlates,the translator interpreted the implications of meaning from both linguistic and communicative contexts primarily with the methods of free translation and amplification,making the translation more coherent and cohesive.From the perspective of the dynamics of adaptation,the translator chose language dynamically by considering the major aspects concerning the target readers,including language,cognition,receptivity,aesthetics,and emotion.From the perspective of the salience of the adaptation processes,the translator chose dynamically the approaches of free translation,literal translation,amplification and omission to maintain the literary,mysterious,and fantasy content of the story with the purpose that Chinese readers could have the closest reaction to that of the original readers.The translation practice shows that the Adaptation Theory can provide strong guidance for the translation of fantasy.The findings of this project will shed light on the translation of fantasy literature.This translation report consists of five parts.Chapter One is the task description,which mainly introduces the background,the purpose and significance of the translation practice,the basic information of the source text,and the structure of the report.Chapter Two describes the three stages of translation practice in detail.Chapter Three gives a general description of Adaptation Theory and its application in fantasy translation.In Chapter Four,the four angles of the Adaptation Theory are exemplified with typical cases,in which the translator elaborates the choice-making and adaptation process in fantasy translation.Chapter Five summarizes the reflections and limitations of the translation project.