Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies ›› 2015, Vol. 15 ›› Issue (02): 68-73.doi: 10.3969/j.issn.1674-8921.2015.02.013

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Reconstructed Classics: Compensating Translation of Ah Q Zheng Zhuan’s Style

CUI Yanqiu   

  • Online:2015-02-28 Published:2020-07-25

Abstract: Among the five translations of Lu Xun’s Ah Q Zheng Zhuan, Mr. and Mrs. Yang Xianyi’s version is widely acknowledged; William A. Lyell’s version is characterized by detailed notes and explanatory translation with a clear purpose of cultural dissemination; while Julia Lovell’s translation published in 2009 is recommended as “the most accessible” by TIME magazine. The translators, in different times, with different cultural identity and purposes of translation, convey the fiction’s style differently in register, temporal and spatial traits, narration, ways of humor and irony. Comparing with the Yangs’ faithful translation, Lyell and Lovell make creative attempts in representing Lu Xun’s style, some of which are successful. With the aim of Chinese literature going global, target readers’ reception and cultural dissemination should be important factors in translation criticism.

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