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A Comparative Study of Gender Representations in Philip Pullman's A Comparative Study of Gender Representations in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Its Chinese Translation by WING BO TSO A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham in part fulfillment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Applied Linguistics Centre for English Language Studies School of English, Drama and American & Canadian Studies College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham November 2010 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. 3rd of 3 modules Modules 1 and 2 are in a separate file Abstract Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials has caused controversy as well as enjoyed great popularity among readers worldwide. Its influence has created a great impact in the field of children’s literature. The purpose of this thesis is two-fold. Firstly, the thesis analyzes gender representations in Pullman’s trilogy in the context of how he rewrites female archetypes through the subversive re-inscription of Eve, the invention of daemons, the reinvention of ‘femme fatale’, and the new portrayal of Gypsy women. Secondly, the thesis aims at comparing and examining how gender representations in the source text are translated, transformed or / and manipulated in its Chinese translation. With reference to Chinese gender ideology, which includes the Chinese concept of the ying-yang polarities, Buddhist notions of gender, the notion of the femme fatale, and the stereotypical image of Chinese grannies, the syntactic and semantic alterations made by the Chinese translator are investigated. Issues regarding how Chinese gender views may influence and alter the translation product are discussed in detail. By studying the similarities and differences in gender representations between the texts, the thesis attempts to shed light on the gender ideology of both English and Chinese contemporary cultures. Total number of words: 193 DEDICATION For my parents and in memory of Dr. Murray Knowles ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express the deepest gratitude to my first supervisor, Dr. Murray Knowles, who, from the early stage of my study, inspired me with insightful ideas and guided me on how to shape the backbone of this research. I could never have started all this without his prior teachings and unflinching encouragement. He passed away shortly before I completed my thesis, but my admiration and memories for him will live forever. I must also thank my other supervisor, Dr. Carmen Caldas-Coulthard, for her constructive criticism, extensive feedback and constant patience throughout. Without her kind and practical help, especially in the final stages, this thesis would not have been possible. I am indebted to the organizers of the English Graduate Conference 2008 in London (UCL), The Child and the Book Conference 2008 in New York (Buffalo State College), the Graduate School Poster & Networking Conference 2008 at the University of Birmingham, the Interdisciplinary and International Postgraduate Conference 2008 in Wales (Bangor University), and the 8th Biennial Conference of the Pacific and Asian Communication Association 2010 in Shenzhen. I am grateful for their kind acceptance and inclusion of my conference papers and posters, through which I have had many precious opportunities to share my research ideas and learn from scholars, participants and fellow postgraduates. Much of my thesis have benefited from the useful comments and suggestions of the friendly people I met in the conferences. Words fail me to express my immense appreciation to my husband, Raymond, for his understanding, endless love and sweet care through thick and thin. I am also obliged to my dear siblings, cousins, friends, schoolmates and colleagues, for their emotional support and tolerance, especially during the writing of the thesis. My ultimate thanks, as always, go to my parents, who have always believed in me, and whose love is far too great to be expressed in words. This dissertation is dedicated to them with respect and affection. A Comparative Study of Gender Representations in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials and Its Chinese Translation Table of Contents: 1. Introduction………………………..…………………………………………………………..1 1.1. The Booming Appetite for Chinese Translations of English Books in China…………....1 1.2. A Study of Ideological Alterations in Chinese Translations…………………….…….…3 1.3. The Submersion of Chinese Gender Ideology in the Target Text……………………..... 7 1.4. Focus of the Research………………………………………..………………………….10 1.5. Overall Organization of the Thesis…………………………………...…………..……..13 2. Gender Issues in English Children’s Literature and Chinese Translations.………..………...16 2.1. Introduction………………………..………………………………………….................16 2.2. Identification of Female Archetypes in Popular Children’s Literature……………..…..17 2.2.1. Female Archetypes in Fairytale………………………….....................................18 2.2.2. Female Archetypes in Victorian Children’s Books ……………………..………26 2.3. Subversions of Gender Stereotypes in Children’s Literature.…………………………..29 2.3.1. The Use of the Child as a Perspective Relativizer ……………..………………..30 2.3.2. The Use of the Carnivalesque………..………………………………….……….32 2.3.3. The Use of Retelling……………………..………………………………………34 2.4. Identification of Sexism in the Chinese Language……………………………………...36 2.4.1. Sexism in the Morphology of Chinese Characters…...…………………..……...37 i 2.4.2. Sexism in Chinese Vocabulary……………………..……………………………38 2.4.3. Sexism in the Chinese Pronoun System……………...…………….……………41 2.4.4. Sexism in Chinese Word Order……………………………..…………………...43 2.4.5. Sexism in Chinese Four-character Idioms…………………………..…………...44 2.4.6. Sexism in Chinese Proverbs and Expressions…………………..……………….45 2.5. Summary……………..……………..…………………………………………………...46 3. Representations of Gender in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials ……………...……....…48 3.1. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………...48 3.2. Philip Pullman’s Personal Background………………..………………………………..49 3.3. Pullman’s View of Gender…………………….………………………………………..52 3.4. The Representation of Lyra, or the Subversive Re-inscription of Eve…………..……...57 3.4.1. Before the Fall: ‘Adam and Eve’ Becomes ‘Eve and Her Helper’……..……….58 3.4.2. In the Fall: Sin and Shame Glorified…………..………………………………...62 3.4.3. Consequence of the Fall: A Return of Life Spirit…………………..……………72 3.5. The Invention of Daemons……………….……………………………………………..75 3.5.1. Jung’s Theory of the Anima and Animus…………………..……………………77 3.5.2. Pantalaimon as Lyra’s Animus………………..…………………………………81 3.5.3. Pantalaimon as the Bodyguard…………….…………………………………….82 3.5.4. Pantalaimon as the Soul-mate…………………………….……………………...83 3.5.5. Pantalaimon as the Mastermind…………………………..……………………...85 3.5.6. Pantalaimon as the Conscience………….…….…………………………………86 3.5.7. Pantalaimon as the Playmate…………….…….………………………………...89 ii 3.5.8. Implications of Pullman’s Daemons……………………………..………………89 3.6. The Reinvention of the ‘Femmes Fatales’…………………………..…………………..92 3.6.1. The Femme Fatale Archetype……………………..……………………………..93 3.6.2. Mrs Coulter as the Irresistible Seductress………………………..………………94 3.6.3. Mrs Coulter as the Evil Torturer………………………..………………………..97 3.6.4. Mrs Coulter as the Femme Castratrice…………………………………….….....97 3.6.5. Mrs Coulter as the Loving Mother………………………………………….…...99 3.6.6. Mrs Coulter as the Redeemer…………………………………………..……….100 3.7. The Portrayal of Marginalized Gypsy Women…………………………………..…….101 3.7.1. Who are the Gypsies?..........................................................................................101 3.7.2. The Gypsy Female Stereotype…………………………..……………………...102 3.7.3. Pullman’s Representation of Ma Costa, the Gypsy Female………………..…..104 3.8. Summary………..…..………………………………………………………………….106 4. Manipulations and Alterations in the Chinese Version of His Dark Materials ………..…...108 4.1. Introduction…..……………..………………………………………………………….108 4.2. A Brief Introduction to the Chinese Translator and the Translated Text…………..….109 4.3. An Altered Representation of Lyra in the Translated Text………..…………………...112 4.3.1. Yang Features Exaggerated in the Portrayal of Lyra……..……………………...117 4.3.2. Anti-patriarchal Notions Softened in the Portrayal of Lyra……………..……….121 4.4. The Manifestation of Buddhist Notion of Gender in Daemons…………………..……124 4.4.1. Buddhist Notions of Gender……………………………..………………………125 4.4.2. Guan Yin, the Genderless Buddha of Compassion………………………..……..126 iii 4.4.3. Inherent ‘Guan Yin’ Nature in Pullman’s Daemons Magnified………………....128 4.4.4. Genderlessness of Guan Yin Enhanced in the Translated Text……………..…...132 4.4.5. Genderlessness Imported Through Inconsistent Translation of the Pronoun ‘It’..132 4.4.6. Gender ‘Hidden’ Through Ellipsis of Pronouns………………………………....135 4.4.7. Daemons’ Form-fixing Interpreted and Translated as a Lamentable Loss……....136 4.5. The Interpretation of the ‘Femme Fatale’ in the Chinese Version……………...……...140 4.5.1. The Representation of Mrs Coulter in the Translated Text…………..………….143 4.6. Variations in the Representation of Ma Costa, the Unruly Gypsy Female……….….....149 4.6.1. Gyptian Linguistic Features Diminished in the Target
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