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A Study of Translation Strategy of Folklore in Biancheng ISSN 1923-1555[Print] Studies in Literature and Language ISSN 1923-1563[Online] Vol. 12, No. 4, 2016, pp. 17-23 www.cscanada.net DOI:10.3968/8345 www.cscanada.org A Study of Translation Strategy of Folklore in Biancheng ZHU Lingyan[a],* [a]School of Foreign Languages, Dongfang College, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economy, Hangzhou, China. INTRODUCTION *Corresponding author. With the increasingly frequent cultural exchange between China and western countries, especially Supported by Higher Education Teaching Reform Project of Zhejiang Province (kg2015580); Key Research Projects of Zhejiang Federation of after Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in Humanities and Social Sciences Circles (2016N20Z); General Project of 2012, Chinese local literature, also called as Chinese Hangzhou Philosophy and Social Sciences (Z16JC048). countryside literature, has been attracting more and more attention from the outside world. When we speak Received 28 December 2015; accepted 23 March 2016 Published online 26 April 2016 of Chinese local literature, it is necessary for us to cast our eyes on another influential Chinese writer, Shen Abstract Congwen, for he has ever been reputed as “the father of Chinese local literature” and produced the closest The folklore, featuring its national temperament, literary works Biancheng (also called as “the border specialization, localization, etc., is a vehicle carrying rich connotations of a national culture which does not exist town”) to the Nobel Prize in Literature. Biancheng, the in foreign cultures. The translation of folklore culture is masterpiece of Shen Congwen, has received enormous apparently of great importance to the translation of lliterary interest and constant praise from the readers both at works imbued with various folklore customs, because, in home and abroad with its unique artistic charm and vivid a certain degree, it determines whether a translated text local tone. This novel, by depicting the unique culture in could have a successful landing in the target culture. Two west Hunan province in an elegant and poetic prose-like English versions of Biancheng, the masterpiece of a famous way, displays a panoramic and magnificent picture of Chinese novelist Shen Congwen, are chosen to analyze the Chinese folklore. translation strategies used by their translators when they Translation is not only a cross-linguistic activity, but deal with the translation of folklore on material, on customs also a cultural transfer. For the translation of Chinese and on spoken language. In doing so, this paper intends local literature which contains profound Chinese culture, to explore effective ways of translating folklore so as to how to convey the cultural information should be facilitate future cross-cultural communication and shed attached great importance to, because it plays a key role light on the translation of Chinese local literature into the in ensuring an easy acceptance of the Chinese literature. outside world. Since folklore is an indispensable part to constitute a Key words: Folklore; Biancheng; Translation culture system and its complexity poses a great challenge strategies; Chinese local literature to translators of Chinese local literature, in this paper, we will analyze the translation strategy of Chinese folklore Zhu, L. Y. (2016). A Study of Translation Strategy of Folklore in based on two versions of Biancheng so as to facilitate Biancheng. Studies in Literature and Language, 12(4), 17-23. Available future cross-cultural communication and shed light on from: http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/sll/article/view/8345 the translation of Chinese local literature into the outside DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3968/8345 world. 17 Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture A Study of Translation Strategy of Folklore in Biancheng 1. AN INTRODUCTION TO SHEN With a unique language style, an authentic dialect, and the display of a picture full of local colors and CONGWEN AND HIS BIANCHENG living customs of ethnic groups, Biancheng has given a successful description of the primitive purity and 1.1 An Introduction to Shen Congwen plainness of the countryside in west Hunan. Shen Congwen (1902-1988), born in a border town Till now, Biancheng has got four English versions named Fenghuang, Hunan province, is one of the most translated respectively by Emily Hahn and Shing Mo-lei famous and prolific writers in China’s modern history. in 1936, Ching Ti and Robert Payne in 1947, Gladys Yang Contributing a lot to the development of the Chinese in 1962, and Jeffery C. Kingkly in 2009. Among them, modern literature, Shen Congwen is normally described two versions by Gladys Yang and Jeffery C. Kinkley are as “a novelist, short-story writer, lyricist, and passionate chosen to study the translation strategies of folklore in champion of literary and intellectual independence” Biancheng. (Gargan, 1988). Shen Congwen is special and unique Gladys Yang, born in Beijing in 1919, was a celebrated as a writer not only in his use of the modern vernacular British translator of Chinese literature and the wife of Chinese at his time but also in his works bearing a strong another famous Chinese translator Yang Xianyi. Because influence of the western writing style. Although not quite of her father, a missionary to China, Gladys Yang got familiar to western readers, “Mr. Shen’s oeuvre, which is an opportunity to be exposed to the Chinese culture and imbued with the folklore and customs of his native west became a lover of it since her childhood. Gladys Yang Hunan, has been compared to that of William Faulkner” was the first Bachelor of Arts majoring in Chinese in (Ibid., 1988). By recasting the west Hunan he had known Oxford University. It was in Oxford that she met Mr. Yang in his childhood romantically and idealistically, Shen Xianyi, and they stepped into their marriage in 1941. Congwen created a “world of Xiangxi (west Hunan After their marriage, this couple devoted all their lives to province)”, a poetic and beautiful world, in the history of the translation of Chinese literature and the introduction Chinese modern literature. In his works, Shen Congwen of the Chinese culture to westerners in a large scale. It tried to express his appreciation to the beauty of human could be safely said that their diligent lifelong practice of nature and showcase the purity of human being’s inner Chinese literature has made marvelous contributions to soul. His major works include Biancheng (The Border the evolution of the Chinese literature. Biancheng, as a Town), Recollections of Hunan, Changhe (The Long representative of translated works by Gladys Yang, was River), Zhangfu (Husband), and so on. Among them, published in 1962. Biancheng is the most remarkable masterpiece which Another translator Jeffrey C. Kinkley, who was a establishes Shen Congwen’s status in the history of professor of Chinese history at St. John’s University, literature and ranks No. 2 among the top 100 Chinese could be viewed as an expert in the research on Shen novels of 20th century in 1999. In addition, by his Congwen and his works. He wrote the pioneer biography Biancheng, Shen Congwen was nominated twice for the of Shen Congwen The Odyssey of Shen Congwen, which Noble Prize in Literature. is not only a biography but also a literature criticism. 1.2 An Introduction to Biancheng and Its Meanwhile, he was the editor of Imperfect Paradise, Versions a collection of Shen’s stories. Considering Kinkley’s Biancheng, finished in 1934, describes the lives of an fascinating academic achievements in the research on old ferryman and his granddaughter named Cuicui in a Shen Congwen and his works, the study on folklore remote village in Yuan River Valley between Sichuan and translation in his version must be significant and Hunan provinces, and tells a sorrowful but beautiful love instructive. story of Cuicui and Tianbao, Nuosong, sons of the wharf master. Biancheng enjoys a good reputation worldwide and has been translated into as many as 13 languages. 2. TRANSLATION OF FOLKLORE IN In Biancheng, Shen Congwen endeavored to present a BIANCHENG romantic dreamland and create a “little Greek temple” by way of eulogizing the humanity and ancient life style 2.1 Definition and Categorization of Folklore symbolizing “love’’ and“beauty”. As for the essence of Generally speaking, folklore refers to the cultural mode this novel, Shen Congwen once said: passed down by spoken language and behaviors in our daily life. It carries plentiful connotations of a national This is the design of a small cottage, contrived in a little space and with comparatively little material. Though the materials culture and exists in every aspect of our life. Although making up the building have been economically used, I have folklore has a history as long as human beings, it, as a tried to describe a certain mode of being which naturally, term, is only of comparatively recent origin. In 1846, vigorous and not contrary to mankind…. (Chingti & Payne, William Thomas wrote a letter to the Athenaeum in which 1982, p.13). he put forward a “good Saxon compound, folklore” to Copyright © Canadian Academy of Oriental and Occidental Culture 18 ZHU Lingyan (2016). Studies in Literature and Language, 12(4), 17-23 delineate those widely known as “popular antiquities, or views, we would make a brief categorization of folklore popular literature”. (qtd. in Online Wikipedia: Folklore) by ourselves in order to have a more profound analysis Originally Thomas coined this word to refer to both the on the folklore translation in Biancheng, that is, folklore folk custom phenomena and the study on them. But later on material, folklore on customs and folklore on spoken the international academic limited range of “folklore” to language. folk custom phenomena only and created another word 2.2 Folklore Translation in Biancheng “folkloristics” to indicate the related study. As we stated above, Biancheng presents a panoramic Since the creation of folklore, debates about how this view of a variety of folklores in west Hunan.
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