A Study on Metaphor Translation in Fortress Besieged from the Prospective of Functionalist Translation Theory

一、选题背景与意义

1. Rational of this Paper

   Fortress Besieged, the only published novel of Qian zhongshu, is acclaimed as a masterpiece, and a manifestation of his encyclopedic knowledge, witty words, and reflection during that social upheaval. This book mirrors the whole situation of China in that period, and it occupies an indispensable place in the contemporary time. Since Fortress Besieged published in 1945, it was translated into English by Nathan K. Mao and Jeanne Kelly in 1979, and it was published by the Indiana University Press on April, 1980. This version has been updated several times. One was in 2004 by the New Directions Publishing with additional foreword by Jonathan Spence. In 2006, another updated version was published by Penguin Classics. Despite three updated versions, there is still only one translation version by Nathan K. Mao and Jeanne Kelly in English without much change for 35 years. Though this version is an authority, its translation also has its merits and demerits.

2. Significance of this Paper

From the perspective of untranslatability, what can be revealed is that temporary deadlock in translation is unavoidable, caused by the incommensurability in different languages and cultures. In translation practice, confronted with the solid barrier of cultural incommensurability, what kinds of translation strategies are recommended and their effects are discussed in the paper, taking the Fortress Besieged as a case study.

   Over 680 uses of figurative language within the book Fortress Besieged make it an ideal one to exam the metaphor translation. Through the case study of the book and a relative survey, what can be figured out is that the only translation of Wei-ch'eng have much room for improvement. It also intend to prove that there is an urge to retranslate Wei-ch'eng, so that English speaking readers could have another taste of Ch'ien Chung-shu’s humor, and also catch a glimpse of the beauty of Chinese culture.

3. Literature Review

3.1 Metaphor and Metaphor Translation

   3.1.1 Studies on Metaphor in the West

Shu Dingfang has pided the studies on metaphor in the west into three periods. The first period focuses on rhetorical study on metaphor, the second one put emphasis on semantic study on metaphor, and the third period covers interdisciplinary study around metaphor. (束定芳， 2000)

As early as the age of Aristotle in 300 B.C. began with rhetorical study on metaphor with a history of more than 2000 years. Howes, in this period, admitted the metaphor study based on rhetorical devices as mainstream, and described metaphor as an “ostentatious ornament”of languages. (Howes, 1961: 50)

Aristotle took the initiative to study metaphor in his works Poetic and Rhetoric, where the idea about metaphor has been developed into “comparison theory”. According to him, metaphor is considered as a word carrying other meaning which is transferable, for instance, either from genus to species, or from species to genus, or inter-species, or by analogy (Luo Nian-sheng, 1982).

   The Philosophy of Rhetoric written by Richards opens a second period, marking studying metaphor semantically. Together with Black, Richards introduced the “interaction theory” of metaphor with two elements of tenor and vehicle.

   From the 1970s, interdisciplinary study of metaphor is enjoying more and more attention, from psychology, to semiotics and to cognitive semantics. Among them, two of the distinguished scholars are George Lakoff and Mark Johnson, who put forward “The essence of metaphor is understanding and experience one kind of thing in terms of another”(Lakoff and Johnson, 1980: 3) in the book Metaphor We Live By. They offer the theory of Metaphorical Concept System, since human are living in a world based on a metaphorical conceptual system.

   3.1.2 Studies on Metaphor in China

   In China, metaphor is always associated with simile as two kinds of biyu. The difference between Simile and metaphor lies in whether a comparison uses the words “like” or “as ” or not. However, Aristotle holds that metaphor and simile are the same in essence, therefore the definition of metaphor in the west are close to that of biyu in China.

   China has boasted a long history of studying biyu, which can be dated back to the Spring and Autumn Period. Zhou Li pointed the techniques of “bi” and “xing” at the first time.

Liu Xie, as a pioneer in the systematical study on biyu, lived in the period of Qi and Liang, and his masterpiece“The  Literary  Mind  and  the  Carving  of  Dragons ” establishes itself as an milestone in ancient Chinese rhetoric(Yuan Hui, 1995). Liu Xie distinguished bi from xing, since the former is an explicit analogy, while the latter an implied metaphor. (Zhou Zhen-fu, 1991) The first works on rhetoric is Literary Norms by Chen Kui in the Song Dynasty, which detailed ten kinds of biyu. In modern age, Yuan Hui incorporated western concepts from aesthetics to psycholinguistics, and published The Analysis of Trope discussing biyu in a multi-dimensional way

   3.1.3 Studies on Metaphor Translation

   Given the various definitions of metaphor, it is not easy to study metaphor translation. In 1976, Menachim Dagut touched upon the topic in his great works called Can Metaphor be Translated.

   According to him, when we opt for any metaphor, it can be considered an inpidual reflection of one’s inner thought or imagination. It can go beyond the limits of a language, and inspire one’s sentiments and intelligence.

   Raymond van de Broeck, another influential scholar, categorizes three types of metaphors: lexicalized, conventional and private and summarizes three strategies: literal translation; substitution or replacement; paraphrase.  

Pragmatically, Peter Newmark offers eight procedures in face of metaphor translation：reproduction of the original image with the target language, Substitution the original image for a acknowledged image in the target language, transforming a metaphor into a simile, translating a metaphor into a simile with explanation, converting a metaphor into detailed description, modification of a metaphor, omitting the unnecessary, and integration of metaphor and sense.

3.2 Metaphor in Fortress Besieged

  3.2.1 Introduction of Wei-ch'eng  

  C.T.Hsia passionately admired Wei-ch’eng as “the novel is carefully written and brings with the most delight ”...she also praised it as one of the greatest novel. (Angela Jung Palandri, 1980) Dennis Hu, in his article, "A Linguistic-Literary Approach to Ch'ien Chung-shu's Novel Wei-ch'eng," tells us that, within the 340 pages of the Chinese text, there are some 680 uses of figurative language (JAS 37 {May 1978): 428). It is his manipulation of language that produces unique flavor in his work, and its abundant metaphors serve as an ideal material for studying untranslatable metaphor’s translation.

   3.2.2 Critiques of the Translation in China

Wanglei points out that a number of metaphors related with Chinese ancient literature in Wei-ch'eng, are translated word by word into English, which are proved to confuse some English native readers in his survey. Sun Yifeng(1995) praises the translator's elaboration on some metaphors and set phrases, in order to inform Western readers of Chinese culture, instead of paraphrase straightforward,so that some of the flavor of the original text have been preserved. After all, such way is not the rule of the thumb, as readers are unable to acquire too much notes. Without notes, word for word translation is not recommendable, otherwise the translation will fail to communicate with its readers.

   3.2.3 Overseas Critiques of the Translation