Discourse Power and Translator’s Style.doc

Discourse Power and Translator?s Style 1 Introduction Translation critics usually expound their view on the stylistic feature of a certain translated work from the perspective of literary aesthetics. From Kumurajiva?s ?elegance based on the original?(依实出华), to Yan Fus ‘elegance’(雅), to Fu Leis ‘expression resemblance’(神似),and to Qian Zhongshus ‘transfiguration’(化境), traditionally, scholars are devout believers of the artistry of transferring the spirit of the source text(ST) writer. Contemporary scholars, such as Zhang Jin (2005), Zhou Yi Luo Ping (2005), are still fond of setting standards for the ideal translation of style and they discuss about how to achieve the ideal with examples. Anyone who ever studied the two versions of Hong Lou Meng ―A Dream of Red Mansion (by Yang Xianyi Gladys Yang) and The Story of the Stone (by David Hawks), must find the striking difference between the Yang’s style and that of Hawks’. Therefore, many critics cite examples from the two versions when they discuss the translation of style. Taking the translation of the cultural items as example, Feng Qinghua(2003) finds that the Yangs? translation is literal in style and the cultural features of the source text is maintained while Hawks? is free and refined in style because his translation is reader-based and adapted to the target culture. Nevertheless, Zhang Nanfeng(2004), in his article Norms behind the two English versions of Hong Lou Meng, discussing the ideological reasons for the different strategies adopted in the two versions, gives examples where Hawks as well as the Yangs deviate from Cao Xueqin?s spirit. He finds that the Yangs? version isn?t always literal and Hawks? version is ever literal. Why literal and why free? The answer for this question means to explore reasons underlying the formation of the style. Following Zhang Nanfeng, we try to locate an answer in the context of translating. We find that the translator?s action is governed by the powers over