Abstract

The traditional translation research has long centered on the one-to-one relationship of a word’s meaning and function, ignoring the discourse system’s inner or outer relations, while the theory of intertextuality highlights the text relations. The intertextuality theory was put forward by the French semiologist Julia Kristeva. In her opinion, each text is transformation and assimilation of other texts. Then in Discourse and Translation, which listed Hatim and Mason as its co-authors, the theory of intertextuality was introduced into translation studies. 

Wang Shifu’s Romance of the Western Bower is recognized as one of the classic works in the history of Chinese classical drama. The play enjoys high literary value as it represents readers a beautiful love story and features in fresh rhythm and lyrics which contain a large number of allusions. Allusion can be regarded as a kind of intertextual sign as allusion can evoke the connection between a text and its intertexts. Allusion translation is an intertextual transmission. Therefore, it is vital for translators to understand a single word, a phrase or a sentence that has the intertextual connection with that of other texts.

So far Romance of the Western Bower has several English versions, but the differences between Chinese and Western culture hinder the allusion translators to abide by the principle of reproduction of information. Of all the English versions, Professor Xu Yuanchong’s translation has achieved the goal of faithfulness and is reputed as the most popular and complete version of the drama at home and abroad. After systematic and detailed understanding of Xu’s English version of Romance of the Western Bower, this thesis summarizes the specific methods of allusion translation adopted by Professor Xu. In the meantime, the thesis analyzes how these methods transmit the original information from the perspective of intertextuality. 

Combining intertextuality with translation is a less-involved research field in translation studies. Allusion translation is more challenging due to the great differences between Chinese and English languages and cultures. The translators should make efforts to compensate and reconstruct intertexts, meanwhile transmitting intertextual relations and cultural communication. Therefore, this thesis proves the significance of intertextuality in allusion translation to improve translation quality and express cultural connotations. 

Key words: allusion translation, intertextuality, intertextual sign, cultural connotation

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter 1 Introduction-1

1.1 Background Information about Wang Shifu and Xi Xiang Ji-1

1.2 Xu Yuanchong’s Translation of Romance of the Western Bower-2

1.3 Purpose and Significance of the Study-2

1.4 Thesis Structure-3

Chapter 2 Literature Review-4

2.1 Research about Xu Yuanchong’s Translation of Romance of the Western Bower-4

2.2 Research about Allusion Translation in Recent Years-4

Chapter 3 Theoretical Framework of the Research-6

3.1 Theory of Intertextuality-6

3.2 Intertextuality and Allusion Translation-7

3.3 Strategies for Allusion Translation-8

Chapter 4 Allusions in Romance of the Western Bower-10

4.1 The Types of Allusions in Romance of the Western Bower-10

4.2 Xu Yuanchong’s Techniques in Allusion Translation-10

4.2.1 Literal Translation-11

4.2.2 Paraphrasing-13

4.2.3 Generalization-15

4.2.4 Cultural Substitution-18

4.3 Problems in Allusion Translation-19

4.3.1 Undertranslation and Overtranslation-19

4.3.2 Problems in Xu Yuanchong’s Allusion Translation-20

Chapter 5 Conclusion-24

5.1 Major Findings-24

5.2 Limitations and Suggestions-25

References-26

文献综述报告-27