Abstract

The translation works of excellent foreign literature have been popular in China since the New Culture Movement. Oscar Wilde, one of the great 19th-century English dramatists, wrote many masterpieces that appealed to Chinese readers and audiences, thanks to the efforts made by Chinese scholars who translated and adapted his works, especially his comedies. Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892) is his first comedy and made Wilde a household name as a dramatist. His witty words and expressions resonate among classes of the society in his time. Many researches have been done in analyzing the philosophical meanings and discussing the aesthetic values of the work. However, there is a lack of studies focusing purely on language and style in its different translated versions. This thesis chooses three Chinese versions of this comedy by Pan Jiaxun, Qian Zhide and Yu Guangzhong, and uses concrete examples to analyse the translation of the most distinctive language feature--irony from three angles: performative effects, pragmatics and aesthetics in the light of functional equivalence.  

The translation study circles in China has always been influenced by the mainstream culture in different times. Pan, Qian and Yu are excellent translators who experienced New Culture Movement, Great Culture Revolution and the Opening-up policies respectively, and their language and translation styles represent the features of translation in their times. Performative effects are the primary function of irony, it helps develop the story and build the characters. The analysis of irony translation in pragmatic field requires the grasp of the whole story. Lastly, reserving the aesthetic features of irony is the ultimate goal of irony translation. Based on the analyses from the three perspectives mentioned above, conclusions are drawn as follow: Yu’s version is the best one in the translation of irony. Although all the three works restore the incongruity and contradiction of irony, Yu’s translation better reflects the pragmatic effects of irony and contains the beauty of the original language. Moreover, the irony translation of Wilde’s comedies will reach an ideal level only when the aesthetic effects are achieved. 

Key Words: Lady Windermere’s Fan, Oscar Wilde, functional equivalence, translation of irony

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

Chapter One Introduction-1

1.1 Oscar Wilde and Lady Windermere’s Fan-1

1.2 Literature review-2

1.3 Significance and the format of thesis-5

Chapter Two Functional Equivalence and Irony-6

2.1 An overview of Nida’s functional equivalence-6

2.1.1 Functional equivalence theory-6

2.1.2 Studies of functional equivalence in China-7

2.2 An overview of irony and its translation-8

2.2.1 Definition and classification of irony-8

2.2.2 Studies on irony translation-9

Chapter Three Performative Translation of Irony-11

3.1 Translation of verbal irony-11

3.2 Translation of situational irony-12

3.3 Translation of dramatic irony-13

Chapter Four Pragmatic Translation of Irony-16

4.1 Cooperation maxim in the translation-16

4.2 Politeness maxim in the translation-17

Chapter Five Aesthetic Translation of Irony-20

5.1 Aesthetical effects of irony-20

5.2 Implications and connotations of irony translation-21

Chapter Six Conclusion-23

References-24

文献综述报告-26