CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background of the Study
Being the language with the most artistry, literary language breaks the existent linguistic norms with a high frequency. Many writers devoted themselves to innovations: some brought forth new ideas in syntax and grammar, and some invented new words for their own use, thus leading to a very interesting linguistic phenomenon: deviation. Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a Russian-born American poet, scholar, translator, lepidopterist, and above all, a novelist. He grew up in a rich, cultured and liberal family. Nabokov emigrated from Russia to England after the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then graduated from Cambridge in 1922. In 1940 he moved to the United States. As one of the foremost of the post-1917 émigré authors, Nabokov was an extraordinarily imaginative writer. He was obsessed with word play and experiment in the form of novel. John Updike claimed him as “the best writer of English prose at present holding American citizenship, the only writer” (18). Thomas Molnar gave his description of Nabokov’s poetic language as follows: “It is an ocean of a language with waves upon waves of scintillating metaphors, images, innovations, allusions. The author swims in this ocean like a smooth-bodied fish, leaving the pursuer-reader amidst a thousand delights” (337). However, as Nabokov’s most famous novel, the publication of Lolita underwent a great hardship in the beginning. The book was turned down by many American publishers with various strange reasons: a publisher suggested to Nabokov that he should change Lolita into a little boy; another publisher said the book would send them into prison if they had got it published; what was worse, there even was a publisher whose advisors got so bored with Humbert Humbert that they even could not bear to finish the whole story.
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1.2 Object of the Study
Many scholars have explored the issue concerning the translation of Lolita various perspectives, but research on deviation in Lolita was scarcely dabbled in the past years. This thesis attempts to probe into the translation of deviation in Lolita from the angle of functional equivalence theory. In this thesis, deviation refers to an intentional use of language departing from the lexical, phonological, grammatical or other sets of norms or conventions of language to realize certain effects. It is hoped that via this paper, the translation of deviation will obtain more attention, and thus improving the quality of translation. Deviations in Lolita are categorized according to stylistic function and then discussed in detail within this paper. Finally methods of translating various deviations in Lolita are summarized.
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CHAPTER Ⅱ LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Previous Studies on the Translation of Lolita
At the present time, studies on Lolita mainly focus on the linguistic style and narrative techniques of the original text. The quantity of research on reproducing the style of the original text in translation is relatively small. Some studies on the translation of Lolita are analyzed from the aesthetics aspect. Zhang Ting (107), basing on Hans Robert Jauss’ reception aesthetics theory, analyses some translation principles and put forward some translation techniques on the ground of her own translation of Lolita. He Dan makes a comparative study among the original text and Huang Jianren's, Yu Xiaodan's and Zhu Wan’s translations, in which the author discusses different ways of reconstructing aesthetic features by the three translators. Yan Bingxiang (130-132) explores the literariness of Yu’s and Zhu's version through a comparison of the translation of the first three paragraphs in Lolita. According to this comparison, the writer thinks that Yu’s translation is better in literariness. However, Yan’s comparison confines to first three paragraphs only, so this conclusion does not apply to the whole translation. You Li discusses Yu Xiaodan's, Liu Lizhi's, and Zhu Wan’s Chinese versions of Lolita from the perspective of textual linguistics. The writer makes a comparative analysis of the source text and the target text within the framework of textual linguistics, and draws a conclusion that the textual linguistics framework is based on cohesion, which is important in creating a good Chinese translation of Lolita. However, all You’s examples are chosen from chapter 11 only, thus casting a shadow of doubt about the representativeness and the universality of the examples.
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2.2 Previous Studies on the Translation of Deviation
The dealing of deviation in translation is a significant issue. Xu Chongxin (29) points out that to some extent translating shares the same feature with diplomatic work: one should be good at preserving differences while seeking common points. A good translator respects others as well as respects ourselves. Wang Zuoliang (105) proposes two problems in the course of translating deviation for translators: one is the ability for the recognition of deviation, which needs proficiency in the source language; the other is the ability to reproduce the effect provoked by deviation, which requires mastery of various expressions of the target language.Liao Qiyi (230) holds that more and more new words in different scientific fields will emerge as time rolls on. These fresh terminologies may be used as new materials for creating novel images. He suggests that a translator should keep the form of the original images in the translation as possible as one can, and literal translation will be a good method in such a case. Under some circumstances, writers can bring forth new life to some obsolete words.
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CHAPTER III THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......... 10
3.1 An Overview of Eugene A. Nida's Translation Theory ........ 11
3.2 Nida's Functional Equivalence Theory ...... 11
CHAPTER IV TRANSLATION OF DEVIATION IN LOLITA ..... 15
4.1 Relativity between Deviation and Norm ............ 15
4.1.1 Norm ............ 16
4.1.2 Deviation ...... 16
4.2 Classification and Translation of Deviation in Lolita ........... 20
4.2.1 Translation of Deviation for Characterization ............ 21
4.2.2 Translation of Deviation for Psychological Presentation .... 29
4.2.3 Translation of Deviations for Jocular Effect ...... 36
4.2.4 Translation of Deviations as Thematic Hints .... 41
4.3 Methods in Translation of Deviation in Lolita ............ 45
CHAPTER V CONCLUSION ............ 49
5.1 Research Findings ........... 49
5.2 Limitations .... 49
CHAPTER IV TRANSLATION OF DEVIATION IN LOLITA
Generally speaking, an author can be said to manipulate language creatively: a) if the writer makes original use of the established possibilities of the language; b) if he or she actually goes beyond the extant possibilities and invents new communicative possibilities which do not emerge in the existent language (Leech 24). In fact, both the situations lead to deviation. Deviation can be simply put as the violation of norms. To be more specific, in this thesis, deviation refers to an intentional use of language departing from the lexical, phonological, grammatical or other sets of norms or conventions of language to realize certain effects. Deviation is a skill about manipulating language. In most cases, people are used to common language thus taking this kind of expression as automatic. The violation of norms draws readers’ attention to the linguistic medium which is usually taken as background of the literary text. Due to the prominent influence of deviation on formal features and stylistics in literary texts, it is necessary to discuss something about deviation first before analyzing the translation of deviation.
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CONCLUSION
This thesis has studied the translation of deviation in Nabokov’s Lolita from the perspective of Nida’s functional equivalence theory. According to Nida, he regards conveying the spirit and manner of the original text as a basic requirement of translation (Toward 164). Nida emphasizes functional equivalence instead of formal correspondence, but he does not discard formal correspondence at the same time. Three relatively representative Chinese translations of Lolita are chosen in this article and examples of various deviations in this novel are categorized according to different stylistic functions. Nida’s functional equivalence theory is introduced to analyze the translation of deviation in Lolita. Examples of different types of deviations are presented and analyzed in detail, to see if functional equivalence is achieved in the translation, and methods of translating deviations in this book are also summarized in this thesis.
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The reference (omitted)