title of thesis or dissertation, worded exactly as it appears - Scholars

259 Pages·2012·1.33 MB·English

METAPHOR IN METAMORPHOSIS: TOWARDS COMPREHENSIVE
TRANSLATION OF CHINESE FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

by

KATHERINE E. THOMPSON

A THESIS

Presented to the Department of East Asian
Languages and Literatures
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts
June 2012
THESIS APPROVAL PAGE

Student: Katherine E. Thompson

Title: Metaphor in Metamorphosis: Towards Comprehensive Translation of Chinese
Figurative Language

This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the Master of Arts degree in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures by:

Zhuo Jing-Schmidt Chairperson
Alison Groppe Member
Xin Huang Member

and

Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the
Graduate School

Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School.

Degree awarded June 2012
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© 2012 Katherine E. Thompson

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THESIS ABSTRACT

Katherine E. Thompson

Master of Arts

Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures

June 2012

Title: Metaphor in Metamorphosis: Towards Comprehensive Translation of Chinese
Figurative Language

Focusing on the unique challenges of Chinese-to-English translation, this thesis
attempts to bridge the gap between practical concerns related to readability and the
cognitive structure and functions of metaphor. It explores the possibility of a compromise
between the interest of the reader, the culturally-bound expressiveness of original texts,
and translator interpretation.
The metaphorical difficulties that arise in the translation of two Chinese novellas,
《纸醉》 (“Paper Dreams”) by Lu Min and 《百鸟朝凤》 (“One Hundred Birds
Saluting the Phoenix”) by Xiao Jianghong, are analyzed to demonstrate how compromise
can begin to take shape through the combined application of reader accessibility
guidelines and cognitive theories of metaphor. Ultimately, this process reveals how each
metaphor requires customized solutions and suggests that voices from various fields
should be taken into consideration when transforming the literature of one tongue into an
imitative product in another.
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CURRICULUM VITAE

NAME OF AUTHOR: Katherine E. Thompson

GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED:

University of Oregon, Eugene
Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

DEGREES AWARDED:

Master of Arts, Chinese, 2012, University of Oregon
Master of Arts, Linguistics, 2012, University of Oregon
Bachelor of Arts, Architecture, 2009, Yale University

AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST:

Translation
Modern and Contemporary Chinese Literature
Chinese Linguistics and Pedagogy

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon, 2009-2012
Courses in Chinese language, literature, film, and culture

Conference Assistant, North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics, 2011

GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS:

Foreign Language and Area Studies Year-long Fellowship, U.S. Department of
Education, 2010-2011

Foreign Language and Area Studies Summer Fellowship, U.S. Department of
Education, 2009

East Asian Language Fellowship, Richard U. Light Foundation, 2005

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe my first expression of gratitude to John Gao, who sparked my interest in
《纸醉》 and inadvertently started me on this intellectual adventure.
I am also very much indebted to Professor Zhuo Jing-Schmidt, whose dedication
to my project has been absolutely extraordinary. I truly could not have asked for a more
supportive advisor. I also want to recognize my readers, Professors Alison Groppe and
Xin Huang, both of whom are great mentors and all-around lovely individuals. I must
mention my former classmate and dear friend Marjolijn Kaiser, who led the way for me
and helped me overcome my moments of doubt.
Finally, I wish to express my appreciation for my wonderful family. I want to
acknowledge my husband, who is an endless source of advice and comfort, my parents
and brother, who have given me a lifetime of love, and my in-laws, who have shown me
that real feelings of affection need no translation.
My Chinese friends and family have had a very difficult time training me not to
use niceties with those who matter most. I have been slowly growing to understand such
things, and this project has aided me in doing so. Here, I will not say “谢谢,” and I will
trust that my professors, friends, and loved ones will all know that my gratitude comes
from the heart.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter Page

I. ANALYSIS .............................................................................................................. 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................ 1
Metaphors with Culture-Specific References ........................................................ 16

Idioms .................................................................................................................... 29

Onomatopoeia ........................................................................................................ 40
Proper Names ......................................................................................................... 52
Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 66

II. TRANSLATIONS ................................................................................................... 70
One Hundred Birds Saluting the Phoenix .............................................................. 70
Paper Dreams ......................................................................................................... 167

REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................ 249

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CHAPTER I

ANALYSIS

Introduction

Much has been said on the topic of translation, and particularly the topic of
translating more marginalized literatures into internationally favored languages such as
English. The practice of translating into English has been praised as “an art that seeks to
create understanding between cultures” (Balcom 2006: 134), for bringing diverse peoples
and ideas together under a lingua franca. But the act of extending the reach of English
into works of other languages has also aroused some concern. While George Steiner, one
of the twentieth century’s preeminent translation theorists, equates the process of
translation with the original act of language production, he also seems to hold a special
skepticism towards the proliferation of English, which he sees as “the principle agent in
the destruction of natural linguistic diversity” (1975: 470). The issue becomes even more
complicated when English is used to render literature from a source language as vastly
different as Chinese. Mandarin Chinese boasts the most native speakers of any world
language, enjoyed elite status in Asia for centuries, and could be similarly accused of
destroying linguistic diversity within its own geographic sphere of influence. Though
Chinese can hardly be considered marginal, its power relationship with the English
language remains asymmetrical. Nonetheless, both Chinese literary reputation and
cultural capital outside of Asia are only beginning to take shape as China strengthens its
role as a key player in global economics and diplomacy, meaning that a shift in the
valuation of language could be imminent. This being the case, the place where two
important world languages and the widely dissimilar cultures and histories that mold and
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are molded by them intersect remains a pertinent issue. It may be said that a variety of
world conditions are converging so as to create a favorable period for the Chinese-to-
English translator, who has previously never enjoyed such a wide variety of choice in
material, such broad opportunities to push the boundaries of her craft, and such a
receptive readership.
That said, it is necessary to address the extent to which the translator of a Chinese
text actually has access to a general English-speaking audience. During the past decade, a
small but vocal group of concerned readers in the United States and United Kingdom has
decried the lack of translated literature available to consumers. For these readers, the so-
called “Three Percent Problem”—that only about three percent of the books published in
the U.S. are translated from non-English sources—is indicative of endemic parochialism
(Kehe 2011), a trend that threatens to diminish the positive effects of globalization and
emergent multicultural awareness. The three percent statistic appears even more lop-
sided in light of the fact that an estimated fifty to sixty percent of published literature in
other languages is translated from English (Wischenbart 2007). Readers of non-English
literatures can vouch for the fact that this disparity does not signify a scarcity of worthy
non-English writings. Moreover, certain parallel trends indicate that disinterest in other
cultures may not actually explain non-English literature’s pitiful underrepresentation in
the American and British markets. Rüdiger Wischenbart points out that the recent success
of multilingual websites, wikis and blogs, independent music labels, and international
film festivals suggests that an audience for multilingual or translated material does exist.
Rather, the recent demise of translation has come from within the publishing industry
itself, brought about by ugly financial disagreements between translators and publishers,
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marketing shortcomings that prevent translations from reaching their diverse audience
members, and editors’ unwillingness to give translated material the extra consideration it
often requires. If this is true, then translators who are willing to exercise creativity in
disseminating their work may find that their projects achieve better reception than the
statistics predict.
And for the sake of encouraging even the most basic type of cross-cultural
understanding, creative translation is still well worth the effort. It should be particularly
relevant for speakers of a favored tongue, and especially those who reside in a
“historically and geographically isolated giant” of a nation, where foreign language
pedagogy almost never produces proficient second language speakers (Panetta 1999: 11).
Given that it is unreasonable to expect general readers of English to invest thousands of
hours in Chinese lessons in order to read a novel (not to mention the thousands of hours
more required to learn enough Yoruba, ancient Greek, or Korean to compare the novel to
works in those languages), most can probably agree that it is better for readers to
experience a limited view of another culture through translation than to never experience
that culture at all. The dazzling variety and mutability of human language itself is less
accessible and pertinent to individuals than the lessons of place, time, and culture that
these languages express. Despite the imperfections inherent in the process of any
transmission of ideas, this is the assumption upon which contemporary translation—and
specifically Chinese-to-English translation—continue to operate.
There are many ways in which language expresses and perhaps even guides the
perpetuation of dissimilarities between worldviews of speakers of different languages
(Holland & Quinn 1987; Achard & Klemmer 2004). Differences in English and Chinese
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