earticle

영어

James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake (FW) was not translated into Chinese until 2012 partly because of the obscurity of Joyce’s language and partly of the big differences between graphic and alphabetic languages. In order to solve the problems, the translator Dai Congrong adopted some unique translation approaches such as citing the source text, juxtaposing several translations of one source word, and adding footnotes. These translational practices correspond to the idea of thick translation, which advocates situating the translation in a rich cultural and linguistic context by means of annotation or other measures. Based on their locations relative to the main body of the translation, thick translation can be classified into three types: textual, text-close and text-remote, with the latter two as the foci of the study. A case study of the Chinese translation of FW reveals that thick translation, as a feasible and effective strategy in translating classics, serves various functions, including the construction of a cultural “Other”, translator’s identity and literary history as well as facilitation of intercultural communication and research. It is also hoped that the current study sparks more academic interest and further research in FW in both literary and translation studies.