目的论视角下小说《围城》中幽默语的翻译

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摘 要

幽默言语广泛出现于文学作品中，因其奇特的表达形式与艺术效果为作品的魅力添砖加瓦。不同文化中幽默语的表达差异显著，因其集本国语言、社会文化、价值观念、思维方式等于一体，更体现了作者的独特文学风格与思想。文学作品中幽默语的翻译是进行文化交流与研究的重要方式。而无法避免的中英文化差异与思维差异给文学作品中幽默语的翻译带来不少难度。本文旨在以德国功能翻译理论中的核心理论--目的论为基础研究文学作品中幽默语的翻译，使译本更好地传达源语中的幽默效果。

以钱钟书作品《围城》的幽默翻译特色亮点为例，本文拟以目的论为向导分析译文所采取的翻译方法和策略,旨在成功地将源语转换到目的语境中去，使西方读者能有效理解原文的幽默意趣与文化内涵，并发现目的论理论对于幽默语翻译的重大指导意义。

关键词：幽默语翻译；文化差异；目的论；《围城》

Contents

1. Introduction...................................................................................1
2. Literature Review...........................................................................1
   1. An Overview on Skopos theory......................................................2
   2. An Overview on humor at home and abroad..................................2
   3. A Review on the study of humor translation..................................5
3. Analysis on humor Translation of Wei-Ch’eng under the Guidance of Skopos Theory...............................................................5

3.1 Skopos rule……………………………………………………………5

3.2 Coherence rule………………………………………………………..6

3.3 Fidelity rule…………………………………………………………...8

4. Conclusion.....................................................................................10

Works Cited.......................................................................................11

1. Introduction

The term “humor”, which derives from Latin, means “body fluid”. As a special language phenomenon, humor has been widely applied in literary works with the purpose of provoking laughter and providing amusement to the readers. The appeal of humor can transcend all manner of cultural and social barriers, creating an enjoyable and relaxed atmosphere. However, it is known that the work of translating humor is as difficult as that of translating poetry. Given the cultural differences and complicated courses involved in humor, it’s no easy task to find in the translated versions of literature using appropriate methods to express the corresponding effects of humor. It’s also been commonly accepted by scholars that some humor expressions are untranslatable, especially in literary works. Despite the difficult work of humor translation, translators should not be stopped from throwing off the shackles of cultural differences and going deep into the translatability of humor expressions. Indeed, we should be studying the way of humor translation to function properly in the target language.

The novel Wei-ch’eng has been known as some invaluable treasure of Chinese literature. It is beyond doubt that it added another chapter to the fantastic history of Chinese literature. In this novel, Ch’ien seems to have abandoned the writing of his vitriolic works and shows his artistic language style up completely by using much picaresque humor. What results are brilliant caricature of very different characters and attractive plots. The English version of Wei-ch’eng which is translated cooperatively by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao has been known as a professional version widely accepted by a large number of experts and readers. Nevertheless, the translation of the humorous expressions seems to show some deficiency. What’s more, the study focused on related field is far from sufficient. So this thesis attempts to apply the core theory of German functionalism--Skopos theory to analyze the Chinese-English humor translation from the cases in the novel Wei-ch’eng.

2. Literature Review

2.1 An Overview on Skopos theory

“Skopos” is a Greek word defined as “purpose or aim” and it was first introduced into translation theory--Skopostheorie which is the core of German functionalist translation theory by linguist Hans Josef Vermeer in the 1970s.(Vermeer 221) Early in 1971, Katharina Reiss proposed a model of translation criticism based on the concept of functional equivalence, arguing that translation should be evaluated by the degree of adequacy instead of the quality of equivalence. According to Vermeer, Skopos theory refers to the purpose or intention of a translation strategy or approach, that is, translation as a human action possesses intention and thus generates the target text from a source text. It was implemented to break the limitations of the previously common-accepted Equivalence Theory which placed emphasis on functional equivalence to the source texts, that is, to bridge the gap between practice and theory. Later in 1981, Justa-holz Manttari made further efforts to propose the Theory of Translatorial Action on the foundation of Action Theory. All above are the fundamental framework of Skopos theory, which provides an effective guideline for translators in many fields. Depending on the purpose of the target texts, translators have more freedom in choosing appropriate strategies to achieve effective translation in need.

On the contrary to Eugene Nida’s dynamic equivalence theory “in terms of the degree to which the receptors of the messages in the receptor language respond to it in substantially the same manner as the receptors in the source language”, Skopostheorie provides a new theoretical view for different intentions or functions of translation.(Nida 24)

2.2 An Overview on humor at home and abroad

2.2.1Previous study on humor abroad

Discussions of western humor history go back to the ancient Greece. Plato tried to expose that the essence of the ridiculous is people’s ignorance or malice towards the weak. Aristotle also indicated in his Poetics that an ugliness that is relatively acceptable is the core of humor. The philosophical views concerning humor both possess aggressive connotations that lie in comedy. Neither of them made explicit definitions of humor but it is derived from the concept of the ridiculous. Aristotle then considered jokes as vices or abuse. Later, the terms comedy and satire shared the similar meanings after the translation of Aristotle’s Poetics.

From the perspective of different aspects on humor, there are mainly three theories related to humor. On the foundation of the Superiority theory of humor, Thomas Hobbes gave the firm expression that the action of laughter shows nothing else but merely a sense of glory arising from some superiority in ourselves and thus strengthening the lameness of others. Opposed to the Superiority theory, Robert Solomon proposed an Inferiority theory against the superior feelings of humor, arguing that some humorous behaviors have no relation to superiority. Relief theory is another important theory based on psychological research mainly represented by Herbert Spencer and Sigmund Freud. It emphasizes on explaining the psychological reasons for laughter and mirth. Humorous laughter, according to Relief theory, is a release of excessive energy or repressed motion like tension. Such theory is supported by most psychologists who hold that laughter or amusement does good to one’s mental health. From the perspective of cognition, the Incongruous juxtaposition theory is almost the prevailing theory accounting for most cases of humor. The term “incongruity” contains many meanings such as inconsistency, incompatibility, irrationality and uncertainty. In the Critique of Judgement, Immanuel Kant clearly states that “In everything that is to excite a lively laugh there must be something absurd.”(Kant 223) That is to say, humor is created when irrelevant cases are unexpectedly put together, producing collisions or contradictions, which involves a sudden transformation of perspective. Besides above three theories, other theories like Script-based Semantic Theory of Humor, General Theory of Verbal Humor, Computational-Nueral Theory of Humor, and Ontic-Epistemic Theory of Humor also play an important role in the study of humor.

Theoretical research of humor in the West has had a distant origin and a long development. With the rapid development of linguistics in recent years, especially since 1970s, new research results have sprung up from various angles such as in semantics, pragmatics, and cognitive linguistics.

2.2.2 Previous study on humor at home

The formation of the term “humor”(幽默) has a history of over 2000 years in China. The original connotations of humor in ancient Chinese are completely poles apart from what is meant today. In Chinese classics The Songs of Chu, humor(幽默) meant silence and absolute quietness. It was not until 1924 when Lin Yutang firstly transliterated “humor” into “幽默” that humor was absorbed and widely used in Chinese with the meaning of amusement or fun.

Our Chinese people have been gifted with a great sense of humor since ancient times. The phenomenon of humor in China has originated from jests and comic talks, commonly appearing in folk jokes, comedian’s performance or folk rhymes. During pre-Qin period about 2000 years ago, there existed gagmen introducing comic remarks in a dialogue and numerous humorous anecdotes in classic essays. The prosperity of humor in pre-Qin was by no means accidental because of the rise of atheism and emancipation of personality. During the period of Wei Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties(420-589), funny style of poetry was formed and flourishing, and the earliest Collection of Classic Chinese Jokes was also made up. In this period, feudal ethical codes were again hit rabidly for the political turbulence. People at that time were given to sensual pleasures and kept a bantering tone towards those overelaborate rituals. Later in the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644), drama was highly favored by people then. Besides, we can see widespread writings of classic Chinese comedy including The Zhongshan Wolf by Kang Hai, Green Peony by Wu Bing, and The Jade Hairpin by Gao Lian. Original and witty humor could be widely found in the character depiction of numerous novels in Ming and Qing dynasties, for instance, the Pig in the Journey to the West.

Later in modern times, campaigning for science and democracy has contributed to motivating the development of humor. And humor has penetrated into various forms of art, such as ironical essays, crosstalk pieces and caricatures. Lin Yutang’s “The Analects Fortnightly”, the first humor magazine in China, featured witty and humorous essays and short stories. The concepts and theories of humor in the West were gradually introduced into our country and there were masters of humor tellers like Lu Xun, Lao She and Ch’ien Chung-shu.

2.3 A review on humor translation

Humor translation has always been considered as “the holy grail” for scholars in the field of literature translation because of the characteristics of humor. That represents humor translation is of both great challenge and noteworthiness for translators. “The cutting-out phenomenon of humor in cross-cultural communication explains the variety and distinctiveness of each culture as well as the necessity of cultural exchanges.”(Lv 4)

When it comes to the translatability of humor in linguistics, there are verbal humor involving the phonemic or graphemic representation of the humorous element and referential humor involving culture-bound elements. For some purposes, humor in literary works is created to induce readers to laugh, usually with profound meanings. Thus, a translator must take into consideration not only the fact whether the target language reader can understand humor in the given text but also the fact whether humor translation carries its point.

3. Analysis on humor Translation of Wei-Ch’eng under the Guidance of Skopos theory

Under the guidance of three rules of Skopos theory, some humor cases from the cooperative efforts translated by Kelly and Mao will be presented and analyzed in this part.

3.1 Skopos rule

Under the guidance of Skopos rule, the main purpose is to produce the same or similar humorous effects in the target contexts. To do so, the translation should be well expressed and meet the readers’ demands as much as possible. For example:

Source text1: 烤山薯这东西，本来像中国谚语里的私情男女，“偷着不如偷不着，”香味比滋味好；你闻的时候，觉得非吃不可，真到嘴，也不过尔尔。(Ch’ien 179)

Target text1: Roasted sweet potatoes are like illicit sex in the old Chinese saying, “Having it isn’t as good as not having it.” The smell is better than the taste. When you smell it, you feel you must have one, but once you actually sink your teeth into it, you find it’s not really anything special.(Kelly Mao 3977)

Ch’ien compares roasted potatoes to illicit sex and quotes a savvy slang to make a mockery of such people’s mindset. We feel amused due to the keen judgement of the author. Chinese readers are familiar with the old Chinese saying while it may be difficult to find a corresponding idiom in English with similar meanings. “偷”which is a strong verb featuring dynamic in Chinese, is translated into “have” which is a stative verb in English in accordance with the idiomatic usage in respective language. What this humorous simile indicates is that Chinese like to be implicit while westerners tend to be more straightforward. Therefore, in view of the differences in the usage of verbs in the two languages, the translation may break away from the original humorous effects but are able to grasp the truth under the complicated cultural environment. So this case completely follows the Skops rule.

Source text2: 幸亏年轻女人的眼泪还不是秋冬的雨点，不致把自己的脸摧毁得衰败，只像清明时节的梦雨，浸肿了地面，添了些泥。(Ch’ien 185)

Target text2: Fortunately, a young girl’s tears aren’t yet like the raindrops of autumn or winter. They don’t bring destruction and ruin to the face, but are more like the steady rains of early April, which soak and swell the ground, making it muddier.(Kelly Mao 4111)

From above, the beauty of witticism is best shown by Ch’ien’s excellent linguistic talent. Tears mixed with a thin layer of power cosmetics on a young girl’s face are compared to a muddy ground. We can taste a sense of thinnish humor and simultaneously perceive an artistic beauty of incongruity which is also common in the target context.“梦雨”means the “steady rains” in its target context instead of “dreamy rains” literally which conforms to the characteristics of raining in the period of early April. “Foreigners lack such cognitive environment, thus it will be difficult for them to make proper cognitive judgement. Instead of literal translation, liberal translation is more appropriate to create a relative connection between the original and target context.”(Yang 14) Thus, Skopos rule is fully shown in this case study.

3.2 Coherence rule

Coherence rule means that the translation must conform to the intra-textual coherence standard, that is, the target text should make sense in the culture where the target text receivers live. Therefore, the coherence rule requires that the translator provides a text which conforms to the desires of the target text readers It means that the text should be coherent with the receivers’ situation so that it could be easily understood by the receivers.(Huang 5)

Source text1:像自己这段新闻才是登级加冕的恶俗，臭气熏得读者要按住鼻子。(Ch’ien 29)

Target text1: The item about himself was in such supreme bad taste that the stench was enough to make the reader hold his nose.(Kelly Mao 730)

“登级加冕”is a culture-loaded word related to the ancient politics and history in China, representing a coronation ceremony at which a King is enthroned. It is used to describe that the protagonist Fang Hung-chien’s fake news item is execrably disgusting. To deliver the implied meaning, the translators chose the word “supreme” to suggest meanings of its bad taste in the greatest degree. As in the western social context, “supreme” means both highest in rank and in degree. Thus, according to Coherence rule, the target readers are brought into their familiar linguistic culture context and can easily understand the meaning of humorous double entendre.

Source text2: 他把客堂里的书画古玩反复看了三遍，正想沈子培写“人”字的捺脚活像北平老妈子缠的小脚，上面那样粗挺的腿，下面忽然微乎其微的一顿，就完事了，也算是脚的！(Ch’ien 47)

Target text2: After looking at the scrolls and antiques in the room for more than three times, he was struck by the thought that the foot stroke of Shen Tzu-p’ei’s character for “man” closely resembled the tiny bound foot of an elderly Peking maidservant. The top part of the leg character was stiff and bulky while the bottom part suddenly came to a tiny point and ended. Some foot that was!(Kelly Mao 1126)

This humor case focuses on the vivid metaphor for the Chinese character “人”. By revealing a striking contrast between the top and the bottom part of the character, domestic readers can easily understand the inharmonious fun. “This sort of images carried by the combination of ontology and metaphor are directly translated into the target language, which may be difficult for foreigners to understand the humorous image of a bound foot with part of a Chinese character because foot-binding used to be a corrupt custom only in ancient China.”(Ge 1) If readers know what a bound foot is like, that is, conforming to the Coherence rule, it will be easy for them to be amused.

Source text3: 那根充羊毛的“不皱领带”，给水洗得缩了，瘦小蜷曲，像前清老人的辫子。(Ch’ien 151)

Target text3: The imitation wool “wrinkle resistant tie,” shrunk by the water, was thin and twisted like an old man’s pigtail in Manchu times.(Kelly Mao 3302)

Li Mei-t’ing is portrayed as a mean and stingy man and the scruffy dressing matches the image of a clown. “前清”was translated into “Manchu times” rather than “the former Qing dynasty” because Manchu, as a minority ruling class in Qing dynasty(1644-1912), possess the characteristic of men wearing long hair in plaits shaped like pigtails. Western readers may be able to comprehend the funny image of Li by the close resemblance between a “tie” and a “pigtail”. Here translators employ domestication which has successfully followed the skopos, coherence and fidelity rule.

3.3 Fidelity rule

As literature can embody a country’s culture and history, the translation must be faithful to the original. Fidelity rule as well as coherence rule requires translators must correctly spot on the source language and demonstrate the effective information correspondingly. It still stresses on the functional effects in the target. For example,

Source text1:侍者上了鸡，碟子里一块像礼拜堂定风针上铁公鸡施舍下来的肉，鲍小姐用力割不动。(Ch’ien 17)

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