Refracted Poe’s cultural images by constructing cultural identities in China： through three Chinese translations of “Silence—A Fable” across time

【Abstract】This paper selects three translated versions of “Silence—A Fable” respectively by Chou Tso-jen， Deng Yingjie and Cao Minglun. Based on Lefeveres refraction theory and Venutis notion of cultural identities， the study attempts to investigate how Poes cultural images have been reconstructed and to figure out what kind of “spokesperson” the concerned translators might act for Poe and their times.

【Key words】refraction； cultural images； cultural identities； Allan Poe

【作者簡介】刘璟莹（1991-），女，汉族，江西南昌人，现就读于西安外国语大学英文学院2016级翻译学专业，硕士研究生，研究方向：翻译理论与实践研究。

1. Introduction

This paper attempts to show a perspective of comparative literature to investigate how diachronic translations of the Poes “Silence—A Fable” reconstruct the authors different images and identities and why such diversified transformations unavoidably happen.

2. Theoretical prerequisites for the study

2.1 Refraction

In the actual process of translation， cultural images more or less transform either in form or in content when delivered to a new environment， no matter whether intended or not by the translator. This phenomenon conforms to what Andrew Lefevere claims to be “refraction”—nature of translation and further elicits the process of translators constructing cultural identities behind such refractions.

2.2 Cultural images

Cultural images can be manifested as plants， animals， numbers or any figurative images in idioms. Due to respective geographical conditions， lifestyles and cultural traditions， one cultural image may present diverse or opposite senses， so it remains as a kind of rhetoric device that influences conveyance of the entire content， the artistic state or the original figure.

2.3 Cultural identity

Cultural identity in essence refers to the identity or feeling of belonging to a social group that has its own distinct culture， and it helps to determine individuals in certain community. In a narrow sense， cultural identity works in immigrant or colonial contexts but it is employed by Venuti in a broader or converted sense to illustrate how translation breeds cultural identities as a means of domesticating or transforming in the target system when one culture spreads into another.

3. Comparative analysis of the translated items from “Silence—A Fable”

This paper aims to provide the reasons rather than value judgement for the different translating are what the study will try to deduce.

3.1 Reasons for the different cultural identities： sociological and individual

The analysis in 4.2 based on three excerpts of translated “Silence” across time focuses on how the cultural images within are refracted and what their differences are. After intensive reading of the three translations， Poe and his cultural images in “Silence” observably undergoes formal additions or deletions as well as shifts in content. Next the generalizations on the features of selected cultural images will be listed and investigated.

3.2 Three translators refracting features of Poes cultural images

From the six images， two features of the translators refractions can be generalized. First， their attitudes towards Poes cultural images differ （neither superior nor inferior） from each other； second， their keynotes set for Poes cultural images differ from each other， though the basic tune of gloom is not deviated.

3.3 Cultural identities from paratexts： individual and sociological reasons

To conclude from above， what information a translator retains， adds and omits or what information a translator highlights is decided by what he or she believes to be of priority. In the process of refracting the cultural images， the three translators reconstructed different cultural identities.

4. Conclusion

How Poes cultural images in “Silence—A Fable” were refracted decides readers understandings of “the Demon” and “me” and then further reconstructs the characters images and Poes identities in China. The different cultural identities are comprised of these visible fragments e.g. refractions of the cultural images， in which the investigations on individual and sociological background are both reasons and manifestations.

References：

[1]Poe，A.E.Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe[J].New York： Simon & Schuster，2007.