Reconstruction of Semantic Coherence of Characters’ Names from the Perspective of the Translator’s Subjectivity
School of Languages and Literature, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China
| Abstract: | Characters’ names in literary works are key to conveying text information, which is applied to motivate the plot and to foreshadow the ending. In existing translated texts, the characters’ names most apply the transliteration. Delivering the connotation of names in a text by homophonous Chinese limits the creativity of translators and loses much of the beauty of the source text, thus breaking the bridge between the targeted readers and authors. On the English version of The Border Town by Gladys B. Tayler, this paper discusses that under the translator's subjectivity, how characters’ names achieve the reconstruction of semantic coherence from the creativity of languages, cultures and aesthetics to improve the cultural influence. Getting rid of rails, Gladys, a translator, took the initiative to apply the creative translation to retain the charm of language expressions, reconnect cultures and aesthetic experience of different languages, outline the relationship between characters and their names, cancel the natural randomness of names, reconstruct the images of characters and reappear their typical characteristics. By a logical extension of this point, translators should take into account the principle of diversity and flexibility when converting the source text into the targeted one. Applying various measures to different literary genres, translators are encouraged to improve readers' reading experience, thus revitalizing Chinese stories in the new era. |
| Keywords: | Translator’s Subjectivity; Reconstruction of Semantic Coherence; The Border Town; Translation of Characters’ Names |
| DOI: | 10.57237/j.cll.2023.03.003 |
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Received: 26 April 2023
Accepted: 12 June 2023
Published Online: 29 June 2023
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