Abstract
Luotuo Xiangzi, a renowned modern Chinese novel, successfully portrays a young rickshaw puller in Beijing–Xiangzi. Upon its translation into English at the end of World War II, the protagonist aroused much sympathy from American readers. As a best seller in the United States, the novel has been retranslated many times. A contributing factor to its popularity is the creation of the memorable protagonist. The paper investigates the role of translator positioning in constructing the character. It proposes a systematic framework that incorporates Appraisal and characterisation models. An analysis of the Chinese text and three English translations suggests that the positioning or value orientation adopted by the translators plays a significant role in their characterisation and demonstrates how a mixed model can clarify this interaction. Furthermore, the corpus-based method makes it possible to reveal patterns of translator positioning hidden in the translations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1074–1096 |
| Number of pages | 23 |
| Journal | Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 5 Dec 2021 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Keywords
- characterisation
- Luotuo Xiangzi
- translator positioning
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies
- Language and Linguistics
- Linguistics and Language
- Literature and Literary Theory