From “Faithfulness, Expressiveness, and Elegance” to “Creative Treason” —A Brief Analysis of Variations in Cross- Languages in Pa Chin’s Cold Nights

Abstract

The phenomenon of variation is common in texts of different literatures and cultures. For the development of Comparative Literature in China, in order to break through the linguistic barriers between Eastern and Western civilizations, the Chinese Professor Cao Shunqing develops the Variation Theory of Comparative Literature in 2005. The Variation Theory of Comparative Literature is a valuable integration of all contemporary disciplines. It ranges from transnational variation studies, cross-language variation studies, cross-cultural variation studies, cross-civilization variation studies, to the images of “otherness” studies, etc. The paper is trying to analyze Pa Chin’s novel Cold Nights of bilingual format in Chinese and English from the perspective of creative treason in cross-language variation studies from three aspects: domestication and foreignization translating method of translator’s individualized translation; mistranslation and omissions; abridged translation compilation and adaptation. Based on the original translation principle as “Faithfulness, Expressiveness, and Elegance”, the paper tries to search for the variations in cross-languages in the literary translation and its deep hidden causes from the aspects of language, culture, history, and local custom in Pa Chin’s Cold Nights.