Gender characterization in Lady Windermere’s Fan and its Chinese translations: A corpus stylistic approach

Abstract

This study examines gender representation in Oscar Wilde’s comedy and satire, Lady Windermere’s Fan (1892), using corpus stylistic analysis. Specifically, it analyzes gender characterization patterns in the original drama and explores how these patterns shift in two Chinese translations: Shen Xingren’s translation in 1918 and Hong Shen’s translation in 1923. By analyzing keyword patterns, collocational patterns, and characterization cues, the study reveals the intricate nature of gender characterization in the source text. Subsequently, a comparison is made between the textual patterns of the source text and their manifestations in the translations. The findings indicate that while Shen Xingren’s translation quite faithfully (re)represents the gender images and relations of the source text, Hong Shen’s selective appropriation of women and men characterization in his translation not only suppresses the source text’s potential to challenge moral absolutism towards women but also undermines the voices of women present in the original text. The article suggests that the re-representation or shifts in gender characterization observed between the source and target texts can be attributed to the translator’s ideology and adherence to particular poetics.