The style of literary works in translation

Abstract

Abstract This article discusses the significance of and means of retaining the style of the original literary work in translation. In the process of translating, the translator creatively reproduces the original style through linguistic techniques which, in the target language, are similar to those in the source language, so as to make the reception of the translated version close to the way in which the original is appreciated. The article discusses the way in which the stylistic fidelity can be achieved by, for example, transplanting the sentence patterns, rhetoric forms, idomatic expressions, and the diction of the original work in the translation. It also addresses the way in which one can search for equivalents in connotation, association, and contextual meaning in literary translation. Discussions and analyses are supplemented with examples drawn from a Chinese translation of the American novel The Great Gatsby and English translations of Chinese poetry.