Transitivity in english-chinese literary translation : The case of James Joyce's "Two Gallants"

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This article considers challenges faced by literary translators at the level of discourse, specifically dealing with problems in translating transitivity from English into Chinese. In principle transitivity analysis of a ST and one or more TTs can be used to evaluate several different aspects of the TTs' capturing of the ST's style with regard to the representing of processes, actors and circumstances. Transitivity is found to usefully reveal style, mind style, and the dynamics of narrative (Who does what to whom, how, where, etc.), and to relay notions of power, responsibility, and control. Adhering to these disciplines requires a certain rigour from translators. A comparative analysis of James Joyce's Two Gallants and its two Chinese translations demonstrates that translators tend to restore estranged transitive models - such as agent metonyms - into something familiar, which distorts the author's intention. The article focuses on the linguistic differences which impinge upon translators' selections, and proposes creative translation in order to pursue the cognitive gain, which sits at the heart of literariness.