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zwwx@overseaen.com Overseas English 海 外 英 语 http://www.overseaen.net Tel:+86-551-65690811 65690812 ISSN 1009-5039 2016 年 11 月 Overseas English 海 外 英 语 An Interpretation of The Woman Warrior from the Perspective of Skopos Theory DONG Yu-chen (School of Foreign Languages, Yunnan University, Kunming 650500, China) Abstract: Some critics claim that Maxine Hong Kingston’ s The Woman Warrior has distorted Chinese culture However, from the view of skopos theory, Kingston actually translates Chinese culture to the American audience successfully Therefore an analysis of the novel from the perspective of skopos theory can justify Kingston’ s culture translation against the critiques Key words: The Woman Warrior; Skopos Theory; Cultural Translation 中图分类号: I106 文献标识码： A 文章编号： 1009-5039(2016)21-0179-02 The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts, written by the Chinese- American writer Maxine Hong Kingston, was published in 1976 It portrays several new Chinese figures, among whom Fa Mu Lan in the second chapter“White Tigers”is the most remarkable However, since its publication, the novel has received harsh critiques The most significant one is from another Chinese-American writer Frank Chin who argues that The Woman Warrior distorts Chinese culture by creating a series of characters that are not in accordance with those in traditional Chinese stories and are thus unreal (Madsen,2006:258) Since Kingston relates her writing to translation by telling ancient Chinese stories in a new American way (Bolaki,2009:39), the critic claims that The Woman Warrior is a failure to translate Chinese culture to American audi⁃ ence since it may mislead American readers who are willing to get to know Chinese culture However, if one holds the point of view of skopos theory, it can be found that the translation of Chinese culture in The Woman Warrior is in fact successful Kingston manages to achieve her skopos in her translation Therefore her novel should be considered as a success instead of a failure The Skopos Theory Skopos theory, proposed by German scholar Hans J Vermeer in the 1970s, is the core theory of German functional translation theories Vermeer holds that translation is a purposeful human ac⁃ tivity in which the way a target text eventually shapes up is deter⁃ mined by its skopos (a Greek word for purpose or aim) intended for it in the target context in which the translated text is accepted (Ha⁃ tim,2005:74) No matter what kind of method and strategy a transla⁃ tor adopts in translating, a translated text can be regarded as a suc⁃ cessful one as long as the target text achieves its skopos The skop⁃ os of a translation is determined by the intended addressee who re⁃ ceives the target text and has a high status in the theoretical frame⁃ work, since“every translation is directed at an intended audience, since to translate means‘to produce a text in a target setting for a target purpose and target addressees in target circumstances’” (Nord,1997:12) In the skopos theory, the status of the source text is much lower than that of the addressee (Baker,2001:237) The source text only acts as an offer of information in which the transla⁃ tor chooses what is most useful and important to translate The ad⁃ dressee of The Woman Warrior is the general American audience of the work and it determines how the translation should be The source text of The Woman Warrior is the Chinese versions of the an⁃ cient stories Therefore Kingston should translate the original Chi⁃ nese stories according to her American context, regardless of the possible reactions from Chinese readers in Chinese context Fa Mu Lan as an Assertive Figure In the chapter“White Tigers”, Kingston produces several suc⁃ cessful cultural translations Based on the well-known Chinese leg⁃ end of the loyal and obedient Hua Mulan told by the narrator’s mother, the author creates a Fa Mu Lan who assertively goes to the mountains to learn martial arts for 15 years Then she leads an ar⁃ my to seek revenge for her family and the whole village In the Chi⁃ nese version, Hua Mulan is obedient and loyal to his parents and rulers She fights in the battlefields for her emperor and country against the invading Huns However, in Kingston’s story, she cre⁃ ates a new Fa Mu Lan who leads her people in successful battles, gives birth to her children in the battlefield, and slays the emperor and the baron The cultural translation here is successful because it achieves its skopos Instead of faithfully reproducing the Chinese collectivism and loyalty, Fa Mu Lan’s assertive style and persever⁃ ance created by Kingston in the novel conform to the American in⁃ dividualism which is highly valued by the American audience As a result, the story of Fa Mu Lan in the novel appeals to the American addressees and is positively accepted Therefore the skopos is achieved, making the cultural translation successful Fa Mu Lan with Refined Masculinity In addition to the assertive style, the combination of Fa Mu Lan’s story with the legend of another well-known Chinese charac⁃ ter Yue Fei is also a successful cultural translation In“White Ti⁃ gers”, when she returns home from the mountains, Fa Mu Lan’s parents inscribe on her back, which is based on the story of Yue Fei’s mother However, unlike Yue Fei’s mother who carves four Chinese characters“Jing Zhong Bao Guo”on Yue Fei’s back, Fa Mu Lan’s parents“carve revenge on her back”and“write out oaths and names”(Kingston,1989:34) The combination of the two 收稿日期： 2016-09-10 修回日期： 2016-09-20 作者简介： 董雨晨（1990—），男，云南昆明人，硕士研究生在读，主要研究方向为英美文学。 本栏目责任编辑：王 力 一一一一一一一 中外文学文化研究 179 2016 年 11 月 Overseas English 海 外 英 语 legends of a man and woman indicates that Kingston intends to add masculinity to the female character Fa Mu Lan, trying to make her more like a man Therefore she can share the same status with that of men The historical and social context of the translation is selfevident Since the 1960s, women in America have struggled for equal rights in politics, economy and society, and the feminist movement has also made remarkable achievements Influenced by the trend in which women should be equal with men, Kingston cre⁃ ates a new, competent, brave and masculine Fa Mu Lan, which con⁃ forms to the developing feminism in America Therefore her trans⁃ lated work shares the same idea with the female readers in Ameri⁃ ca, arousing their emotional support Consequently, its skopos is achieved and it becomes successful Conclusion In all, contrary to those critiques claiming that Kingston’s The Woman Warrior distorts Chinese culture, the conclusion is that Kingston’s work does not distort Chinese culture at all Instead, she promotes Chinese culture among American readers To help American audience gain access to Chinese American culture, Kingston has created new Chinese American myths, heroines and legends by rewriting the myths, legends and folklores from tradi⁃ tional Chinese culture In this way, she has constructed the new Chinese American heroine Fa Mu Lan by her translation By mak⁃ （上接第178页） he spends a great deal of time on thinking and fantasy He is look⁃ ing forward to chasing perfect, achieving the sense of satisfaction, but he can not get rid of the tease of fate, forcing him have the yearning and fear to the sea, the longing and confusion to the future Conclusion The Old Man and the Sea tells a story of an old man Santiago putting to sea for fish Santiago, as the hero of the novel, shows the image of a dauntless, unyielding man, possessing some good quali⁃ ties of being frugal, knowing gratefulness, possesses indomitable perseverance, bringing about endless energy to readers for making great efforts to compete with obstacles and difficulties in life out of sheer willpower and grim determination, not giving in at any time and any where Meanwhile, it should not be covered that there are several weaknesses in the characteristics of Santiago, such as being withdrawn and apathetic and being easy to be confused Some lec⁃ tures are given to readers that although it is no doubt that it is per⁃ sonal thing to making efforts for the realization of goals, What can not be ignored is the significance of the power of groups and the good relationship with other cooperates Not only will it reduce the stress and difficulties in the process of chasing the goals, but also, 180 ing the target text of her translation satisfy the needs of American addressees and coherent to the target context, Kingston’s work achieves its skopos from the perspective of skopos theory There⁃ fore, her work is successful in terms of translating Chinese culture into America References: [1] Baker, Mona Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies [M] Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Teaching Press, 2001 [2] Bolaki, Stella.“It translated well”: the promise and the perils of translation in Maxine Hong Kingston's The Woman Warrior [J] MELUS 2009, 34 (4): 39-60 [3] Hatim, Basil Teaching and Research Translation [M] Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2005 [4] Kingston, Maxine Hong The Woman Warrior: Memoirs of a Girlhood among Ghosts [M] New York: Vintage Books, 1989 [5] Madsen, Deborah L Chinese American Writers of the Real and the Fake: Authenticity and the Twin Traditions of Life Writing[J] Canadian Review of American Studies 2006, 36 (3): 257–271 [6] Nord, Christiane Translating as a Purposeful Activity: Func⁃ tionalist Approaches Explained[M] Manchester: St Jerome, 1997 it will produce a great deal of warm and enthusiasm to motivating readers to keep on going on the way to the success Therefore from the characteristics of Santiago, he is a contradictory mixture, re⁃ flecting the perplexity and pursuit of the era of Hemingway Also it enlightens readers to not give in the fate but to stand up to keep on going for the dreams References: [1]Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea[M] Wuhan:Wh⁃ han Publishing House, 2010 [2]海明威 老人与海[M] 陈加雒 译 武汉:武汉出版社,2010 [3]孙文静 《 老人与海》中圣地亚哥形象分析[J] 安徽文学月刊, 2012(1):9-10 [4]吴敏 再读《老人与海》 圣地亚哥人物形象分析[J] 科技信 息,2010 (4):145 [5]王娅莉《 老人与海》的人物形象解读[N] 湖北函授大学学报, 2014(11):179-180 [6]谢美彬《老人与海》 中的“硬汉”圣地亚哥人物分析[J] 短篇小 说：原创版,2014(28):87-88 [7]赵卫红,徐媛媛 海明威《老人与海》中人物特点解析[J] 芒种, 2015(1):125-126 [8]朱旬萍 孤舟渔者 独傲沧海——《老人与海》中圣地亚哥的 “硬汉”形象的蕴意[N] 长春理工大学学报,2011(4): 92-97 一一 一一一一一一 中外文学文化研究 本栏目责任编辑：王 力