Author(s)

Fan Panxi ¹

Affiliation(s)

¹ School of Foreign Languages, Guizhou University of Finance and Economics, Guiyang, China

Corresponding Author

Fan Panxi

ABSTRACT

William A. Lyell's English translation of New Year's Sacrifice is well received by overseas readers and widely recognized by scholars of Lu Xun's works at home and abroad. Based on the theory of "thick translation", this paper takes the English version as the research target, and analyzes the application of the thick translation strategy in the translation. Through the exploration of the preface, background introduction, Chinese pronunciation notes, footnotes, and implicit notes in the translation, it is found that the thick translation has the functions of emphasizing historical and cultural context, breaking down reading barriers, explaining meaning, introducing background, and paving the way in depth, which are keys to the successful presentation of the translation of New Year's Sacrifice. Thick translation can serve as a guide for the translation of Chinese literary works. Upon conducting an in-depth exploration of this translation, here comes an enlightenment: to produce a quality and well-received translation, a translator must explain the profound meanings, promote culture transmission, and highlight his subjectivity.

KEYWORDS

William A. Lyell, New Year's Sacrifice, Thick Translation

CITE THIS PAPER

Fan Panxi, An Analysis of the Thick Translation in the English Version of William A. Lyell's New Year's Sacrifice. Lecture Notes on Language and Literature (2025) Vol. 8: 24-30. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.23977/langl.2025.080104.

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