“The Fantastic Sublime” in “Mary Poppins”: a study and translation

• Main Authors: Chao Szu-hua, 趙思華
• Other Authors: Robert Reynolds
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/21922337428495314896

碩士 === 國立暨南國際大學 === 外國語文學系 === 93 === P. L. Travers’s Mary Poppins books, the very popular children’s books in western world, are beloved by people around the world through filmed by Disney Company. The thesis will adopt one of aesthetic approach to study and interpret the Mary Poppins books, discuss problems in the previous Chinese translations of the series, and offer my suggestions. Also, I select Mary Poppins Comes Back, the second of the series and one of the most representative, to translate; this book has not been translated yet. The first chapter is the introduction which mentions the origin and motive of doing this thesis, and points out the methodology and direction of this thesis. The second chapter explicates P. L. Travers’s life and works. Besides, I present Travers and her predecessors’ lifelong achievements in the history of children’s literature; I conclude this chapter by clarifying many reviews toward Travers’s achievement. The third chapter illustrates the influences of Romanticism and Victorianism upon children’s literature, especially the fantasy genre. I highlight the deep influences and great contribution of Romanticism on fantasy. The fourth chapter shows the idea of “sublime”, and the differences between the “natural sublime” and the “fantastic sublime”. I will explain the Mary Poppins books, belonging to the fantasy genre, can evoke the “fantastic sublime”. The fifth chapter mainly discusses translation. First, I will simply introduce literature translation and translation of children’s literature. Then I will compare the previous translations of the series with the original texts, indicate translators’ negligence and mistakes, and commend their skill and creativity as well. Finally, I will classify all of the problems I encounter when translating Mary Poppins Comes Back, and discuss the possible solutions. The sixth chapter is the conclusion, which simply concludes this thesis, and proposes some suggestions about the development of children’s literate in Taiwan. My translation of Mary Poppins Comes Back is put right behind the thesis. I hope that I can offer a different reading experience of Mary Poppins’s readers through the thesis, benefit the translation quality of children’s literature, and have kind of guiding function for future translators, especially translators of the Mary Poppins series. Key Words: Children’s literature; Translation; Fantasy