A Quest of Diverse Themes: Two Chinese Translations of Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook

• Main Authors: Brenda Lu, 呂佳勳
• Other Authors: Liu,Cecilia H.C.
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2007
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/23167541236464675172

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 翻譯學研究所在職專班 === 95 === Doris Lessing (1919-) is one of the most important contemporary British writers. Lessing’s works reached a climax with The Golden Notebook, published in 1962, which is now considered one of the major works of twentieth-century literature. The book was hailed as a landmark by the feminist movement. This thesis is based on Lessing’s work The Golden Notebook, a life analysis of novelist Anna Wulf, who ironically identifies herself as a 'Free Woman'. Her life involved with love and state of mind is under chaotic and disordered status that is discussed as well. The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one covers a general statement of the motivations and the purpose of this thesis and general publication information regarding English and two Chinese editions (from Taiwan and Mainland China). Chapter Two contains three sections. The first section introduces Lessing’s short biography, the times and living backgrounds and summary of the novel; the second section is to analyze Lessing’s central ideas in The Golden Notebook; the third section deals with viewpoints of female research, including female consciousness revealed in The Golden Notebook and analysis regarding gender research presented in the novel. Chapter Three is about literary translation, including three sections. The first section introduces the characteristics and purposes of literary translation；the second section explains the difficulties of literary translation; the third section discusses the phenomena of two Chinese editions (from Taiwan and Mainland China). In Chapter Four, in addition to translators’ introduction, I also compare two Chinese editions (from Taiwan and Mainland China) of The Golden Notebook and give commentary involved in the translators’ strategies and the effect on dialogue translation. Chapter Five concludes my thesis by summing up the problems of the existing Chinese translations and briefly discussing the reasons. Hopefully, this thesis will in some way contribute to readers’ exploration into Lessing’s literary creative world.