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TheSignificanceofCreativeTreasoninLiteraryTranslation------CommentonTwoTranslationsofJaneEyre忻州师院外语系本九班靳利波No.200202111008Abstract:Thepracticesofliterarytranslationhaveprovedtheaimthatwhatpeoplebestowonliterarytranslationisoftennotidenticalwiththeresultofpracticalliterarytranslation.Becauseononehandtherearemanycomplicatedfactors,forexample,artisticdemandandlanguagedemanditselfetc.;ontheotherhanditisdecidedbythecharacteristicsofliteratureitself.Infact,peoplewanttranslationstobethesameworkofartastheoriginal.Inthiscase,itisobviousthatliterarytranslationisnolongerasimplelanguagechange,butakindofcreativework.Thisresearchpaperexplainstheapplicationof“Creativetreason”inliterarytranslationthroughcomparinganddiscussingtwotranslationsofJaneEyreonfouraspects:makingachoiceamongthemeaningsofaword,thevarietyofsentencepattern,thechoiceofculturalmeaningandthechoiceofliteraryform.Bydoingthis,aconclusionisdrawnthatintermsof“Creativetreason”inliterarytranslation,ZTisbetterthanLT.Keywords:creativetreason;literarytranslation;LT(Li’stranslation);ZT(Zhu’stranslation)ⅠAnIntroductionto“Creativetreason”Theessenceofanytranslationistotransformtheinformationofonelanguagetotheother.Butthereisfundamentaldistinctionbetweenliterarytranslationandanyothertranslation.Thelanguageofliterarytranslationisnotthelanguageincommonuse.Thatistosay,notjusttoachievetheaimtocommunicateandexchangeinformation.ThelanguageofliterarytranslationisaspeciallanguagejustasMaoDunsays:Literarytranslationusestheotherlanguagewhichexpressestheartisticmoodoftheoriginalworkandallowsreaderstogainthesameinspiration,thesamethoughtsandfeelingsandthesameappealofbeautyjustasreadingtheoriginalwork”.Obviously,thisisakindofartisticlanguagewhichhasthefunctionofaesthetics.Thiskindoflanguageshouldbeabletoreproducetheartisticworldwhichiscreatedbytheoriginalauthorthroughhis/hermeansofimages.Alsoitcanreproducetheartisticimagethattheoriginalauthorportrays.Literaryworksinonelanguagecanbeadaptedtoanothernewlanguagebyliterarytranslation.Inordertoletreceiversexperiencetheartisticeffectthesamewayasfromtheoriginal,translatorsmustfindouttheeffectivelanguagemediumwhichcanarousereceiverstoproducethesameorsimilarimaginationasfromtheoriginal.Infact,itmeanstranslationsshouldbeworksofartsimilarlyastheoriginalwork.Inthiscase,literarytranslationobtainsthesamemeaningasliterarycreation.Anditisnotasimplelanguageexchangeanymore,butbecomesakindofcreativework.AlsoMaoDunsays:Thiskindoftranslation,ofcourse,isnotjustpurechangeoflanguageform,moreover,itrequirestranslatorshaveunderstoodtheoriginalauthor’screationprocessandalreadyhavegraspedthespiritsoftheoriginalwork.Inthisway,translatorstrytofindthebestconfirmationfromhis/herownthought,emotionorexperienceoflife.Thentheyusethemostsuitablewordstoreproducethecontentandformoftheoriginalcorrectlyandfaithfully.Intheprocessoftranslating,translatorsandauthorsshouldcombineintoone.Itseemsthattheoriginalauthorwriteshis/herownworkinanotherlanguage.Itrequirestranslatorsnotonlytogivefreereintotheircreativityintheirwork,butalsorequiresthemtogiveafaithfulaccountoftheoriginal’sintention…----thisisadifficulttask.Becausethemaintaskofliterarytranslationistoreproducethespiritsandfeaturesoftheoriginal,itiscompletelynecessaryforthiskindofartisticcreativetranslation.Writers’creativityistakenforgrantedwhenhe/sheisfulfillingapieceofliteraryworks.Thecreativityofliterarytranslationisalsoobvious.Itgivesaliteraryworknewlifeinthenewlanguage,nation,societyandhistoricalenvironment.But,thecreativenessoftranslationdiffersfromthecreativenessoftheoriginal.Itisthesecondtimecreation,namelyre-creation.It’shardtosaywhichisgoodandwhichisbadbetweencreationandrecreation.Theyallhavetheirownspecialtyandunchangeableindependentvalue.Thepracticeoftranslationrevealsthatbothgoodtranslationandbadtranslationexist.Evensometranslationsarebetterthantheoriginal,forexample,AlanPoe’spoemstranslatedbyNevarlinFrenchetc..Intermsoftheessenceoftranslation,thisargumentshouldnotbetenable.Becausetranslationshouldbefaithfultotheoriginal,ofcoursethebadtranslationisnotworthmentioning,butthetranslationthatisbetterthantheoriginalisalsoinconsistentwithtranslationprinciples.EnglishtranslationresearchworkerGeorgeStainersays:Idealtranslationshouldbeneitherworsenorbetterthantheoriginal,butweallknowitis“idealtranslation”,whichisactuallyimpossibleevertobeachieved.Inliterarytranslation,eitherthetranslationisbetterthantheoriginalorworsethantheoriginalisdependingonthecreativityandrebellionofliterarytranslation.Supposingthecreativityofliterarytranslationindicatesakindofsubjectiveeffortsthattranslatorstrytocopyorreproducetheoriginalbytheirownartisticcreativetalent;thentherebellionofliterarytranslationreflectsakindofobjectivedeviationofthetranslationfromtheoriginalwhentranslatorswanttoachieveacertaingoalintheprocessoftranslation.Thisisonlytheory,whereasinthepracticesofliterarytranslation,itishardtoseparatecreativityfromrebellion,becausetheyareoneunifiedorganism.SoFrenchliterarysociologistRobertEscarpitproposesanewterminology-“Creativetreason”,and