关键词: 《睡谷故事》; 哥特式; 张爱玲; 译本研究; 语言策略; 艺术元素

Abstract:

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, written by Washington Irving, is a story with the Gothic artistic elements of a mysterious, imaginarily haunted countryside. Based on the study of the language of the translated text of Eileen Chang, the thesis aims to explore the strategy of mixed use of common sayings, four-character idioms and hyphen, with which the “Gothic” artistic elements are reinterpreted. Eileen Chang, as proficient as Washington Irving in mixed use of words with different flavors, successfully catches the rhythm of Washington Irving’s prosaic narrative language, builds up the idyllic “Gothic” background, reinterprets the timid, pedantic, ridiculous hero and intensifies the Gothic frightening atmosphere of the story. The translated The Legend of Sleepy illustrates the initiative of Eileen Chang as a translator and her language creativity as well, which reflects the real appeal of a piece of translated literary work. Literary translation is an art of language and the language creativity of the translator to reinterpret the artistic style of the source text decides the aesthetic value and vitality of a piece of translated literary work.

Keywords: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow; Gothic; Eileen Chang; analysis of translated texts; language strategy; artistic element