From “Faithfulness, Expressiveness, and Elegance” to “Creative Treason” —A Brief Analysis of Variations in Cross- Languages in Pa Chin’s Cold Nights

Abstract

The phenomenon of variation is common in texts of
different literatures and cultures. For the development of
Comparative Literature in China, in order to break through the
linguistic barriers between Eastern and Western civilizations,
the Chinese Professor Cao Shunqing develops the Variation
Theory of Comparative Literature in 2005. The Variation
Theory of Comparative Literature is a valuable integration of all
contemporary disciplines. It ranges from transnational variation
studies, cross-language variation studies, cross-cultural variation
studies, cross-civilization variation studies, to the images of
“otherness” studies, etc. The paper is trying to analyze Pa Chin’s
novel Cold Nights of bilingual format in Chinese and English
from the perspective of creative treason in cross-language
variation studies from three aspects: domestication and
foreignization translating method of translator’s individualized
translation; mistranslation and omissions; abridged translation
compilation and adaptation. Based on the original translation
principle as “Faithfulness, Expressiveness, and Elegance”, the
paper tries to search for the variations in cross-languages in the
literary translation and its deep hidden causes from the aspects
of language, culture, history, and local custom in Pa Chin’s Cold
Nights.