Novel Translation from the Perspective of Translational Rhetoric -- Taking Fortress Besieged as an Example

Abstract

Translational Rhetoric is a paradigm for understanding, engaging in translation activities, and researching and solving translation problems from the perspective of contemporary rhetorical theory, represented by the “New Rhetoric.” Its core lies in exploring the rhetorical nature of translation acts and translation practices that embody rhetorical awareness. This study takes the original text of Fortress Besieged (《围城》) by Qian Zhongshu and its English translation by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao as its research object. It aims to delve into the application of rhetoric in Fortress Besieged and analyze how to effectively address the challenges of rhetorical translation arising from the differences between Chinese and English during the translation process. By applying the theoretical framework of Translational Rhetoric to conduct a detailed analysis of novel translation examples, this research not only enriches the guiding experience of Translational Rhetoric in translation practice but also opens up new research perspectives for rhetorical analysis in novel translation.