3 Translated Strategies of Verbal Humor in Fortress Besieged…4

3.1 Image Transformation in Humor Translation4                                           

3.2 Cognitive Basis of Image Transformation…5

3.3 Application of Image Transformation in Fortress Besieged…5

3.3.1 Literal Translation5

3.3.2 Alternative Translation6

3.3.3 Free Translation…7

3.3.4 Annotation…8

4 Relevance Theory in Humor Translation…9

4.1 Relevance Theory…9

4.2 Translation Strategies under the guidance of Relevance Theory…9

4.3 Applications of Relevance Theory in Fortress Besieged10

4.3.1 Traditional Humor10

4.3.2 Linguistic Humor11

4.3.3 Cultural Humor…11

5 Thinking about Humor Translation in Fortress Besieged11

5.1 Culture and Humor Translation…12

5.2 Exploration of Cultural Elements and Translation Issues in Verbal Humor…12                                           

Conclusion…15

Acknowledgements…17

Bibliography18

1 Introduction

Humor is a form of language expression, which has distinct linguistic features --- it is implied, concise and reveals the author's wisdom. That is the essence of the language. Humor can make literary works’ the charm last longer, so that readers are fond of the works and cannot bear to part with them. Ch’ien Chung-shu's Fortress Besieged is the master of humorous elements.

Since 1947, Fortress Besieged has been published for 66 years, but its charm has not died out.  Its value lies in the eternal topic ---the mentality in the Fortress besieged and unique writing style. There are many humor elements throughout the book, which not only depict all kinds of people and events to proclaim life philosophy, but also create a dramatic atmosphere under the original solemn theme to make the whole novel interesting.文献综述

In 1979, the English version of Fortress Besieged was published by Indiana University Press. It is translated by Jeanne Kelly, who has rich translation experience in Chinese modern literature, and then reviewed and polished by famous American scholar Mao Nathan. Besides, Mao Nathan wrote the preamble and added notes for the book. As a great master of language, Ch’ien Chung-shu used words and sentences with great originality. On one hand, it brought the novel infinite charm. On the other hand, it brought a tremendous challenge to the translators.  

2 Research about humor

2.1 Humor

2.1.1 Origin and Meaning Development of Humor

Humor comes from the ancient Latin word ‘(h)umor’, whose original intention is ‘wet’. In the fifth century BC, it is a physiology term in the culture of ancient Greeks, which meant “body fluid” or “liquid”. In the early 16th century, the word humor word was introduced into England. It went into the field of people’s lives and referred to human nature and atmosphere, especially someone’s capricious and bizarre temper. In the end of the 16th century, the British humanist playwright Ben Jonson has created two plays named Every Man in his Humor and Every Man out of his Humor, in which his humor theory was first proposed in the preamble.

With the development of history, the meaning of the humor was constantly extended. Up to the beginning of the 17th century, humor entered the field of literature and art as aesthetic technical term. At that time, its meaning had evolved into ‘the features sufficient to amuse and entertain people in behavior, conversations and articles; the ability to appreciate and express the features’.( Hu Fanzhu, 1987:3 )So humor had become the generally accepted word by the masses. In the historical process of language, on one hand, the meaning evolution enriches the connotation of language. On the other hand, the extended meaning of the word gradually replaces its original intention. Therefore, after endowed by aesthetic meaning, humor’s original intention was gradually forgotten by people.