The use of multidimensional compensation strategies from functionalist and artistic translation perspectives - the contemporary Australian novel Stepper by Brian Castro: a case study

The present study examines the effectiveness of multi-dimensional compensation strategies in E-C literary translation through a case study of the Australian novel Stepper (first published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd. in 1997) by Brian Castro as well as the benefits and limitations of functionalist and artistic translation approaches in translation research and practice. As a precondition of this thesis, a researcher-translated Chinese version of the English novel Stepper was required. This translation has been designed to take into account the requirements, expectations and intentions of both the novelist and his Chinese readers. In this part of the thesis, i.e. the translation practice, the ten-dimensional compensation model devised by the researcher was put fully implemented. In the second stage, which was predicated on systematic statistics and multiangular analysis, some key problems related to literary translation compensation are discussed in great detail: these include the distribution and percentage of different compensation devices or categories; features of translation compensation at different levels; and similarities and differences between compensation categories. Based on the data and findings obtained during this second stage, a comprehensive evaluation has been made of the feasibility of the ten-dimensional compensation model, together with the effectiveness of functionalist and artistic translation principles in literary translation. This evaluation constitutes the third section of this thesis.