Storytelling as a Way of Translation: The Rendition of Taoism in Ursula K. Le Guin's <em>The Lathe of Heaven</em>

IF 0.3 3区文学 0 LITERATURE

CLCWEB-Comparative Literature and Culture Pub Date : 2023-10-10 DOI:10.7771/1481-4374.3927

Xiulu Wang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Ursula K. Le Guin (1929-2018) is an immensely popular author of numerous science fictions and fantasy classics. A number of critics have noticed the influence of Taoism on Le Guin’s writing.critical insights offered by Translation Studies and Walter Benjamin’s comments on storytelling and translation, this paper argues that storytelling and translation are similar discursive practices that aim at the exchange of experiences, creating knowledge, and shaping culture. Taking Le Guin’s The Lathe of Heaven (1971) as a case study, this paper delves into how her storytelling serves as a unique form of translation, bridging the thought of ancient Chinese Taoist sages to narratives and fantasies that resonate with contemporary English readers. More specifically, the paper examines how Le Guin utilizes her protagonist's passivity to embody Lao Tsu's philosophy of non-action. This exploration aims to shed light on the complex relationship between storytelling and translation, emphasizing their importance in shaping our perceptions, broadening our horizons, and fostering a more interconnected global landscape of ideas and narratives.

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叙事作为翻译的一种方式:乌苏拉·勒奎恩《天的车床》中道家思想的演绎

乌苏拉·勒奎恩(1929-2018)是一位非常受欢迎的科幻小说和幻想经典作家。许多评论家已经注意到道教对乐吉恩写作的影响。通过对翻译研究和本雅明关于讲故事和翻译的评述，本文认为讲故事和翻译是相似的话语实践，旨在交流经验、创造知识和塑造文化。本文以勒吉恩的《天车》(1971)为例，探讨了她的故事叙述如何成为一种独特的翻译形式，将中国古代道家的思想与当代英语读者共鸣的叙事和幻想联系起来。更具体地说，本文考察了勒奎恩如何利用主人公的被动性来体现老子的无为哲学。这一探索旨在揭示讲故事和翻译之间的复杂关系，强调它们在塑造我们的观念、拓宽我们的视野以及促进一个更加相互关联的全球思想和叙事格局方面的重要性。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

CLCWEB-Comparative Literature and Culture LITERATURE-

CiteScore

0.40

自引率

33.30%

发文量

审稿时长

24 weeks

期刊介绍： The intellectual trajectory of CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture is located in the humanities and social sciences in the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies designated as "comparative cultural studies." Comparative cultural studies is a contextual approach in the study of culture in all of its products and processes; its theoretical and methodological framework is built on tenets borrowed from the discipline of comparative literature and the field of cultural studies and from a range of thought including literary and culture theory, systems theory, and communication theories; in comparative cultural studies focus is on theory and method, as well as on application; in comparative cultural studies metaphorical argumentation and description are discouraged; the intellectual trajectory of the journal includes the postulate to work in a global and intercultural context with a plurality of methods and approaches, and in interdisciplinarity in the study of the processes of communicative action(s) in culture, the production and processes of culture, the products of culture, and the study of the how of these processes; the epistemological bases of comparative cultural studies are in (radical) constructivism and in methodology the contextual (systemic and empirical) approach is favored (however, comparative cultural studies does not exclude textual analysis proper or other established fields of scholarship).