This paper examines how the socio-cultural contexts have affected readers＇ responses to particular Saudi novels. It draws on Fish＇s concept of ＂interpretive communities＂, which argues that interpretation is an ins...This paper examines how the socio-cultural contexts have affected readers＇ responses to particular Saudi novels. It draws on Fish＇s concept of ＂interpretive communities＂, which argues that interpretation is an institutional practice, and that consequently readers hold shared prior assumptions that constrain their interpretive strategies （Fish 1980）. Not surprisingly then, some responses to Saudi authors are based on the ideological belief that their novels consist of acts of rebellion against a conservative culture. A close reading of the conflict between Saudi novelists and the social responses to their works can reflect how cultural and social contexts shape the reception of contemporary Saudi novels, and can also help to construct public attitudes toward these texts. Saudi novelists have faced a number of social constraints and factors which have affected the development of the novel in Saudi Arabia. For example, works by al-Gosaibi, Munif, Khal, al-Hamad, al-Mohaimeed, Alsanea, and al-luhani have all been banned because they were seen to pose a major threat to the dominant, patriarchal Saudi ideology. While the social controversy around these writers was raging, some other writers applied self-censorship to avoid touching upon what were perceived to be the most sensitive issues.展开更多
Katherine Mansfield is a world famous woman master of short stories in English literature. Her stories are sensitive revelations of human behaiour in quite ordinary situations, through which we can glimpse a powerful ...Katherine Mansfield is a world famous woman master of short stories in English literature. Her stories are sensitive revelations of human behaiour in quite ordinary situations, through which we can glimpse a powerful and sometimes cruelly pessimistic view of life. Miss Brill is one of her short stories published in her collection of stories entitled The Garden Party and Other Stories （2007）, describing an afternoon in the life of a middle-aged spinster who visits the public park on a weekly basis, leading to her reassessment of her view of the world and the secular reality. Short as it is, it is really worth carful analysis and appreciation. This paper will mainly deal with the theme--alienation that the story conveys in two aspects： some obvious alienate elments in Miss Brill, in which some background information is provided; some less obvious alienation in Miss Brill, in which a detailed analysis is made into the story to reveal its alienation.展开更多
Word meanings change with time. This paper analyzes the meanings of three language units from Jane Austen＇s Pride and Prejudice and their Chinese renderings by seven translators. These three units are recollect, hand...Word meanings change with time. This paper analyzes the meanings of three language units from Jane Austen＇s Pride and Prejudice and their Chinese renderings by seven translators. These three units are recollect, handsome, and come upon the town. By studying the linguistic, situational, or cultural contexts of each language unit, the analysis shows that of the renderings of these three language units, the accuracy rate is three out of seven, one out of seven, and two out of seven respectively. The paper points out that one of the most important causes of the low accuracy rates is that these language units denote old-fashioned meanings. Another cause of the low accuracy rates is that some of the translators are not careful enough in their identification of the meanings of these language units. The paper suggests that in the translation of a classic novel like Pride and Prejudice, translators need to analyze carefully the linguistic, situational, or cultural contexts of a tricky language unit in the novel for very likely it denotes an old-fashioned meaning. Translators could also consult and compare what a tricky language unit means in other places of the novel, use an encyclopedic dictionary instead of a dictionary of contemporary English, and study the notes on tricky words in the novel made by established scholars.展开更多
The experience of＂The Other＂ has become a common one for people in the 21st century, and yet it continues to be a major problem for everyone involved. Increasingly, however, immigrants and their descendants adjust a...The experience of＂The Other＂ has become a common one for people in the 21st century, and yet it continues to be a major problem for everyone involved. Increasingly, however, immigrants and their descendants adjust and soon participate in and with the new culture（s）. At the same time, those who encounter ＂The Other＂ through the contact with immigrants, have also to adapt, to learn, and to realize considerable changes in themselves in that process. Recently, a new German novelist, Renate Ahrens, has created several major works in which she reflects on this intricate phenomenon typical of our times. The present study might well be the first critical analysis of her last two novels, Zeit der Wahrheit （Time of Truth, 2005） and Fremde Schwestern （Alienated Sisters, 2011）, which prove to be outstanding and first-rate literary treatments of the theme of＂The Other＂ in an intercultural context. As Ahrens illustrates in both novels, each individual carries a heavy baggage imposed on them by the own family history, and so in both cases the confrontation with ＂The Other＂ serves exceedingly well to break open the shell of self-isolation and self-alienation. Love finally overcomes ancient conflicts and paves the way for new integrative forces supporting the formation of the ＂global village＂ we all are really living in.展开更多
文摘This paper examines how the socio-cultural contexts have affected readers＇ responses to particular Saudi novels. It draws on Fish＇s concept of ＂interpretive communities＂, which argues that interpretation is an institutional practice, and that consequently readers hold shared prior assumptions that constrain their interpretive strategies （Fish 1980）. Not surprisingly then, some responses to Saudi authors are based on the ideological belief that their novels consist of acts of rebellion against a conservative culture. A close reading of the conflict between Saudi novelists and the social responses to their works can reflect how cultural and social contexts shape the reception of contemporary Saudi novels, and can also help to construct public attitudes toward these texts. Saudi novelists have faced a number of social constraints and factors which have affected the development of the novel in Saudi Arabia. For example, works by al-Gosaibi, Munif, Khal, al-Hamad, al-Mohaimeed, Alsanea, and al-luhani have all been banned because they were seen to pose a major threat to the dominant, patriarchal Saudi ideology. While the social controversy around these writers was raging, some other writers applied self-censorship to avoid touching upon what were perceived to be the most sensitive issues.
文摘Katherine Mansfield is a world famous woman master of short stories in English literature. Her stories are sensitive revelations of human behaiour in quite ordinary situations, through which we can glimpse a powerful and sometimes cruelly pessimistic view of life. Miss Brill is one of her short stories published in her collection of stories entitled The Garden Party and Other Stories （2007）, describing an afternoon in the life of a middle-aged spinster who visits the public park on a weekly basis, leading to her reassessment of her view of the world and the secular reality. Short as it is, it is really worth carful analysis and appreciation. This paper will mainly deal with the theme--alienation that the story conveys in two aspects： some obvious alienate elments in Miss Brill, in which some background information is provided; some less obvious alienation in Miss Brill, in which a detailed analysis is made into the story to reveal its alienation.
文摘Word meanings change with time. This paper analyzes the meanings of three language units from Jane Austen＇s Pride and Prejudice and their Chinese renderings by seven translators. These three units are recollect, handsome, and come upon the town. By studying the linguistic, situational, or cultural contexts of each language unit, the analysis shows that of the renderings of these three language units, the accuracy rate is three out of seven, one out of seven, and two out of seven respectively. The paper points out that one of the most important causes of the low accuracy rates is that these language units denote old-fashioned meanings. Another cause of the low accuracy rates is that some of the translators are not careful enough in their identification of the meanings of these language units. The paper suggests that in the translation of a classic novel like Pride and Prejudice, translators need to analyze carefully the linguistic, situational, or cultural contexts of a tricky language unit in the novel for very likely it denotes an old-fashioned meaning. Translators could also consult and compare what a tricky language unit means in other places of the novel, use an encyclopedic dictionary instead of a dictionary of contemporary English, and study the notes on tricky words in the novel made by established scholars.
文摘The experience of＂The Other＂ has become a common one for people in the 21st century, and yet it continues to be a major problem for everyone involved. Increasingly, however, immigrants and their descendants adjust and soon participate in and with the new culture（s）. At the same time, those who encounter ＂The Other＂ through the contact with immigrants, have also to adapt, to learn, and to realize considerable changes in themselves in that process. Recently, a new German novelist, Renate Ahrens, has created several major works in which she reflects on this intricate phenomenon typical of our times. The present study might well be the first critical analysis of her last two novels, Zeit der Wahrheit （Time of Truth, 2005） and Fremde Schwestern （Alienated Sisters, 2011）, which prove to be outstanding and first-rate literary treatments of the theme of＂The Other＂ in an intercultural context. As Ahrens illustrates in both novels, each individual carries a heavy baggage imposed on them by the own family history, and so in both cases the confrontation with ＂The Other＂ serves exceedingly well to break open the shell of self-isolation and self-alienation. Love finally overcomes ancient conflicts and paves the way for new integrative forces supporting the formation of the ＂global village＂ we all are really living in.
