Keywords  Catch-22  Functional Equivalence  Comparative Analysis  Translation Strategies
 Table of Contents
1  Introduction    1
1.1  The Novel Catch-22    1
1.2  Two Chinese Versions of The Novel    1
2  Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory    3
2.1  Introduction of Nida and Functional Equivalence    3
2.2  The Conception of Functional Equivalence    3
2.3  The Significant of Functional Equivalence    3
3  Translation Analysis of the Black Humor of Catch-22 From the Perspective of Nida’s Functional Equivalence    5
3.1  The Feasibility of the Functional Equivalence on Black Humor Translation    5
3.2  Functional Equivalence Achieved on the Level of Meaning    6
3.3  Functional Equivalence Achieved on the Level of Style    8
Conclusion    10
Acknowledgements    11
Bibliography    12
1 Introduction
Nida was famous as translation theorist because of his functional equivalence theory. When this theory came out, it aroused heated debates both in the western countries and in Asian countries. With the popularity of it in China, it created a profound significant to Chinese contemporary translators. In spite of the imperfection of this theory, it is of great significant for guiding literary translation. In this paper, to prove the availability of the theory in literary translation , the author tries to understand the Chinese versions of Catch-22 from a perspective of functional equivalence.
1.1    The Novel Catch-22
Joseph Heller is a famous novelist who is a master in satirical novel writing. He was on active service in the U.S. Air Force as a bomber during the World War II. Joseph Heller began to write his war novel during the Korean and published it just around Vietnam war. He was one of the authors who find dark humor in war in the 20th century. In 1961, his first novel Catch-22 was published.
Since Catch-22 was published, the title of Catch-22 has entered the English lexicon with the meaning of vicious trap that no one can escape from.
The story is about that Captain Yossarian who is helpless has to fly before he can go back home while the Commander keeps raising the number of the flying missions. Living in the mess and terror, he is frightened. In order to save his life, he ignores all rules in the army and was crazy to try every way to avoid the missions.
Catch-22’s first readers were largely of the generation that went through World War II. For them, it provided a new attempt and much laugh at the horrible war and madness they suffered. This novel, with its rich artistic contents, serious theme and ridiculous describing, wins the praise of the world. It is also a major breakthrough in American literary field in early 60s.
1.2 Two Chinese Versions of the Novel
The first Chinese translation of Catch-22 was made by Nan Wen in 1981. After that many other translators reproduced the novel. The two Chinese versions chosen by the author of this thesis for study are respectively translated by Yang Jia and Wu Bingqing. Yang’s version was published in April 1996 by Yilin Press. Wu’s version was published in August 2012 by Yilin Press. In this thesis, Yang’s translation and Wu’s translation are referred to version 1 and version 2 respectively.
2 Nida and Functional Equivalence Theory
2.1 Introduction of Nida and Functional Equivalence
Eugene A Nida, as a translator, a linguist and also a translation theorist, was renowned in the world. Nida’s translation theory has created a profound influence on the translation field in western countries. With the propagating of his theory, Nida’s functional equivalence theory becomes popular and gives significant guiding to Chinese translation scholars. 从功能对等角度浅析《第二十二条军规》中译本(2):http://www.751com.cn/yingyu/lunwen_19902.html