Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Adult-child interaction, an inevitable topic in children’s literature, can be regarded as a miniature “self-other” in imagology. The child image thus resides in adults’ subjective imagination and understanding. This paper examines the translation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a series of children’s books...
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| Format: | Thesis-Master by Coursework |
| Language: | English |
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Nanyang Technological University
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157502 |
| _version_ | 1826111906729951232 |
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| author | Du, Jing |
| author2 | Cui Feng |
| author_facet | Cui Feng Du, Jing |
| author_sort | Du, Jing |
| collection | NTU |
| description | Adult-child interaction, an inevitable topic in children’s literature, can be regarded as a miniature “self-other” in imagology. The child image thus resides in adults’ subjective imagination and understanding. This paper examines the translation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a series of children’s books in America, with an aim to explore the main character Greg Heffley, an antihero, being introduced to and accepted by the Chinese market. The antiheroic youngster, featuring mediocracy, moral lapses, and insidious rebellion, is well-received as realistic, relevant, and relatable among readers. Humour, embedded in this figure, consists of three layers: pure entertainment, self-reconciliation, and passive resistance. The formation, translation and acceptance of the atypical protagonist manifest the dynamic relationship between grownups and children in social history. Based on polysystem theory, the child antihero is introduced, manipulated, and altered due to the influence of the political system, moral system, and pedagogical system in target culture. Facilitated and limited by the alignment between child image and national identity, the character reconfiguration experiences changes as the publisher’s moral ideology overrides the translator’s entertainment-oriented poetics. The presence and popularity of this antihero is inclined to deconstruct the mainstream values and add to the aesthetic appeal of children’s literature in modern China.
Keywords: Child image, Anti-heroic Protagonist, Translation, Children’s literature, Polysystem, Rewriting theory |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:58:31Z |
| format | Thesis-Master by Coursework |
| id | ntu-10356/157502 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:58:31Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Nanyang Technological University |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/1575022023-03-11T20:14:42Z Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid Du, Jing Cui Feng School of Humanities CuiFeng@ntu.edu.sg Humanities::Language Adult-child interaction, an inevitable topic in children’s literature, can be regarded as a miniature “self-other” in imagology. The child image thus resides in adults’ subjective imagination and understanding. This paper examines the translation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a series of children’s books in America, with an aim to explore the main character Greg Heffley, an antihero, being introduced to and accepted by the Chinese market. The antiheroic youngster, featuring mediocracy, moral lapses, and insidious rebellion, is well-received as realistic, relevant, and relatable among readers. Humour, embedded in this figure, consists of three layers: pure entertainment, self-reconciliation, and passive resistance. The formation, translation and acceptance of the atypical protagonist manifest the dynamic relationship between grownups and children in social history. Based on polysystem theory, the child antihero is introduced, manipulated, and altered due to the influence of the political system, moral system, and pedagogical system in target culture. Facilitated and limited by the alignment between child image and national identity, the character reconfiguration experiences changes as the publisher’s moral ideology overrides the translator’s entertainment-oriented poetics. The presence and popularity of this antihero is inclined to deconstruct the mainstream values and add to the aesthetic appeal of children’s literature in modern China. Keywords: Child image, Anti-heroic Protagonist, Translation, Children’s literature, Polysystem, Rewriting theory Master of Arts (Translation and Interpretation) 2022-05-12T06:14:34Z 2022-05-12T06:14:34Z 2022 Thesis-Master by Coursework Du, J. (2022). Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Master's thesis, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157502 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157502 en application/pdf Nanyang Technological University |
| spellingShingle | Humanities::Language Du, Jing Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| title | Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| title_full | Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| title_fullStr | Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| title_full_unstemmed | Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| title_short | Formation, translation, and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children's fiction: a case study on Diary of a Wimpy Kid |
| title_sort | formation translation and acceptance of antiheroic protagonist in children s fiction a case study on diary of a wimpy kid |
| topic | Humanities::Language |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157502 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT dujing formationtranslationandacceptanceofantiheroicprotagonistinchildrensfictionacasestudyondiaryofawimpykid |