Literary Translation Creation from the Perspective of Domestication—A Practice Report on the Chinese Translation of James Joyce’s The Dead (Excerpt)

Abstract

Literary translation inherently involves the translator’s subjectivity and the selection of cultural strategies, with domestication and foreignization being the two core approaches. Against the background of China’s pursuit of more equitable cultural dissemination, this study focuses on the creative dimension of literary translation from the perspective of domestication. Taking excerpts from James Joyce’s The Dead as the source text, the research integrates Vermeer’s Skopos Theory, Schleiermacher’s and Venuti’s domestication theories, and Chinese theories such as Xu Yuanchong’s Three Beauties Theory. It conducts a comparative analysis of two existing Chinese translations (by Wang Fengzhen and Wang Zhiliang) and presents the author’s own translation practice. The study explores how to exert translator subjectivity and apply creative techniques under the framework of domestication to balance the original text’s artistic value and the target readers’ cultural adaptability. Research findings indicate that domestication, when guided by clear translation purposes, can effectively convey the emotional tension and cultural connotations of the source text. The study also reflects on limitations such as insufficient comparative cases and proposes directions for further improvement. This research aims to enrich the academic discourse on literary translation creativity and provide practical insights for promoting cross-cultural communication and Chinese cultural dissemination.