Names of Non-human Characters and the Translation in Children’s Literature: a Case Study of Journey to the West by W.J.F Jenner

Abstract

This paper focuses on how the names of non-human characters in children’s literature can both realize the meaning and function of proper nouns and assist children’s reading. Through a case study of more than 400 such names in a renowned Chinese children’s literary work, Journey to the West, and their English translation by William Jenner, this paper analyses the classifications and categories of these names in the context of their enormous complexity and particularity, and their conventional referential, cultural, and rhetorical meaning and function, in order to shed light on the patterns of the translated names and suitability of their translations. Besides the conventional onomastic findings, the analysis demonstrates that, seen from the broader perspective of children’s literature, both the names and their translations embody the animistic quality of literature, while some function as a narrative tool. What is more, Jenner’s English translation displays a special care for the target children readers, taking into account their linguistic, cultural, and cognitive context. The popularity of the source text, Journey to the West, among young Chinese readers and the reprintings of Jenner’s full-text English translation doubly certify that poetic, animistic, and imaginary names of non-human characters, in accordance with children's psychological and cognitive development, can not only assist child readers to remember and vividly visualize non-human characters in literary works but also enhance the implications and readers’ potential interpretations of the work itself.