Modern Social Science Research

A Dream of Red Mansions holds a significant position in the world of literature. The Jinling Riddles reveal the characters and fates of the main female characters in the book. This study analyzes the translation strategies of some Jinling Riddles in Hawkes’ English translation based on feminist translation theory. Feminist translation theory emerged in the late 20th century and commonly employs strategies such as paratextual intervention (forewords and footnotes), supplementation, and hijacking (rewriting). When translating the riddles, for Wang Xifeng’s riddle, Hawkes strengthened the female’s subject status by rewriting vocabulary and omitting part of the narrative, and reconstructed the female image by using supplementation strategies such as changing the voice and replacing images. In the translation of the riddles for Lin Daiyu and Xue Baochai, he rewrote the translation of some allusions to highlight female intellectual authority and supplemented content to enhance the female’s subjective value. In the translation of Yuanchun’s riddle, he supplemented information to show her wisdom and resilience, and rewrote the translation to avoid competitive judgment among women and metaphorize gender power relations. This proves that feminist translation theory is feasible and valuable in literary translation, providing a new perspective for the cross-cultural dissemination of A Dream of Red Mansions and contributing to the exchange of gender equality concepts.

A Dream of Red Mansions; Jinling riddles; Hawkes’ translation; Feminist translation Theory; Translation strategies