HYPERBOLE IN JOHN STEINBECK’S OF MICE AND MEN: A STYLISTIC AND TRANSLATION ANALYSIS INTO VIETNAMESE

Nguyễn Dương Hiếu

Tóm tắt

This article explores the translation of hyperbole in John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men from English into Vietnamese. Drawing from a corpus of 17 hyperbolic expressions identified in the novel, the study investigates how these exaggerations contribute to Steinbeck’s themes of loneliness, power, and the unattainability of dreams, and how effectively they are rendered into Vietnamese. Utilizing a qualitative stylistic approach supported by quantitative description, the analysis applies Leech and Short’s (2007) three-level stylistic framework, as well as the translation theories by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995) and Baker (2018). The findings reveal that most hyperboles are translated through literal rendering and equivalence, with modulation frequently employed to preserve rhetorical force and one case of cultural substitution identified. Overall, the Vietnamese translations tend to maintain the exaggerative intensity and emotional resonance of the source text, though some absolute expressions are softened in line with Vietnamese linguistic norms. The study highlights the challenges of translating figurative language and provides practical insights for cross-cultural literary translation.

Citation this article (D. H. Nguyen, 2025)

Nguyen, D. H. (2025). HYPERBOLE IN JOHN STEINBECK’S OF MICE AND MEN: A STYLISTIC AND TRANSLATION ANALYSIS INTO VIETNAMESE. Hoa Sen University Journal of Science, (10), 18–29. https://vjol.info.vn/index.php/dhs/article/view/130655/107267