Effectiveness of Context on Translation in Literary Works

Context has very close connection with translation especially with literary translation. In literary works, context has an important function restricting translation process, and in turn translation, to a large degree, depends on context. Context is indispensable for translators to correctly understand the original text and to achieve functional equivalence in translation. This paper, from the perspective of systemic-functional linguistics, holds that context is the key to comprehend the original text, and that only when we convey the true communicative intentions of the original work via context, can it be possible to guarantee the maximum success of translation in literary works.