5．3 The Criteria of Literary Translation文学翻译的标准
As to this point，many translators and scholars hold that faithfulness to the original and smoothness and expressiveness of the translated text are the two aspects about translation criteria(See Chapter 1)．However，they are not enough for literary translation because literary works are not only the narration of objects and notions，but also the artistic conception and image to attract the reader．Meanwhile，creativity and translation are inseparable，especially in literary rendition．A translator should always be resourceful in terms of vocabulary and syntactic structures in order to handle repetitions in the ST．Literary translators in particular need to be also creative in translating the“formalities”of the ST．Creativity in translation can be defined as coming up with novel strategies for dealing with familiar or common problems，whether on the lexical，syntactic or formal levels．The translator is，however，torn between the form and the content of the ST and the limits of freedom and idiomaticity in the TL．Thus，he or she is bound to be creative in terms of his or her knowledge of the TL and what TL-receivers would not baulk at．Moreover，according to Knittlova(2000: 72-73)，translator＇s creativity must have its limits．She maintains that: Judging its right degree might lie within the scope of modern translatology，which approaches the translation from the holistic point of view and which can with advantage use the principles of text linguistics．These might be of some use just because translation should keep all the text parameters or textuality standards unchanged as far as possible with adequate adaptation to the conventions of the target language．
Translation itself is considered as a creative process for a number of reasons: 1)Translation is not merely a transformation of an original text into a literal equivalent，but also successfully conveys the overall meaning of the original，including that text＇s surrounding cultural significance; 2)The process of searching out a target-language counterpart to a difficult source-language word or phrase is often creative．
Neubert(1997∶17-19)further maintains that: A translation is not created from nothing; it is woven from a semantic pattern taken from another text，but the threads—the TL linguistic forms，structures，syntactic sequences，etc．In the course of achieving something new，mediators(translators and interpreters)have to resort to novel ways of encoding an old message．They are forced to creativity because the means of the TL are not identical with those of the SL．To arrive at an adequate TL version，new resources have to be tapped．In these efforts，creativity plays a prominent role．Creative uses of the target language are the result of the various problem-solving strategies applied to any piece of SL text．
Moreover，the model of creativity in translation comprises four steps(Niska，1998):
A．Preparation: the first stage in the process，where the problem is investigated，i．e．accumulating knowledge about the problem to be solved，from memory and other sources;
B．Incubation: a resting phase where the problem is temporarily put aside，if the solution is not found immediately;
C．Illumination: a stage where an idea of a solution comes to mind，as a“flash”or“click”as the culmination of a successful train of association;
D．Verification: a stage where alternative solutions are tested and their usability is measured．It is at this stage that the creative product is born．