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英语笔译 刘婷 Liu Ting 202170081586

Study on the Canonization of Chinese Modern Poetry Liu Ting

Abstract

It has been more than a century since the birth of Chinese Modern Poetry, also known as the new poetry. As the mainstream form of poetry in modern and contemporary China, the new poetry is still young compared to Chinese ancient poetry and songs, which have a long history and cultural accumulation. So, its canonization has always been the common concern of writers, scholars and researchers. In any country, canonization of any literary work is a long and complicated process in terms of time and mechanism. The canonization of new poetry has rich texture in the synchronic and diachronic aspects of literary history. This paper analyzes the essential characteristics of the so-called "classic" works and points out the problems faced by the canonization of new poetry and only by solving these problems can the canonization of Chinese modern poetry be put on the right track.

Key words

Chinese modern poetry, canonization, classic work

1. Introduction

Chinese Modern Poetry, also known as the new poetry, refers to the poetry genre that emerged around the May Fourth Movement, which is different from the Chinese classical poetry and uses vernacular when it is composed.

During the development of Chinese literature, poetry, including Han Fu, Tang poems, Song Ci, Yuan Qu, had achieved great successes. However, in modern times, the creation of classical poetry gradually became rigid, using lots of clichés, and the words used in classical poems were seriously disconnected from modern spoken language. The strict restrictions on the form including the verse style, rhyme, allusions etc., were a great constraint on poetry's ability to express the ever-changing and increasingly complex social life and to express people's true thoughts and feelings. Therefore, the new poetry revolution became the first and most important part of the New Literary Movement in the May Fourth period.

As the mainstream form of poetry in modern and contemporary China, the new poetry is still young compared to the old poetry and songs, which have a long history and cultural accumulation. But with its freedom, flexibility, and versatility, new poetry has maintained its creative vigor and vitality over the past century. From form to content, from creation and dissemination to influence, new poetry can be said to be relatively complete, vigorous and uncompromising.

The issue of literary classics and the canonization of literary works is a hot issue that has always been of concern to academics. In terms of the classical quality of poetry, the power that new poetry has contributed to the history of Chinese poetry over the past century should not be underestimated. As far as the century of Chinese new poetry is concerned, the modern new poetry classics and the rationality of their canonization have been gradually recognized in recent studies, while the issue of its canonizaton is quite controversial. Canonization is actually a process rather than a result. Many scholars have doubts about whether "Canonization" of new poetry is a valid term, because the time of generation and development of them is still short compared with that of Chinese classical poetry, and "classics" must go through layers of elision by years and readers, and through the heavy burden of generations. The reason is that the generation and development of contemporary new poetry is still short compared to that of modern new poetry, and the "classics" must go through the test of time. Of course, this is the general understanding of the generation of classics, but while seeing the ephemeral nature of the generation of "classics", we should also see the commonality of the generation of them.

By clarifying the defining characteristics of Chinese new poetry and classic works, this paper points out the difficulties and misunderstandings encountered in the canonization of Chinese new poetry today, and only by solving these problems and breaking these misunderstandings can the canonization of Chinese modern poetry be put on the right track.

2. Chinese Modern Poetry

To solve the problem of canonization of Chinese modern poetry, first and foremost, it is necessary to have an understanding of it. This chapter introduces the development of new poetry, its representative figures, the literary characteristics of poetry and its achievements.

2.1 Development of Chinese Modern poetry

Compared with drama, novel and prose, the century-long development of Chinese modern poetry is relatively weak. Novel and prose, after all, still has Lu Xun, Ba Jin and Lao She; drama has Cao Yu, Lao She and; all these writers have been recognized by the world. Poetry, on the other hand, lacks such figures. New poetry faces two peaks that are difficult to surpass: one is Chinese classical poetry and the other is the poetry achievements of the West since Shakespeare. The existence of poetry requires the existence of a refined and mature national language, and poetry is most closely connected to language, while modern Chinese has only been existed around for a century. Nevertheless, achievements of Chinese modern poetry are remarkable. The most important development stage of it was the first thirty years after its birth.

2.1.1 The first decade

At the experimental stage, Hu Shi was regarded as "the first vernacular poet." His Trying Collection (1920) was "a bridge” between the old and new poetry. Individual poems at this time had modern lyrical forms, but most of them still could not escape from the formal tradition of classical poetry. The techniques of the new poetry were firstly, "line drawing" and secondly, metaphorical symbolism. The early vernacular poems are thus divided into two categories: the first is the objective realistic tendency of using white description; the second is the modernist tendency of putting things into context. The latter is not common in traditional poetry.

At the foundational stage, Guo Moruo's "Goddess" (1921) was the foundation of Chinese new poetry. The lyrical nature of poetry and the individuality of it were given full attention and play, and the strange and daring imagination really made the wings of poetry soar. " The free spirit of the May Fourth Era and the artistic rules of poetry itself are fully reflected in this collection.

At the normalization stage, if "Goddess" broke the traditional poetic rules with the spirit of "absolute freedom and absolute autonomy", the New Moon School was born in response to the need, with Wen Yiduo, Xu Zhimo, Zhu Xiang and Lin Huiyin as its representatives, advocating "rational moderation of emotions". " Wen Yiduo advocated the metrical and standard patterns of the new poetry and proposed the theory of "three beauties" of poetry: music beauty (level and oblique tones and rhyme), pictorial beauty (the theory that Chinese poetry and painting are connected), and architectural beauty (proportionality of stanzas and evenness of sentences).

2.1.2 The Second Decade

The Chinese Poetry Society was a mass poetry group led by the Left League, inheriting the early proletarian poetry tradition of Jiang Guangci from the previous decade, with Yin Fu as its representative. The characteristics were: first, reflecting the revolutionary struggle and major events of the times; second, emphasizing the ideologization of poetry, the subject of poetry was not the poet himself but a fighting collective; third, focusing on realism in artistic expression. This somewhat deviated from the essence of poetry, which is the catharsis of individual's emotions.

In the later period, the poems of the New Moon School shifted the focus of their lyricism to the "trembling of the soul" and the alienation of the modern human spirit. Xu Zhimo's "Collection of Fierce Tigers" and "Collection of Cloudy Travels" are representative of this. "Farewell to Cambridge Again" belongs to this period, but its mood is still a remnant of the previous one. New poets, such as Chen Mengjia and Fang Wei De, were students of Xu Zhimo. And the poetry at this period, borrowed the form of sonnets.

Shi zhe was another poet at this period. He emphasized the need to write purely modern poetry, which is genealogically related to the early Symbolist poetry and used modern rhetoric to arrange modern poetic forms. The "leaders of the poetry world" at this time is Dai Wangshu and Bian Zhilin. Dai Wangshu was known as the "Rainy Lane Poet" with his poem "Rainy Lane". Bian Zhilin, on the other hand, was influenced by Xu Zhimo and Dai Wangshu, and provided something new to the new poetry, namely, a shift from the main emotion to the main intellect. He was one of the poets in the history of new poetry who was consciously philosophical, and his poetry was surprising in its simplicity because he was good at penetrating and exploring the phenomena of daily life philosophically.

2.1.3 The Third Decade

Ai Qing accomplished the task of "synthesis" in the history of Chinese poetry. On the one hand, he insisted on developing the realistic and fighting tradition of the poets of the Chinese Poetry Society, on the other hand, he overcame and abandoned their weaknesses of "childish shouting", and at the same time, he critically absorbed some of the achievements of the modern poets in their artistic exploration of new poetry, further enriching and developing the art of poetry. He drew on the passion of Guo Moruo and the pursuit of external forms of the New Moon School, and Ai Qing began to pursue an inner beauty in Chinese new poetry. He became the most influential poet of the third decade. He was also one of the first new Chinese poets to go global.

At the beginning of the war, the Chinese Poetry Society, the New Moon School, and the Modernist poets all sang the battle hymn of national liberation. During the war period, the debate over the aesthetic and artistic characteristics of poetry and political propaganda brought people to a new level of understanding of the content and form of poetry. There were many academic works that raised the artistic discussion of new poetry to a theoretical level: Ai Qing's "Essay on Poetry", Zhu Ziqing's "Miscellaneous Discussions on New Poetry", Li Guangtian's "The Art of Poetry", and so on. Zang Kejia wrote "Songs of the Clay" and Dai Wangshu wrote "Years of Catastrophe", and there was a transformation of style, integrating the "small self" into the "big self". The most influential poetry school during this period was the July Poetry School. Under the influence of Ai Qing, this school of poetry was formed by Hu Feng as the center, with July and other publications as the main base. It advocated revolutionary realism and free verse as its main banner, and had a great influence in the National Unification Area.

After the end of the war, the new poetry took on a new life. In literary history, the Nine Poets school led by Mu Dan are known as the "New Chinese Poetry School". They emphasized, first, the modernization of the way of thinking about poetry. The second was the extreme importance attached to the application of everyday language and the rhythm of speech. "Only words and rhythms that are varied, flexible, fresh, and vivid can properly and effectively express the strange sensitivity of the modern poet's senses and the rapid changes in his thoughts." The emphasis on the basic transformation of poetic thinking and language, which characterized the Chinese New Poetry School, also concentrates on its rebelliousness and heterogeneity, which precisely echoed the claims of early vernacular poetry in a distant way.

2.2 Value of Chinese Modern poetry

The value and significance of modern Chinese poetry does not only lie in the depth and breadth of thought and emotion expressed in the works of its outstanding writers and artistic thinking, but is also closely related to the cultural characteristics it reflects. As representatives of modern Chinese intellectuals with the most prominent self-awareness, the cultural consciousness of modern Chinese poets and their many outstanding creations not only provides readers with a rich and unique scope of understanding and propositions at the level of ideology, but also gives a taste of the free power and will of their individual lives in the vibration of the intersection of different cultures and the care of national emotions.

Chinese modern poetry has been following the changes in the future and destiny of the nation, and has been deeply concerned with the suffering of the masses, especially the creation of realistic poetry, which integrates realism and lyricism into one, has gained great significance. Guo Moruo's "Phoenix Nirvana", Wen Yiduo's "Dead Water", Dai Wangshu's "I Use My Broken Palms", Zang Kejia's "Old Horse" and Ai Qing's "Snow Falling on the Land of China" all belong to this category, and they are all typical modern poems with the theme of worrying about the country and the people. As a "social discourse for the masses" with strong, sharp values and realistic concerns, they indeed disclose the heavy and oppressive environment of the time and the sense of suffering and crisis caused by the increasing destruction of modern China by the real oppressors and invaders, and those politicized complaints of grief and anger processed by the authors' reason and emotion also inherit the sense of historical mission of classical Chinese poetry: "Essays are written for the time, songs and poems are written for the matter. "The poetry of modern poets, however, is not as good as that of classical poetry. However, in contrast to classical poetry, modern poets have been able to consciously strengthen their "self-awareness" in the midst of successive social changes, national suffering, and political turmoil, thus examining the close relationship between the changes of the times, public suffering, and the poet with the poet's real identity and vision, and integrating the poet's independent "self-awareness" into the "self-awareness" of the poet. The poet's independent "self-consciousness" is integrated into the "social discourse of the masses"

Since the real feeling of individual independence and emancipation and its cultural and psychological structure have gained a dominant position in modern China, the modernization of Chinese poetry is gradually free from the traditional aesthetic thought's domination and bondage to the poet's personalized historical experience and unique feeling in the continuous farewell to the traditional consciousness of classical poetry. In other words, many modern poets have become the most important poets. In other words, many modern poets have achieved complete emancipation from the classical poetic consciousness with a very distinctive personal character. Nevertheless, modern poetry has clearly increased its tendency to express "motherly emotions" accompanied by sorrow and grief. Bing Xin's small poems, for example, have a great deal of motherly love and tenderness molten into the artistic world she has constructed, fully reflecting the modern woman's self-consciousness, and vividly embodying the modern intellectual woman's painful independent personality of "living in evil but loving goodness", which is a struggle of the inner soul. Classical poetry generally does not reveal the oppressive factors of women's existence from the perspective of women's care, and often examines women's lives with a tragic vision and a sense of suffering. In contrast, the new poetry tries to explore women's unique life consciousness, emotional imagery and their inner flashing moments of perception, in order to replace the vague and hazy or generally suppressed monotonous and long-lasting sadness of classical poetry, whose overall sense of life and overall mood underline the poet's deep concern for women's cultural consciousness. In this sense, modern poetry has gained its own vitality because of the significance of women's cultural awakening.

To sum up, the general awakening and vigorous exploration of the self-consciousness of modern Chinese poets has given modern poetry a more independent, profound, liberating and new way of thinking and value of thought and art, different from the classical poetry.

3. What is Classic

From the reality of Chinese literature in the 20th century, both the discussion on whether there are classics in modern literature and the sense of anxiety crisis about the classics of modern literature are greatly related to the understanding of the meaning of classics. I have the following four understandings of the connotation of the classics.

First of all, in terms of spiritual meaning, literary classics shine with the light of thought. It is often rooted in the times, showing the distinctive spirit of the times, with the character of historical reality, but also outlines and reveals the far-reaching rich cultural connotations and human implications, with the transcendent open character. It often raises fundamental questions about human spiritual life, such as man and nature, man and society, and man and himself. At the same time, classics and classical interpretation have a close relationship, and classics must be continuously compiled and organized, accepted and disseminated, and revered in order to become classics. Original classics also need original interpretation, and original interpretation may become new classics or have new classical characteristics.

Secondly, from the point of view of artistic aesthetics, literary classics should have a "poetic" connotation. It is the creation of an irreducible artistic world permeated by the writer's unique worldview, which can provide some kind of aesthetic experience that no one has ever provided before. It is a unique aesthetic grasp of the world based on sensual life, spiritual needs, and even the individual and collective unconscious. This aesthetic grasp, through original efforts, incorporates the rich and colorful world of the mind and the vivid and rich real life, and also absorbs the past and future life into the present with the "time field of presence" that is generated and acted upon. The literary classics created in this way can make the human nature and human heart connected, and the heart of literature and poetry connected, so that the culture and literature of different periods can get deep communication.

Thirdly, from the perspective of national characteristics, literary classics often open a new chapter in the history of national literature, with the value of "history". That is to say, the literary classics can promote a nation's language and thought to a new platform. Just like Shakespeare's modernity in English and English literature, Pushkin's modernity in Russian and Russian literature, Lu Xun and the new literary classics in the May Fourth era also pushed our national language and thought to a new height and a new platform through the original artistic world of modern Chinese. This made it possible for the writers and theorists of modern literature to operate, communicate and create on this platform, and thus a series of classical achievements emerged.

Fourthly, from the acceptance of the classics, literary classics must be accepted and appreciated by the majority of readers. There are indeed many classics of highbrow literature, but those that are loved, recognized, appreciated and enchanted by a wide audience are the classics of classics. The "Three Hundred Tang Poems" have been printed countless times, with billions of readers. Therefore, a classic work must be a work respected by the public, and it must conform to the public's value orientation, respond to the public's will and pursuit, in order to constantly renew new vitality and vitality in order to be immortalized.

4. Problems about Canonization

Although a number of well-received classics of Chinese modern poetry have emerged or are being classicized in its hundred years of development, there are still many problems that need to be solved. Only by solving these problems and recognizing some misconceptions can we better promote the process of canonization of new poetry.

The first problem is the vision of the selector. As it mentioned above: the classics are often rooted in the times, not only displaying the distinctive spirit of the times, but also summarizing and revealing the far-reaching and rich cultural connotation and the meaning of human nature and having the character of transcendent openness. Therefore, there is a need for selectors and editors with vision, thoughtfulness, noble character and culture to select and recommend Chinese modern poems that can be regarded as classics for us. However, some selectors and editors lack a comprehensive, objective and fair vision when they compile anthologies such as "New Poetry Classics of 100 years". They choose poems according to their own preferences, and choose whoever I want to choose, and let whoever I want to stand aside stand aside. In this way, some fine and classic works with superior ideology and art are blocked and rejected by him, while some unknown works with low artistic achievement and simple connotation are regarded as classics by him. In view of this we should strictly screen the professionals to ensure that they can take a serious and responsible attitude, be unbiased, to prepare an excellent collection of selected new poetry classics for everyone to appreciate, read and taste, and promote the process of canonization of new poetry.

The second problem is the vision of a literary historian. As mentioned above: literary classics often open a new chapter in the history of national literature, with the value of "history". Therefore, literary historians play a crucial role in the process of canonization of Chinese modern poetry. If a poet's poems enter the history of literature and new poetry, and are recommended and analyzed as a key poet, it seems that he will definitely be a "classic poet" and his poems "classic poems ". However, it should also be recognized that many literary historians are unable to be unbiased, and the literary and poetry histories they have written have obscured and blocked many new poetry works that have had a significant impact, and inappropriately regarded some works that readers know nothing about as masterpieces.

The third problem is the selection of Chinese modern poems in Chinese textbooks. The role of Chinese textbooks is crucial to the canonization of poetry. In my personal experience, those textbooks are more inclined to poems with aesthetic nature, complex connotations, focus on the experience of life, the beauty of humanity, etc.. However, the sense of the times is often not strong enough. Some "purely lyrical" poems are necessary, but masterpieces that reflect the spirit of the times and real life should not be completely excluded. Language teaching materials are responsible for the canonization of new poetry.

The fourth problem is the education and teaching of new poetry. When it comes to the selection and editing of new poems in Chinese textbooks, the issue of education and teaching of new poems is naturally inseparable. The canonization of poetry is inevitably associated with poetry reading, and the level, form and state of poetry reading are obviously subject to the various stages and levels of contemporary poetry education and literary education, the latter's influence on aesthetic ability and aesthetic intuition is evident to all. In reality, few teachers are willing to make great efforts to guide students to appreciate the beauty of Chinese modern poetry, and few students are really interested in them. The reasons for this are many. The first reason is that modern poetry has a low status. Chinese modern poetry is far inferior to classical poetry, which has a cultural history of several thousand years, in terms of quantity and quality, as well as the number of poets. Another important reason for the low status of modern poetry in language teaching is that it is not considered as part of the test in China's exam-oriented education. The appreciation of ancient poetry, instead of modern poetry, is often taken as a key test in the examination of poetry appreciation, and when students are asked to write something, it is often explicitly state that the genre is not limited except for poetry, etc. Secondly, teachers' poetry literacy is not good enough. The poetry literacy of Chinese teachers directly affects the quality of poetry teaching. For a long time, modern poetry is a niche literature in Chinese literature, and people in general like to listen to stories but not to read poems, to read novels but not to read poetry collections, and even many Chinese teachers have very little experience of modern poetry, very little knowledge reserve of modern poetry, and not high poetry literacy. This directly leads to the fact that in order to complete the teaching plan, teachers will only boringly read from the text and cannot well guide students to appreciate the beauty of modern poetry. Some teachers even teach it quickly and do not seek for teaching quality, which greatly erases students' interest in learning poetry.

The fifth problem is the public's awareness. The making of "classic" new poems is closely related to society, media and education. The repeated selection and publication by publishers, the repeated broadcasting and promotion by TV, radio and newspapers, and the long-term "required reading" in Chinese textbooks are the most important channels for the creation of classics. In addition, the awareness of the public is also an important factor. However, Chinese modern poetry is still far from being publicized, and only a certain circle of people knows about the new poems, while the rest of the people can only recite or memorize few poems that are selected for language textbooks, which is far from enough. The most important factor in the highest achievement of Tang poetry in ancient China lines in the its high quality and higher production, while new poetry, except for the rapid development in the first thirty years, has seen fewer and fewer excellent poets emerge in the later period, gradually fading out of the ordinary people's view. In view of this, relevant institutions can organize some programs and activities, so as to publicize Chinese modern poetry; hold related competitions, so as to reward the creation of new poems.

5. Conclusion

For Chinese poetry, it is a remarkable thing to leave so many influential, distinctive and standard works to posterity with only a hundred years of development. And the study and research of the canonization of Chinese poetry is also very meaningful. But the canonization of modern poetry is a long way to go and requires a lot of efforts.

In this paper, we analyze the development and value of modern Chinese poetry, introduce the elements of excellent classical works, and point out five problems in the canonization of modern poetry nowadays. The author hopes that these five problems can be properly solved in the future, so as to promote the process of poetry canonization. The classic poems we select are not necessarily the most valuable works, nor are they necessarily the works with the greatest room for interpretation, nor are they necessarily of high literary achievement, nor do they necessarily reflect the characteristics of the times most accurately, but the selection of classic poems should reflect the basic consensus of readers and be widely accepted. The new poetry classics can look for excellent works that can serve as spiritual resources, value formation and value cultivation for our younger generation and our public, while also taking into account the characteristics of the Chinese language itself. Canonization is not something that can be accomplished by any one generation, and the process of canonization requires different or the same efforts from different generations.

In short, excellent works will overcome the test of time and be immortalized and enshrined as classics.

Terms and Expressions

Chinese modern poetry 中国现代诗歌

Canonization 经典化；承认为圣典

Synchronic 共时性的

Diachronic 历时性的

Go global 走出去

Vernacular poem 白话诗

Lyrical poems 抒情诗

Highbrow literature 高雅的文学作品；阳春白雪

Chinese textbook 语文课本

Knowledge reserve 知识储备

Rhythm 格律；韵律

Artistic aesthetics 艺术审美

Questions

1. Who was regarded as "the first vernacular poet"?

2. New poetry faces two peaks that are difficult to surpass. What are they?

3. In China's exam-oriented education, which one is more likely to be examined, ancient poetry or modern poetry?

Answers

1. Hu Shi.

2. One is Chinese classical poetry and the other is the poetry achievements of the West since Shakespeare.

3. Ancient poetry

英语笔译 刘瑶 Liu Yao 202170081587

On Mo Yan’s Representative Works Translated Overseas Liu Yao 刘瑶

Abstract

With the implementation of “Going Global” strategy of Chinese literature, more and more works of outstanding Chinese writers have been translated and published in countries around the world, and Mo Yan’s works are representative of them. In 1988, The Dry River was published in Japan, which started the overseas publishing of Mo Yan’s works. As of October 2019, there are 388 kinds of Mo Yan’s works published in 41 countries and Mo Yan has become a representative of contemporary Chinese writers to the world. A comprehensive discussion on the development history, geographical and language distribution, and audience acceptance of Mo Yan's representative works translated overseas is an important topic that can summarize some features of Chinese literature translated overseas, from which to gain some revelation related to Chinese literature's going global. This paper collects relevant papers and journals on the translation and dissemination of Mo Yan's works, based on which this paper reaches a conclusion of information related to Mo Yan's three representative works —Red Sorghum《红高粱家族》, Frog《蛙》, Big Breasts and Wide Hips《丰乳肥臀》. Taking masterpieces of well-known writers as examples, this paper is in the hope of offering new ideas for the translation and dissemination of Chinese literature.Through study and research on the topic, this paper concludes that the significance of Mo Yan's works translated overseas is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: first, showing the global influence of Chinese contemporary literature; second, contributing to the further development of the dissemination of Chinese culture; third, setting a model for cultural communications between China and other countries. The translation and dissemination of Mo Yan's works also inspire us that the spread of Chinese literature needs not only policy support from the government, but also high level translation from translators, both of which are key factors in terms of Chinese literature's going global.

Key words

Mo Yan; representative works; translation; dissemination

Subtitle 1

正文. (Wang 2021:423)

英语笔译 刘珍 Liu Zhen 202170081588 MW

A Study of Strange Stories From a Chinese Studio from the Perspective of Skopos Theory 刘珍

Abstract

Liao Zhai Zhi Yi written by Pu Songling is a famous collection of more than 400 peculiar short stories. As a work coming into being at the very beginning of the 17th century when the classical Chinese writing was on the wane, the appearance of Liao Zhai Zhi Yi (or Liao Zhai in abbreviation) injected vigor and vitality into the classical Chinese literature. Among the many foreign translations of this book, the English version named Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio translated by Herbert Allen Giles is the most popular and influential one so far, thus becoming an indispensable part for the study of the English translation of Liao Zhai. At a time that we are calling for Chinese culture going global, as a successful case of Chinese literature work well-accepted by the foreign market, the English translation if sure of high research values and guiding significance. This thesis attempts to take Skopos theory as the theoretical basis, and take Giles’s Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio as the main research object to study the translator’s aims, the choices of translation strategies and the achievement of translation function.

Key words

Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio; Herbert Allen Giles; Skopos theory; Reader Expectations

Subtitle 1

正文. (Wang 2021:423)如所用句子是引用他人的文章，请在引用部分后标明出处，如是借鉴他人观点，则请标注为(c.f: Wang 2021:423)

References

• Wang Jianhua (2021). The Reception of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 450 pp.

英语笔译 马艳焕 Ma Yanhuan 202170081591 CE

The Translation and spread of Su Tong 's works Abroad

The Translation and spread of Su Tong 's works Abroad Ma Yanhuan 马艳焕

Abstract

Su Tong is one of the famous contemporary Chinese writers, whose works have been translated into a variety of languages and widely spread abroad. therefore, the writer Su Tong has also become one of the top three foreign translators of novels in China. Based on the present situation of the foreign translation of Su Tong's works, this paper will explore the reasons for the success or failure of its overseas dissemination, and put forward some countermeasures to provide a reference for the going out of Chinese literature.

Key words

Su Tong; Translation； Spread

Subtitle 1

正文.

References

• Wang Jianhua (2021). The Reception of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 450 pp.

英语笔译 聂薇 Nie Wei 202170081592 MW

Translation of Idioms in Howard Goldblatt's Life and Death are Wearing Me Out Nie Wei 聂薇

Abstract

Mo Yan's novel Life and Death are Wearing Me Out is full of vivid and interesting idioms, which make the language of this novel so unique and characteristic. Howard Goldblatt's translation of this novel has been a great success in the English-speaking world. In the translation of idioms in this novel, he mainly adopts the methods of foreignization and omission, and follows the translation principles of preserving the foreign culture and insisting on semantic correspondence in order to present the heterogeneity of the idioms, so that the Chinese culture contained in the idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out is well presented to Western readers. His translation provides a more objective platform for Western readers to know the diverse cultures of the world. The study of Goldblatt's translation of this novel can help guide the English translation of Chinese literature, thus providing references for promoting Chinese culture abroad.

Key words

Life and Death are Wearing Me Out; Howard Goldblatt; translation of idioms; creative treason

Introduction

Mo Yan's novel Life and Death are Wearing Me Out is not considered the best novel in China, but Goldblatt's English translation has received much attention in the English-speaking world, won many international awards, and is even considered one of the most important works for Mo Yan to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. One of the most distinctive features of this novel is its unique language style. Goldblatt’s exquisite translation enables Mo Yan's style to be reproduced, and the strong local flavor and magical realism to be manifested, all of which is an important factor for the success of the English translation of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out. This paper discusses the translation methods and principles adopted by Goldblatt in his translation of the idioms in this book, and analyzes its influence on the dissemination of Chinese culture, so as to provide reference for future translations of Chinese classics. (Shi Chunrang 2019, 94)

Literature Review

I searched CNKI with keywords "Life and Death are Wearing Me Out and translation" (searched until May 29, 2022) and found 355 related papers. These papers analyzed the translation methods, strategies and Goldblatt’s translation style of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out from different perspectives, such as relevance theory, Bourdieu’s theory of field, Reception Aesthetics Theory, eco-translatology, translation aesthetics, the post-colonialism perspective, rewriting theory, translation ethics, hermeneutics and translators' subjectivity.

Among them, there are five papers related to the study of proverbs ( idioms). Wang Yiting and Lin Mei point out that Goldblatt mostly uses literal translation to translate idioms in the linguistic dimension, chooses both literal and free translation in the cultural dimension, and uses rewriting in the communicative dimension. Liu Geng and Lu Weizhong, with the help of conceptual metaphor theory, point out that the English translation of the idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out has certain translator's subjectivity, and the translator's metaphorical way of thinking affects the use of different translation strategies. Ye Pingting, based on the cultural translation view, uses the idioms in Goldblatt’s version as a corpus to explore how translators effectively convey cultural information. Chen Qiansa analyzes the use of idioms and their translation methods in this novel based on the Chinese-English parallel corpus. Shi Chunrang and Shi Yan analyze the role of idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out in constructing the "image of the other" for Western readers, as well as in deconstructing the cultural psychology of western readers.

The study of idioms’ translations in Goldblatt's version includes both case studies, in which a single idiom is selected for discussion, and quantitative analyses supported by definite statistics. This paper provides an overall study of the methods and principles of translating idioms, and suggestions for improvements to the mistranslations in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, so as to provide a reference for the English translation of Chinese literary works in the future.

Methods and Theories

This paper focuses on the study of Goldblatt’s translation based on Venuti's theory of domestication and foreignization and the concept of creative treason.

Lawrence Venuti firstly formulated and introduced the theory of domestication and foreignization in the book The Translator’s Invisibility. According to Venuti, domestication refers to the translation strategy in which a transparent, fluent style is adopted in order to minimize the strangeness of the foreign text for target readers, while foreignization refers to the type of translation in which a target text deliberately breaks target conventions by retaining something of the foreignness of the original.

The domestication method can express the language and culture of the source language with the language and culture familiar to the target language readers, and the translation is fluent and easy to read and accepted by the readers, but the "domestication method" tends to distort the facts of the original text, which is not conducive for the target readers to feel the "exoticism" of the foreign culture. On the other hand, the "foreignization method" can better maintain the style of the original text, convey the author's original intention, and let the target language readers truly feel the difference between the two cultures, but the disadvantage of it is that the translation may be obscure and difficult to understand, and may sometimes make the readers have cultural misunderstanding. (Zhu Zhouxain 2013,155)

Professor Xie Tianzhen published a book entitled Translation Studies, in which he elaborated on the creative treason in literary translation in depth. In his book, he clearly pointed out that "the most fundamental characteristic of creative treason in literary translation is that it introduces the original work into a receptive environment that the original author did not originally anticipate, and changes the form originally given to the work by the original author."

Due to the specific differences in social, historical and cultural factors between the source language and the target language, the translator will certainly make appropriate and comprehensive "adjustments" to the specific differences in semantics between the two languages in different contexts during the whole process of translation. These "adjustments" are, on the surface, a "treason" against the original work, but it is not the translator's trampling on the original work at will, but the translator's attempt to make the translation convey the same meaning as the original work in the translated language environment. (Zhang Liyun 2019,141)

1.Idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out and their characteristics

Idioms are simple and concise folk languages that are widespread and easy to understand. Most of them are short sentences that are transmitted orally by the laboring people, reflecting their experiences in production and life vividly. Idioms contain a great deal of background information and culture, and it is a form of language that has been developed over a long period of historical development and real life.

Life and Death are Wearing Me Out is filled with lively and amusing idioms that bring uniqueness and vitality to the novel's language. This novel tells the story of joys and sorrows experienced by the landlord Ximen Nao’s family and the farmer Lan Jiefang’s family for more than half a century. The theme of the novel is closely related to the farmers and the land, which of course requires the use of a large number of idioms to narrate the story. (Shi Chunrang 2019,94)

Clearly, the idioms in this novel are diverse in form and peculiar in presentation. For example, when the donkey reincarnated from Ximen Nao bragged about being favored by the county chief, it said, "人们都知道，侍候好了县长的驴，就会让县长格外高兴。拍了我的驴屁，就等于拍了县长的马屁。" The translation is "Everyone knew that taking special care of the county chief's donkey made him very happy. Patting my rump was equivalent to patting the county chief's behind with flattery." Here cleverly, the common saying "拍马屁" in people's daily life is used as “拍驴屁”, which highlights the identity of the donkey, and also vividly and humorously depicts the complacency and arrogance of the donkey, while expressing its contempt for those who strive to curry favour with people in authority.

In addition, when the ghosts in the hell sneered at Xinmen Nao, they said, “猫改不了捕鼠，狗改不了吃屎”. The translation is “You can’t keep a cat from chasing mice or a dog from eating shit.” The language, though vulgar, is very common in people’s daily life and fits the overall style of the novel.

This kind of linguistic style is both traditional and innovative, both unbridled and unrestrained, and is highly effective for shaping the characters and plotting.

2.Goldblatt’s translation methods of idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out

(i) Foreignization

The method of foreignization is to deliberately make the translation violate the conventional linguistic models in target language and retain the exotic atmosphere of the original text, with the aim of "injecting the linguistic and cultural differences in the foreign text into the target language, sending the readers abroad" and providing them with an "unprecedented reading experience”. Goldblatt deliberately uses the method of foreignization to translate idioms in this novel.

Specifically, Goldblatt tries to convey the heterogeneity of idioms in the original text in the following ways.

First, he tries his best to show the target readers the meaning of Chinese idioms that is unique to China and not available in the Western culture. After all, idioms are developed in the production and life experiences of different peoples. Therefore, Goldblatt chooses literal translation whenever possible.

For example, “你是煮熟的螃蟹难横行了，你是瓮中之鳖难逃脱了” is translated into “You’re a cooked crab that can no longer sidle your way around，a turtle in a jar with no way out”. “瓮” is a unique Chinese utensil with rich Chinese cultural information. The image of "瓮" is missing in the English-speaking world. Therefore, he borrows the familiar apparatus "jar" from English to translate it, which is roughly similar to "瓮" in appearance. This translation uses an alternative image to convey the message of the original text, which reduces the connotative information of the original idiom but makes it easier for the target readers to understand the essential message of the idioms.

Second, for some idioms, Goldblatt translates them by literal translation with annotation. The literal translation is of course for presenting the original message of the idioms to the target readers, while the annotation is to help the readers better understand the essential message of the idioms, because some of them have complex metaphorical messages, so annotation is essential for understanding.

For example, “兔死狐悲，物伤其类” is translated into “When the rabbit dies，the fox grieves, for his turn will come.” This annotation “ for his turn will come” clearly illustrates the message of the original idiom and removes any confusion about why the fox grieves for the rabbit’s death. With annotation, the connotative meaning of the idiom becomes clearer.

Third, for some idioms that have exact equivalents in the target language, the translator deliberately translates them with explanatory literal translations instead of copying the idioms in the target culture. For example, “入乡随俗” is translated into “When you come to a new place，learn the local customs and follow them” rather than “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” in English. Obviously, the use of semantic equivalents of idioms in the target language cannot translate the information conveyed by the original context. An explanatory literal translation approach can help target readers better understand the plots of the novel and increase their interest in reading it. (Shi Chunrang 2019,95)

(ii) Domestication

Sometimes we may find that the Chinese idioms don’t have equivalents in the target language, so they can be translated through free translation, which means we can follow the principle of domestication by borrowing existing expressions in the target language, thus making the translation closer to the reading habits and cognition of the target readers. In Goldblatt's translation of idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, about 30% of those idioms are translated through free translation. (Chen Qiansa, 2019,108)

For example, “洪泰岳你出口无信，食言而肥” is translated into “Hong Taiyue，your words meant nothing, you did not make good on your promise”. In this sentence, “食言而肥” and “出口无信” mean the same thing: not to keep one’s word. These two idioms came out of The Commentary of Zuo. It is not possible for the translator to translate the allusions behind each idiom, which would result in a lengthy and unclear translation. So Goldblatt uses a phrase with similar meaning to express the idioms “食言而肥” and “出口无信”. He borrowed from the English idiom “not make good on your promise” and delivered an authentic translation cleverly.

Due to the differences between the English and Chinese languages and between Eastern and Western cultures, the “treason” of the original text in literary translation is inevitable. For example, in the novel Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, there are many epithets such as "爷们" and "伙计", which are difficult to translate into English with full equivalence, and Goldblatt's creative "rewriting" of them also reflects his unique translation ideas. For example, according to different contexts, “伙计” is translated into “gentleman” “buddy” “old friend”; according to the specific meaning of the sentence, “掌柜的” is translated into “you are the head of the household” “my husband” “the old gentleman” “sir” and so on. (Zhang Qi 2019,329)

Although the domestication method changed the images or structure of the original sentence, Goldblatt's translation better conveys the original author's intentions and can be deemed as a kind of fidelity from a deeper level.

(iii) Omission

Omission means that the idiom is not translated from the original text. There are two kinds of idioms that Goldblatt did not translate. The first one is those idioms that contain distinctive local culture, which cannot adequately convey the content of the novel in the target language. For example, “我这哥，惯常闷着头不吭声，但没想到讲起大话来竟是‘博山的瓷盆——一套一套的’ ” is translated into “He was normally not much of a talker, so everyone was taken by surprise. To be honest, it turned me off.” The idiom “博山的瓷盆——一套一套的”(which means a set of porcelain pots from Boshan) has been omitted here because it contains an item known only to a small group of people, and the message it implies is so unique and unnecessary that the translator chose to omit it. (Shi Chunrang 2019,95)

In addition, Goldblatt chose to deliberately omit some idioms, such as “西游记”“小妖红孩儿”“封神演义”“哪吒”“天山童姥”. Because in his mind, "capturing the style, rhythm and imagery of the original work is the real task and challenge for the translator”. Omitting those idioms makes the storyline more compact and the language more straightforward and easily accepted by the target readers. (Zhang Qi 2019,329)

Second, some idioms that serve to add explanatory information and vividness to the original text are also often deleted by Goldblatt. For example, "出水才看两条腿" and "咱们骑驴看账本，走着瞧! " and other similar proverbs are omitted.

On the whole, however, the idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out are very important for the novel’s general language style. Therefore, there are not many cases where the translators leave idioms untranslated.

(ⅳ) Mistranslation

In Xie Tianzhen’s article Mistranslation: Misunderstanding and Misinterpretation in Different Cultures, he divides mistranslation into two types, namely intentional mistranslation and unintentional mistranslation. Intentional mistranslations are those in which the translator chooses to consciously misinterpret the meaning of the original text for some reason. Unintentional mistranslations can be divided into three types which are caused respectively by carelessness, poor linguistic skills and lack of knowledge of the cultural background of the original language. (Zhang Sen 2016,111)

Intentional mistranslation closely reflects the translator's creative treason and is also a major manifestation of the collision, distortion and deformation between cultures in literary and cultural exchanges. Therefore, this paper focuses on the current situation of intentional mistranslation in Goldblatt’s translation of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, and reveals how translators creatively fill the gaps between different cultures. (Zhang Liyun 2019,143)

For example, “……让老婆孩子吃糠咽菜的守财奴” is translated into “…made his wife and kids eat chaff and rotten vegetables”. The original text intended to use the idiom "吃糠咽菜" to depict the poor life of them, but in the translation it is translated into "eat chaff and rotten vegetables". In the original text, the word "菜" means "wild edible plants", because in the old days, Chinese people who could not afford to eat vegetables often used wild plants to fill the belly. But in the English version it is translated as "rotten vegetable". Why? Because with the improvement of people's livelihood, "wild edible plants" have become a delicious delicacy for people in both the East and the West. Therefore, in order to tell the target readers about the poor life of those people, he translated "糠咽菜" into "chaff and rotten vegetables", which makes it easier for the readers to accurately capture the meaning of the original text.

The translator plays an important role in this process, and the translator's personalized translations, mistranslations and omissions reflected in the translations are all manifestations of the translator's creative treason.

3.Goldblatt’s principles for translating idioms

(i) Preserving the culture of the original language

Generally speaking, idioms have deep semantic connotation and vividly reflect the material and spiritual culture with local characteristics. Therefore, when translating idioms, we should try to understand the deeper connotations of them and to express them clearly. By researching, communicating with the author and other methods, Goldblatt managed to understand the essential meaning of the idioms, their historical roots and the context in which they are used, so as to truly grasp their precise meaning. (Shi Chunrang 2019,97)

In translating the idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, Goldblatt mainly adopts the methods of foreignization and omission, so we can say that the principle he follows in translation is that of preserving the culture of the original language. He tries to highlight the heterogeneity of the original proverbs through literal translation, to reveal the uniqueness of Chinese culture, and to help Western readers understand the life experience of the Chinese people attached to the idioms through annotations.

Due to the cultural status of Europe and America, cultural differences and the marginal position of translated literature in the European and American literary world, European and American translators often choose to translate other countries' literary works by means of domestication, and the translation of The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes is an example of the use of domestication strategy. However, cultural hegemony and cultural colonization have led a group of translators with a sense of mission to choose a translation strategy that preserves the style of the original work, which is called foreignization.

The contradiction is obvious: the translator wants to preserve the taste of the original work, but the reader's difficulty in understanding the language and structure of the vernacular novel requires the translator to make concessions in the translation. Goldblatt's approach to translation reconciles this contradiction to a certain extent. He tries to strike a balance in the translated work so that it can be accepted by Western readers. (Tian Debei 2016,91)

(ii) Semantic correspondence

In translating the idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, Goldblatt not only tries to reproduce the meaning of the idioms in the target language, but also strives to achieve an overall semantic correspondence between the proverbs and the context in which they are found. He helps to make the text more logical and readable by adding explanatory phrases, explicitly stating the implied meaning or adding connecting words. In achieving semantic correspondence, he tries to make the translation as close to the original text as possible, without adding or subtracting anything, and without creating ambiguity. In terms of choosing words, he tries to be as concise and appropriate as possible; in terms of sentence construction, he tries to achieve a sentence style that reflects some of the features of the original but is also in keeping with the conventions of the target language. (Shi Chunrang 2019,97)

4.Implications of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out for the English Translation of Chinese Literature

As mentioned above, guided by the principle of personalized translation, there is 'fidelity' in translating the idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, as well as creative treason and omission of the original text. It can be seen that Goldblatt is not bound by the traditional dichotomy of literal translation and free translation. The language of his translation is authentic and fluent, reading like an original English novel but conveying exotic cultural imagery.

Goldblatt insists on translating for his readers, so he was selective in his translation strategies in order to make exotic Chinese literature accessible to western readers, thus allowing excellent literature to enter the field of foreign translated literature and achieving the effective dissemination of Chinese literature.

Compared with Western culture, Chinese culture is still in a disadvantaged position in the world cultural landscape. Therefore, if Chinese literature wants to “go global”, translators must take into account the special cultural background and general readers' acceptability.

Goldblatt’s choice and application of translation strategies carries with it the translator's subjectivity, and under the guidance of such translation principles, his translations meet both the literary standards of the Western world and the expectations of the Western readers for Chinese literature. (Zhang Qi 2019,330)

Whether Chinese literature has done a good job in “going global” is not only judged by the accuracy of their translations, but also by how well they are received by foreign readers. The difference between Chinese and Western cultures have resulted in readers’ different preferences for literary themes, so Goldblatt has paid great attention to the tastes of Western readers when selecting books he was going to work on, so that his translations can be better accepted by them. However, the mistranslation in his version has led to a deviation from the original Chinese works.

Compared with Chinese translators, Sinologists have a strong linguistic background, but their knowledge reserve of Chinese culture is still insufficient. So the best mode of translation is a kind of Chinese-foreign collaboration, in which the Chinese translators deal with the cultural challenges while the sinologists do the linguistic touch-ups, in order to ensure the integrity of Chinese culture in the West, and to achieve both fidelity to the original work and increased acceptance abroad, thus achieving success in the translation of Chinese culture. (Zhang Sen 2016,115)

Conclusion

In translating idioms in Life and Death are Wearing Me Out, Goldblatt mainly adopted the strategies of literal translation (39.2%) and free translation(30.3%), supplemented by omissions, additions and borrowings, with a few mistranslations (about 10 cases). It is evident that he tends to retain the cultural image of the idioms in the source language, and tries not to add or delete; however, when those images in the source language don’t have equivalents in the target language, he will be bold enough to adopt free translation, so as to maintain the readability and fluency of the translated work. In the translation process, he stays true to the connotation of the text rather than the literal meaning, and stays true to the target readers rather than the readers of the source language. (Chen Qiansa 2019,110)

This helps us to reveal Goldblatt's faithful translation and reader-consciousness. In conclusion, in the process of translation, translators should preserve the style and image of the idioms in the original text as much as possible, so as to spread Chinese culture and enrich the English vocabulary; at the same time, they should take into account the readability of the translated work and adopt various translation approaches to deal with the Chinese idioms.

Goldblatt not only makes the message conveyed by the idioms and the proverb-rich language style of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out well presented to Western readers, but also makes them easily understood and accepted by Western readers. The translator does his best to spread Chinese culture and respect the culture clash between different cultures. His translation dares to face up to the cultural differences between China and English-speaking countries, and uses a unique translation method to strongly promote Chinese literature and culture to the Western world, which achieved good results, and also provides some useful references for us to do a good job in promoting Chinese culture to go abroad.

Therefore, we should not only consider the needs of Western readers at the expense of the dissemination of our own distinctive culture, instead, we should take the promotion of our own culture as our responsibility and take into account the reading needs of Western readers. The successful translation of idioms in Mo Yan’s novels is a good case in point. In the exchange between Chinese and foreign cultures, the translation of idioms in Mo Yan's novel adheres to the idea of faithful translation and mainly adopted foreignization, fully demonstrating the traditional Chinese culture with strong national flavor and distinctive regional characteristics, which is an important inspiration for the dissemination of Chinese culture today.

References

• Mo Yan 莫言. (2011). Life and Death are Wearing Me Out. tans. by Howard Goldblatt. New York: Arcade Publishing．
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英语笔译 孙丽君 Sun Lijun 202170081593 CE

An Analysis of English Translation of Luotuo Xiangzi from the Perspecctive of Rewriting Theory Sun Lijun

Abstract

Traditionally, translation is regarded as a kind of linguistic conversion, which means translating the source text from one language into another. And with further and deep study of translation, Bassnett and Lefevere went beyond the level of language, focusing on the mutual interaction between translation and culture, and the influences and restrictions of culture on translation. Therefore, the move from translation as text to translation as culture and politics is termed as the cultural turn. Rewriting Theory, proposed by Lefevere, is the representative fruit of the translation studies on culture, exerting profound influence on academia. Rewriting Theory shows that translation is regarded as rewriting, which is mainly constrained by the dominant poetics, ideology and patronage under certain backgrounds. Luotuo Xiangzi, writtten by Lao She in the year of 1939, is one of the representative masterpieces of Chinese classics, gaining great popularity both at home and abroad since its first English version, translated by the American translator Evan King in 1945, came out. And this translated text obtained great success in America, which establishing Lao She’s reputation as a writer in the international literary circle. However, due to the inequivalence to the source text, Evan King’s translated work invited some critics from Chinese scholars even unsatisfied the original author Lao She himself. Thereafter, this short essay will briefly analyze the translation of Luotuo Xiangzi by Evan King from the perspective of Rewriting Theory, trying to find out the influences the dominant poetics, ideology and patronage exert on translation.

Key words

Luotuo Xiangzi; rewriting theory; translation

Introduction

As is known to all, translation is a kind of special and creative activity carried out in a certain context. And it is influenced by some certain activities of the society at one hand, while on the other hand, translation is also restricted by some factors of the works and the writers themselves. In a word, translation plays an essential and pivotal role in communicating and exchanging ideas in this global village. And with further cultural exchanges, some foreign masterworks have been introduced into China, broadening people’s horizon and enriching their daily life and spiritual life in China; also, some Chinese classics have been translated abroad and made foreign friends get a better understanding of Chinese culture. As one representative work of Chinese modern classics, Luotuo Xiangzi has been translated into several versions by some famous translators at home and abroad, including Evan King’s Rickshaw Boy, Jean M.James’ Rickshaw: The Novel Lo-t’o Hsiang Tzu, and Shu Xiaojing’s Camel Xiangzi. And due to the three English versions translated aboard, Luotuo Xiangzi turned out to be a huge hit as soon as it was published. However, as the first translated version in English, though wildly welcomed among American readers, it invited some terrible criticism made by the Chinese literary circles for Evan King broke the rule of equivalence and he did a lot of rewritings. Throughout the history of translation, we can tell that being true to the original text is of paramount importance no matter from the “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” proposed by the famous Chinese scholar Yan Fu or the “dynamic equivalence” or “functional equivalence” initiated by Eugene A. Nida. However, those translation theories concentrate on the source-text-oriented methods and techniques, paying much attention to how to translate the original text faithfully into the target text, which represents a kind of static status and mainly focuses on the linguistic level. However, as the march of translation studies, some scholars have studied translation approach from the perspective of culture, attempting to put translation into a larger context. Thus translation studies was labeled with cultural turn from then on. And the polysystem theory and rewriting theory were representatives in this regard. Taking the dominant poetics, ideology and patronage into consideration, Lefevere’s rewriting theory then exerted profound influence in the later translation studies, providing a brand new viewing angle for individuals who engage in the translation studies. Given the Evan King's translated version, it is of terrific significance to explore the underlying reasons why Evan King did a lot of rewritings to Lao She's Luotuo Xiangzi on the framework of Lefevere's rewriting theory.

References

• Wang Jianhua (2021). The Reception of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 450 pp.

英语笔译 仝雨梦 Tong Yumeng 202170081594 MW

A Comparison of The Analects Translated by James Legge and Ku Hungming Tong Yumeng

Abstract

Confucius is a great thinker and educator in ancient China, the founder of the Confucian school, and one of the world's most famous cultural figures. As the only book recording the sayings and discourse between Confucius and his disciples, The Analects is a classic of Confucianism as well as of Chinese civilization. Up to now, there have been nearly forty English translations of The Analects, which indicates the importance of this work in China and western countries. This paper mainly focuses on two English translations of The Analects published in 1861 and in 1898 respectively. One is translated by James Legge, a Scottish protestant missionary of London Missionary Society. The other is the translation of Ku Hung-Ming, an extreme cultural conservative and a strong advocate of Confucianism at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. By comparing the two English translations, the paper tries hard to trace back their translating processes, find out the criteria used in interpreting the original text, and summarize the strategies adopted to resolve cultural conflicts in translation. Besides adopting the traditional translation theories, this paper conducts its investigation from the perspective of functionalist "skopos theory" and theories of Lefevere. At last, the paper also mentions the influence of the two English versions of The Analects and the images of Confucius they have helped construct.

Key words

Confucius, Legge, The Analects, English Translation

Subtitle 1

正文. (Wang 2021:423)

References

• Wang Jianhua (2021). The Reception of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 450 pp.

英语笔译 童略雅 Tong Lueya 202170081595 CE

A Brief Analysis of Reading Strategies of Chinese Classics in a Digitalization Era Tong lueya

Abstract

With the rapid development of the society and the in - depth application of science and technology, people’s traditional production and living habits have been gradually changed. And their reading habits, reading time, reading preferences and reading content have also shown new characteristics. Especially with the mature application of science and technology such as Internet, intelligent handheld device, cloud computing, big data and so on in various fields, the reading mode of readers has gradually changed from systematic reading to fragmented reading. Classic works are the crystallization of human civilization. Reading classic works is of great significance to individual growth and social development. It cannot be overemphasized to promote classic reading. This paper analyzes the status of classic reading in a digitalization era, and then attempts to put forward some suggestions in classics reading. In this way, it hoped that people could realize the significance of reading classics and then form good habits to reading them.

Key words

Classics reading; strategies; digitalization

Subtitle 1

正文. (Wang 2021:423)

References

• Wang Jianhua (2021). The Reception of Liu Cixin's Three Body Problem in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 450 pp.

英语笔译 庹树梅 Tuo Shumei 202170081596 MW

The Cantonization of the Dream of Red Mansions 庹树梅

Abstract

As a treasure of Chinese literature and an important source of cultural confidence for the Chinese nation, Dream of the Red Chamber has been disseminated in the English-speaking world for two hundred years. Under the multiple views of traditional historiography, neo-Hanology, neo-history and neo-Songology, Dream of the Red Chamber has been transformed from a "historical text" to a "classic text" and has undergone an evolutionary path from an academic research classic to a literary classic and then to a cultural classic. The first chapter of this paper discusses what classicization is. The second chapter discusses why Dream of the Red Chamber has become a classic work and analyzes its intrinsic literary value. The third chapter discusses the impact of the classicization of Dream of the Red Chamber on the influence of Chinese culture in the world.

Subtitle 1

正文. (Wang 2021:423)如所用句子是引用他人的文章，请在引用部分后标明出处，如是借鉴他人观点，则请标注为(c.f: Wang 2021:423)

英语笔译 王思琪 Wang Siqi 202170081597 CE

A Study on C-E Translation of The Book of Songs from the Perspective of Xu Yuanchong’s Theory of Three Beauties