Comp Stud Trans EN 7
A Comparative Study on Xu Yuanchong’s and Ezra Pound’s Theories and Practices on the Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry
7.1Abstract：The Classical Chinese poetry is an important part of the Chinese culture, and also a valuable contribution of the Chinese literature to the world literature. For the last one and a half centuries or so, scholars both at home and abroad have made significant efforts in the translation of the classical Chinese poetry. Quite a few of them have not only attributed excellent versions but also insightful views on translation theories. In the history of verse translation, Ezra Pound took up a crucial and unique position. His Cathy made a stir upon publication in 1915 and was considered his “most enduring contribution” to the English poetry. The success of Cathy is actually the success of the classical Chinese poetry in the United States. “Ever since then, the classical Chinese poetry began to attract the western eyes.”(赵毅衡：1985，150）As for the translation in contemporary China, Xu Yuanchong is definitely the most influential one, whose excellent versions of the classical Chinese poetry are well accepted by readers both in China and overseas, whose criteria of verse translation - “beauty in sense, beauty in sound and beauty in form” have been widely recognized and appreciated. Taking Pound and Xu Yuanchong as the research objects, this paper attempts to clearly demonstrate the similarities and differences between Pound and Xu's thoughts on translation of Chinese poetry into English. On this basis, this paper makes a comparative analysis of Xu Yuanchong's "three Beauties" translation principles and Pound's creative translation theory considering skopos theory, in an attempt to find out the social and cultural factors that influence their translation activities.
7.2Key Words: the Classical Chinese Poetry, Xu Yuanchong, Ezra Pound, translation theory, comparative study
7.3中文摘要：古典诗歌是中国文化的重要组成部分，也是中国文学对世界文学宝库的巨大贡献。中外学者在古典诗歌翻译方面做很多有益的尝试，不少学者亲自从事翻译实践，而且还就诗歌翻译理论提出了精辟的见解。在早期译者中，埃兹拉•庞德无疑占据着一个极为重要而又特殊的地位。他的《神州集》在一九一五年四月出版后就引起了极大的轰动，从而被看作是他对英语诗歌的“最持久的贡献”，也是中国古典诗歌在美国的第一次真正的成功。“自此以后，庞德将中国诗变成了大众瞩目的东西”。（赵毅衡：1985，150）而在当今中国的诗歌翻译界，许渊冲是最具影响力的翻译家。在其六十年的翻译生涯中，许渊冲翻译了大量的古典诗词，并在国内外深受好评。他关于诗歌翻译的“意美、音美、形美”的标准也得到了广泛的认同。本文以庞德和许渊冲为研究对象，试图清晰地展示庞德和许渊冲中诗英译思想的异同。在此基础上，本文运用许渊冲的“三美”翻译原则以及庞德的创意性翻译理论并结合翻译目的论对他们的译本进行了对比分析，试图找出影响他们翻译活动的社会和文化因素。
7.4关键词：中国古典诗歌；许渊冲；庞德；翻译理论；比较研究
7.5Xu Yuanchong’s Life and Thoughts
7.5.1Xu Yuanchong’s life and career as a scholar and a translator
Xu Yuanchong was born in 1921 in Nanchang, Jiangxi, and in 1936, when he was fifteen years old, he was in his first year of high school at Nanchang No. 2 High School in Jiangxi, where the Japanese had occupied the north-east of China and were advancing into northern China. But after his victory in the war, Mr Xu recalls that experience as a solid foundation for his future path in life and for his career as a translator. In 1938, at the age of 17, Xu Yuanchong was admitted to the Southwest Associated University, a joint venture between Peking University, Tsinghua University and Nankai University in Kunming, Yunnan Province, during the war years. It was here that Xu Yuanchong became a student of Qian Zhongshu, Wu Mi, Wen Yiduo, Feng Youlan and many other great artists, and became lifelong friends with the future Nobel Prize winner in physics, Yang Zhenning, and Wang Xiji, the father of the two bombs and one star. All this inspired and established Xu Yuanchong's style of seeking common ground and being unconventional in his translations. Mr. Xu also recalled that it was only after tracing his roots that he discovered that the source of influence on Mr. Xu's path to translation was his father's love of a tidy lifestyle and his ability to work with excellent finances. From an early age, Mr Xu Yuanchong's father taught him to keep the four literary treasures in the most accessible places, which was later expanded by Mr Xu from the four literary treasures to the written word, or the best way to express himself, and the most accessible place can also be summarised as the best location. Mr Xu's father cultivated the habit of putting the best words in the most appropriate places. Mr Xu's mother's love of drawing was an education in 'beauty' and 'joy'. Mr Xu's mother was a student at the Jiangxi Provincial Vocational School a hundred years ago. Although his mother died young, among Mr Xu's mother's belongings were two books of drawings and one essay, in which the flowers, trees, birds and animals greatly aroused Mr Xu's love of 'beauty'. The story "Xiang Yu and Napoleon" in the essay fostered the idea that Mr Xu would not judge a hero by his success or failure. All of this had a profound impact on Mr Xu's later translation style and practice. During his time at SWLU, Mr Xu received guidance from many famous teachers. Mr. Wu Mi was one teacher who changed his concept of translation. In his secondary school days, Mr Xu thought that the idea of direct translation proposed by Lu Xun was correct because he liked his satirical essays so much. However, after hearing Mr Wu critique the translation examination papers of postgraduate students, it was definitely still the case that the Italian translation made more sense. On the question of translation, Mr Qian Zhongshu mentioned in his English letter to Xu Yuanchong that there were two ways to translate poems, one was the method of translating from a colourless glass plate and the other was the method of translating from a coloured glass plate. The former would offend the poem and the latter would offend the translation. Choosing the lesser of the two, he preferred to offend the poem. But Xu Yuanchong believed that the colourless glass translation method pursued truth, while the tinted glass translation method pursued beauty. If the original poem is beautiful and true, the translation cannot be considered a facsimile if it is true but not beautiful; if the translation is beautiful but not true, then there is a risk of distortion. So how exactly should we deal with this? Xu Yuanchong finds the answer in the Analects: "The greatest of the arts is to follow the heart without exceeding the rules". In 1939, when he was a first-year student, he translated Lin Huiyin's poem "Don't Lose It" into English and published it in the Literary Translation Journal, his earliest translation, and in He then enrolled in the Institute of Foreign Literature at Tsinghua University, where he also taught English to the first graduating class of 1943 at Tianxiang High School.After the victory of the war, Mr Xu Yuanchong applied to study at the University of Paris through the first major examination held by the Ministry of Education to study abroad. At the University of Paris, Mr. Xu read the realist literature of Balzac and Shakespeare, and the romantic poetry of Victor Hugo, which laid a solid foundation for his later translations of Chinese and French poetry
7.5.2General Introduction to Xu Yuanchong’s Theories on Literary Translation
Xu Yuanchong once said, "Western translations are about equivalence, one word for another, and 90% of their major words and vocabulary are equivalent. Unlike other scripts, only 50% of Chinese words and vocabulary are equivalent. While reciprocity does not contradict objective laws, it does not take advantage of subjective dynamics. Without distorting the author's meaning, a translation must bring out the flavour, essence and soul of a nation's culture", so Xu Yuanchong's theory of translation, specifically, contains the following main elements.The Three Beauties Theory:The idea of aesthetics has not only been running through the development of Chinese translation theory, but also has an important influence on the emergence and development of Chinese translation theory. Modern research on translation theory often puts aesthetics and translation together, and such research is called translation aesthetics, which effectively integrates translation theory, modern aesthetics, classical aesthetics and other multi-disciplines organically, realising mutual support and common progress of multi-disciplines. Moreover, translation aesthetics always adheres to translation as its core, which can not only promote the development of translation theory, but also highlight the characteristics of aesthetics. These characteristics are also well reflected in Xu Yuanchong's translation works. Therefore, in the process of mutual translation between Chinese and English, especially for literary works, poetry translation, etc., if the exact equivalent cannot be found or a similar equivalent can be found, it is not impossible to apply it, but to choose the expression of the original text as far as possible, and thus be able to focus the translation as well as the translation content on the comprehensive and accurate expression of the three beauties of the original work, which is also the This is the core part of Xu Yuanchong's theory of poetry translation.The Theory of Three Transformations: The Theory of Three Transformations is an important part of Xu Yuanchong's theory of poetry translation. Specifically, the Theory of Three Transformations refers to deepening, equalisation and superficialisation, which can also be understood as an important guide to the principles of translation in Xu Yuanchong's theory of poetry translation. Xu Yuanchong believes that in the process of translating poetry, it is important not only to accurately express the content and culture conveyed by the original work, but also to preserve the beauty of the original's meaning, form and sound. In addition, Mr. Xu Yuanchong believes that in the process of translating poetry, it is important to pay attention to the flexibility and adaptability of poetry translation based on special circumstances, and that only through flexible adaptations can the goal of translation be better achieved. It can be seen that the theory of trivialisation is also one of the important elements of Mr Xu Yuanchong's theory of poetry translation.The theory of the Three Zones: The theory of the Three Zones in Mr Xu Yuanchong's theory of poetry translation is based on the theory of the Three Transformations, which is highly consistent with the thought of Confucius. Confucius wrote in The Analects of Confucius that "those who know are better than those who are good, and those who are good are better than those who are happy". Therefore, Mr Xu Yuanchong's theory of 'three zhi' is highly compatible with Confucius's relevant thoughts. From this, it can be seen that the "knowledge of" in Xu Yuanchong's theory of the three zhi in poetry translation is to convey what kind of information to the target language readers; the "good of" is to cultivate the interests of the target language readers; then, the "joy of " is the highest evaluation of the translator by the readers of the target language, and is the highest level of translation. Therefore, Mr. Xu Yuanchong's theory of poetry translation has a positive influence and an important role in promoting the development of Chinese translation theory.
7.6Ezra Pound’s Life and His Theories on Translation
7.6.1Ezra Pound’s Life
7.6.2Pound As Translator
7.7The Comparative Study on the Theories and Practices of Xu Yuanchong and Ezra Pound
7.7.1A Comparison between Xu's "three Beauties" translation principle and Pound's creative translation theory
7.7.2A Comparative Study on the Translation Practices of the Xu Yuanchong and Pound
7.8Conclusions
Bibliography