从译者主体性视角探讨中国古诗词意象的翻译——以李白诗歌英译为例.pdf

合肥工业大学 硕士学位论文 从译者主体性视角探讨中国古诗词意象的翻译-以李白诗歌 英译为例 姓名：谢慧 申请学位级别：硕士 专业：英语语言文学 指导教师：任静生 2011-04 iv 摘要 传统的翻译研究侧重于以原文和原作者为中心而忽视了译者的地位。自从二十世 纪 70 年代的“文化转向”以来，译者的边缘地位得到了很大的提高，同时译者也渐 渐从幕后浮现出来，成为“显形”的翻译主体。与此同时，对于译者主体性的研究和 学习也在世界范围内迅速增多。从哲学角度上分析，译者主体性主要由主观能动性和 受动性组成。受动性指译者在翻译前以及翻译过程中受到各种主客观因素的制约，主 观能动性展现了译者在选择原文和翻译策略、理解原文以及用目的语表达等方面的能 动性和创造性。 长期以来，意象一直被视为诗歌的灵魂所在，在展现一个特定国家或民族的文化 方面起到重要的作用。中国古典诗歌一直因丰富多彩的意象而闻名于世。诗仙李白的 诗更是被认为是中国古典诗歌的典型代表，被中西方学者翻译成多种语言。但是由于 以下主客观因素（尤其是语言和文化的差异）的存在，对于诗歌的意象时常有误译的 出现。 本论文以李白诗歌英译为例，从译者主体性这一角度探讨意象翻译过程中各种主 客观因素对译者的影响。由于这些主客观因素的存在，译者对意象的误译现象也时常 出现，本论文将分析误译现象产生的原因，并且根据中西方国家的语言、文化方面的 差异探求相应的翻译策略。 关键词：译者主体性；意象翻译；误译；翻译策略 ii abstract the translator s role seemed to be neglected for a long time in traditional translation studies, because the priority was always given to the source text and the original writer. the translator s marginalized status has been improved greatly since the cultural turn in 1970s. meanwhile the translator has moved from behind the curtain to the forefront and become a visible subject of translation. accordingly, studies on the translator s subjectivity have attracted much attention in the field of translation. from a philosophical perspective, translator s subjectivity mainly consists of subjective initiative and passivity. passivity refers to various subjective and objective elements restricting the translator before or in the process of translation. subjective initiative shows the translator s initiative and creativity in choosing source text and translation strategies, understanding the source text, expressing in target language. as the soul of poetry, imagery plays an important role in displaying the culture of a nation. classical chinese poetry is famous for the rich and colorful images. considered as typical representative of classical chinese poetry, li bai s poems enjoy a good reputation around the world and have been translated into different languages by chinese and western scholars. however, due to the existence of some subjective and objective elements, especially linguistic and cultural differences, there are mistranslations of imagery. this thesis aims to study the translation of imagery in classical chinese poetry with analysis on english versions of li bai s poems, and probe into the impact exerted by various subjective and objective elements on the translator in the process of imagery translation from the perspective of translator s subjectivity. these elements influence the translator to adopt different translation strategies and may cause mistranslation. the thesis also analyzes causes of mistranslation with a view to better illustrating the important role translator s subjectivity plays in the process of translation. moreover, based on cultural and linguistic differences between china and western countries, the thesis explores different translation strategies in different situations: semantic translation and communicative iii translation dealing with linguistic differences; domestication and foreignization dealing with cultural differences. key words: translator s subjectivity; imagery translation; mistranslation; translation strategies 1 chapter one introduction 1.1 research background the role of the translator is a fundamental question discussed and studied repeatedly in translation studies. before the “ cultural turn” in 1970s, translation studies were generally linguistic- oriented, attaching much attention to the source text and the original writer, focusing on the importance of faithfulness and equivalence in translation, while somehow neglecting the translator, the most dynamic factor in translation. translators had been referred to as tongue men, craftsmen, matchmakers, traitors, translating machines, invisible men, etc., from which it is easy to conclude that the translator is inferior to the source text and the original writer. since the “ cultural turn” in 1970s, translation studies have become culture- oriented gradually. translation studies began to shed new light on the role of the translator in the process of translation. the translator has received much more attention from researchers and scholars all over the world than ever before. therefore, the translator has moved to a prominent position from his or her original marginalized role. the translator was regarded as the subject of translation, and the translator s subjectivity has aroused great attention and discussions in academic circles. the author of this thesis analyzes imagery translation of classical chinese poetry (hereafter referred to as ccp) from the perspective of translator s subjectivity, taking the english translation of li bai s poems as a case study. poetry is the essence of language, while imagery is the soul of poetry and embodies the beauty of poetry. therefore, translation of imagery has direct influence on transferring the beauty of the original poetry. as a bridge connecting the original poetry and the target readers, translator bears the responsibility of transferring the beauty of the original poetry. classical chinese poetry, the very essence of chinese literature, is cherished as great cultural heritage with its unique charm. with a l ong history of thousands of years, ccp enjoys a high reputation around the world. the charm of ccp is attributable to the adoption of rich and colorful images. therefore, in the process of translating ccp, the treatment of 2 imagery plays an important role in conveying the beauty of ccp and laying out ancient chinese civilization to the world. among numerous outstanding chinese poems, li bai s poems contain abundant meaningful images and are considered as a summit of chinese romanticism. his poems have been translated into english by many chinese and western scholars. however, due to the existence of some subjective and objective elements, such as cultural and linguistic differences, translator s social background, translator s own understanding of the original poem etc., translators adopt different translation strategies when translating images in li bai s poems. those translation strategies may be appropriate, and also may be inappropriate. what s more, mistranslation of poetic images in li bai s poems may also occur. grown up in different linguistic and cultural environments, chinese and western translators may have different understanding of the same image, and their translation of that image may be widely divergent. the translator s subjectivity influences imagery translation greatly. on the one hand, translator is restricted to various subjective and objective elements in the process of translation. on the other hand, translator can fully exert his or her subjective initiative or creativity and flexibly apply different translation strategies to transferring the beauty of the original poetry. based on those mentioned above, the study of translator s subjectivity has great significance for analyzing the causes leading to mistranslation of poetic imagery, avoiding mistranslation and exploring proper translation strategies of imagery in classical chinese poetry. 1.2 objectives and motivations applying the translator s subjectivity to the study of ccp imagery translation not only helps analyze the importance of the translator s subjectivity in the process of translation, but also makes for the discussion on the adoption of appropriate translation strategies in imagery translation. this thesis aims to probe into the impact exerted by various subjective and objective elements on the translator in the process of imagery translation from the perspective of translator s subjectivity. these elements influence the translator to adopt different translation strategies and may cause mistranslation. moreover, based on cultural and linguistic differences between china and western countries, the thesis explores different translation strategies in different situations. 3 1.3 organization of the thesis the thesis consists of six chapters. chapter one is the introduction part, stating the significance, motivation, object and organization of the thesis. chapter two is literature review. it gives a comprehensive study on imagery translation and translator s subjectivity respectively, both at home and abroad. chapter three is the theoretical focus of the thesis. in this chapter, the author lists some definitions of translator s subjectivity and probes into the two main factors of translator s subjectivity- - - - subjective initiative and passivity. moreover, the author makes a comparison between imagery translations of li bai s poems by domestic and foreign scholars to show the important role translator s subjectivity plays in the process of translation. chapter four is an important part which makes a detailed analysis of causes leading to mistranslation of imagery in li bai s poems. chapter five is another major part, suggesting some different translation strategies based on cultural and linguistic differences between china and western countries. chapter six is the conclusion part, presenting the major findings of the thesis, and suggesting possible limitations and future research orientation. 4 chapter two literature review 2.1 review on imagery translation 2.1.1 imagery in the classical chinese poetry before the discussion of imagery in ccp, what an image is or what imagery is should be explored first. in appreciation of english and american literature- - - - essay all the objects and qualities of sense perception referred to in the poem; the formation and presentation of images.(x.m. luo 157) the noted imagist ezra pound defined imagery as “ an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time” , “ a vortex or cluster of fused ideas” . he once said, “ the point of imagism is that it does not use images as ornaments. the image itself is the speech. the image is the word beyond formulated languages.” he even said, “ it is better to present one image in a lifetime than to produce voluminous works.” (y.x. chang 223) poetry is considered as the supreme art of human language and spirit. its charm mainly lies in the imagery contained in the poem. imagery not only tells or describes something to the readers, but also expresses the poet s emotions and provokes emotional resonance of the readers. ccp is marked by its suggestiveness, subtlety and simplicity with a few elaborately selected images. stephen owen once described the compactness of chinese poetry in his book traditional chinese poetry and poetics: omen of the world: “ chinese poetry uses fewer words than english poetry. one inevitable result is that in a line of chinese, there are fewer determinations of the relations between words. and the chinese poetic language makes fewer determinations than the language of chinese prose. therefore we should conclude that in its compactness, chinese poetry possesses the ultimate stylistic virtues- - - - density 5 and ambiguity.” (owen 213) in ccp, there are different kinds of images expressing different emotions of the poets. professor yuan xingpei divided images into five major groups: images of the natural world, such as animal, plant, geographic conditions, celestial bodies, etc.; images of social life, such as marriage, death, war, travel, etc.; images of humans, such as his body, organs, psychological movement, senses, etc.; images of human society, such as cities, buildings, utensils, costumes, etc.; images of supernatural beings, such as the souls, deities, immortals, etc.(x.p. yuan 53) some classified images in ccp into visual images, auditory images, olfactory images, tactile images and gustatory images according to human senses. and there is another classification of images based on poets intent and their ways of using images: descriptive images, such as color images, sound images, static images, dynamic images, etc.; rhetorical images, such as simile, metaphor, metonymy, pun images, etc.; symbolic images, such as flora images, fauna images, etc.; synaesthetic images; abstract images. a famous american poet robert forest once remarked, “ poetry is what gets lost in translation.” the translation of chinese poetry is the most difficult among the varieties of translation to some extent because of the colorful culture- bounded images chinese poets adopted. it is likely that the reconstruction of these images determines to what degree the representation of the artistic beauty of ccp is embodied in the target language. with such profound and meaningful images in ccp, problems and disputes on how to translate these images into english arise frequently. 2.1.2 previous studies on imagery translation since entering into the 20th century especially in recent years, there have been more and more researchers and scholars studying on the translation of ccp. however, the importance of imagery has been somewhat neglected in the practice of translating ccp. people pay more attention to the transformation of rhyme and rhythm in order to achieve the beauty of sound and form, or to the transference of the artistic conception of the whole poem. concerning the translation of poetic imagery in ccp, there are quite few essays or literary works. literary works attributed to the translation of poetic imagery at home and abroad include: the reading of imagery in the chinese poetic tradition (pauline yu, 1987), 6 images in jade (arthur christy, 1929), traditional chinese poetry and poetics- - - - omen of the world (stephen owen, 1985), readings in chinese literary thought (stephen owen, 1992), 诗歌意象论 (chen zhi e， 1990), 意象符号与情感空间 (wu xiao， 1993), 文 学意象论(xia zhifang, 1993), image 与“ 象” 中西诗学象论溯源(zhao xinlin， 2005)， 中国意象诗探索(wu sheng, 2000). in his work on literary translation(意态由来画不成? 文学翻译丛谈), professor weng xianliang emphasized that, when translating literary works like poetry, the translator should maintain the emotion of the original author and make full use of the target language to achieve the effect of resemblance (得作者之志， 用译语之长， 求形似之效). in other words, the translator should be congenial to the original author on inner emotions, reconstruct and rewrite based on the norms of the target language, and make the content and emotion of the translation similar to those of the original text. he particularly proposed that the essence of the original poem should be kept in the process of translating chinese poetry into english, and stressed that the essence lies in imagery and rhythm of the poem. professor xie tianzheng mentioned the problem of loss and distortion of cultural images in his work medio- translatology (译介学)，and put forward that the original cultural imagery should be kept in the process of literary translation so as to achieve successful cultural communication. the one who achieved the greatest accomplishment in both translation theory and practice in china is absolutely professor xu yuanchong. professor xu established his own philosophy on literary translation: he put forward the ontology of literary translation in his art of translation (翻译的艺术)- - - - theory of three beauties (beauty in sense, in sound and in form), which is considered as the standard of poetry translation; he brought forward the methodology of literary translation in on chinese verse in english rhyme(中诗英韵 探胜)- - - - particularization, equalization and generalization. xu s theories are accepted as important principles of imagery translation of ccp. he insisted that, “ beauty in sense” should be presented in the process of poetry translation, so the transference of cultural imagery is of vital importance. domestic and overseas scholars and researchers have been applying different translation theories to studying imagery translation. dynamic equivalence, the most 7 important part of equivalence theory put forward by american linguist eugene nida, is widely applied to the study of imagery translation. dynamic equivalence, also referred to as functional equivalence, is based on what nida called “ the principle of equivalent effect” , where “ the relationship between receptor and message should be substantially the same as that which existed between the original receptors and the message” (nida, “ language, culture, and translating” 159). and he defined the goal of dynamic equivalence as seeking “ the closest natural equivalence to the source- language message” (nida and taber 12). in their essay translation studies on imagery in classical chinese poetry(中国古典诗歌意 象的翻译理论研究), zhang yong and chen juan analyzed imagery translation from the perspective of dynamic equivalence. they insisted that when translating poetic imagery, it was essential to transfer the basic information of images, so the first principle of imagery translation in ccp was semantic equivalence. applied to the study of imagery translation, dynamic equivalence is transformed as semantic equivalence. semantic equivalence means the reaction of the target readers on the target text should be equivalent to that of the original readers on the original text on the semantic level. professor xie tianzheng studied the transference and translation of imagery from the perspective of cultural comparison. he assumed that literary translation was the link to successful cross- cultural communication, while cross- cultural communication emphasized the importance of correct understanding about national cultures. therefore, he insisted that, as an important carrier of the source culture, cultural images should be transferred to the target readers efficiently and effectively, and loss, distortion and misalignment of cultural images should be avoided. besides dynamic equivalence and cultural comparison, some researchers and scholars study imagery translation from other perspectives. for instance, wen jing explored the translation of poetic imagery from the perspective of aesthetic of reception in her thesis aesthetic of reception and imagery translation of classical chinese poetry (接受 美学和中国古典诗歌意象翻译), and ye ligang analyzed imagery transl