九歌英译张卫(最终稿).doc

本 科 生 毕 业 论 文（2016届）外国语学院题 目：论译者视角下楚辞九歌英译本的对比研究-以阿瑟韦利和孙大雨译本为例学0 号： 201210010410 姓 名： 张卫 专业班级： 英语124 指导教师： 黄生太 职称： 讲师 2016年 4 月 24 日iiiOn the Comparison of the English Versions of Jiu Ge from the Perspective of the Translators SubjectivityPaper submitted to the English Department ofZhejiang Agriculture & Forestry Universityin Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofBachelor of ArtsBy 张卫English 124Supervised by 黄生太April 24, 2016 本科生毕业论文诚信承诺书我谨在此承诺：本人所写的毕业论文论主体性视角下英译本的对比研究以阿瑟韦利和孙大雨译本为例是在导师的指导下，由本人独立完成，其中凡涉及其他作者的观点及材料，均已注明，若有不实，后果由本人承担。 承诺人（签名）：张卫 2016 年 4 月24 日摘 要我国第一部浪漫主义诗歌总集楚辞开创了我国积极浪漫主义创作的源头，在中国史诗上占有重要地位。自19世纪以来，楚辞英译吸引了国内外学者的广泛关注，但翻译界对楚辞的英译研究大都集中在离骚上，九歌英译方面的研究却是凤毛麟角。九歌虽被翻译成多种英译本，但各版本之间的差异颇大，故本文旨在以阿瑟韦利和孙大雨九歌英译本为例，从译者主体性视角下探究英译本存在差异的因素。译者因为自身文化立场，翻译动机以及美学观点的不同,比如说阿瑟韦利和孙大雨由于自身所接受的文化不同，在翻译过程中阿瑟韦利面向普通大众，其译本通俗易懂，而孙大雨面向知识分子，故译本语言更为精炼优美。故笔者旨在通过两译本在意义重组翻译，特殊文化意义词的翻译，比如说植物，神话意象的翻译，译本翻译风格以及所采取的翻译策略等方面的不同之处，探究译者自身文化立场，翻译动机以及美学观点在对翻译诗歌的影响。关键词: 译者主体性； 九歌英译； 对比研究AbstractChu Ci, the first collection of romantic poems in Chinese literary, has created the beginning of the romanticism in China, which hold an important role in the Chinese Poetry. Chu Ci has attracted the extensive scholars from home and abroad since 19th century, however, the great attention has been put on the study of Li Sao, and few scholars have been interested in the study of Jiu Ge. In fact, there are some English versions through years, but great difference of those versions is another tough problem. This thesis intends to explore the origin of the difference of the English versions from the perspective of the translators subjectivity. English versions show difference because of the disparities of translators cultural attitude, motivation of translation, aesthetic inclination. For example, the main target readers of Waley are common people with simple and easily-understood translation styles, while Suns readers are man of letters the translation of which is beautiful and elegant. The author aims to probe into the influence of translators cultural attitude, motivation of translation, aesthetic inclination in the translation through the analysis of the reproduction of meaning, translation of cultural-loaded items in Jiu Ge like the translation of plant names and Mythological Image, and translation style as well as translation strategies. Keywords: Translators Subjectivity； English Translation of Jiu Ge; Comparative StudyContents1Introduction12Literature Review22.1 The Brief Survey of the English Version of Jiu Ge23Translators Subjectivity and the Presentence in two English Versions43.1 Translators Subjectivity43.1.1 The Subject of Translation43.1.2 Definition of the Translators Subjectivity53.2 Translators Subjectivity in Two English Versions53.2.1 Cultural Attitude63.2.2 Motivation of translation73.2.3 Aesthetic Inclination74Comparison on English Versions of Jiu Ge84.1 Reproduction of Meaning84.2 Translation of Some Cultural-loaded Items in Jiu Ge94.2.1 Translation of Plant Names94.2.2 Translation of Mythological Image104.3Translation Style124.3.1 Translation Styles in Two English Versions124.3.2 The Choice of Words134.4 Translation Strategies145Conclusion14Bibliography15Acknowledgements16浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文1 Introduction1.1 Research ObjectivesChu Ci, the resource of Chinese romantic poetry, is said to be the earliest collections of romantic poems has an irreplaceable position in Chinese literature. Moreover, Chu Ci has created the romantic tradition of the Chinese classical works through its extravagant diction, fantastic imagination as well as violent emotions. Therefore, it has been of vital significance to Chinese poetry. And something worth mentioning is the patriotism in the work, which is perhaps one reason to be enduring and lasting in the Chinese history. In the early 19th century, the publication of the English translation of Li Sao in The China Review has aroused great interests among scholars at home and abroad, giving rise to a booming tendency for studying the Chinese culture, particularly the classical poetry. However, the main attention is put on the English translation of Li Sao rather than Jiu Ge, even though there are many English versions of Li Sao, they cannot be optimal, because there are many mistranslations. But in any case, the mistranslation is understandable due to the apparent distinctions among translations, such as their cultural background, motivation for translation, aesthetic inclination, even the influence of religion and so on. Furthermore, we all know that Jiu Ge is a kind of poem full of images and symbolization with abundantly but obscurely cultural meanings. Therefore, translators are prone to deal with those “troubles” on their own way, thats what we called the translators subjectivity. All that makes it hard to translate those classics correctly and accurately. This paper aims to probe into the influence of the translators subjectivity on the translation through the comparison of the two English versions of Jiu Ge. The study will provide some useful and beneficial advice to the English translation of classical works and also be helpful to the spread of the Chinese culture, which provides an opportunity to show the world the extensiveness of traditional culture. So I choose two significantly different versions of Sun Dayu and Arthur Waley, serving the thorough study.1.2 The Poet and Jiu GeDefinitely Qu Yuan is among the greatest of Chinese poets, but his death is remembered more than his life, and his sufferings are remembered more than his rare moments of happiness (Robert Payne, 1945:78). Qu Yuan, who was born in 340 BC and died in 278 BC at the age of 62, is a patriotic poet of the Warring States period. As the minister of King Huai of Chu, the title of which was the “minister of patriarchal affairs” (“三闾大夫”). Although he was a member of the royal, he didnt realize his aspiration and ambition in politics due to the jealousy as well as the conspiracy of treacherous court officials. To the end, he chose to drown himself in the Miluo River, after that, the Dragon Boat Festival was established to commemorate him with activities of eating Tzung Tzu, holding dragon boat race, drinking realgar wine and so on. Although failed in politics, Qu Yuan received great fame and reputation in Chinese literary history as a great poet, who made tremendous contribution to Chinese poetry. The world-renowned masterpiece of Qu Yuan is Li Sao, which has attracted great attention of people interested in the Chinese poems. Besides Li Sao, he also had other well-known works such as Jiu Ge（九歌）, Tian Wen（天问）, Jiu Zhang（九章） and so on. Jiu Ge was one work of Qu Yuans revised version of folk songs for offering some sacrifices to gods, consisting of 11 poems of Dong Huang Tai Yi（东皇太一）, Yun Zhong Jun（云中君）, Xiang Jun（湘君）, Xiang Fu Ren（湘夫人）, Da Si Ming(大司命), Shao Si Ming(少司命), Dong Jun（东君）, He Bo（河伯）, Shan Gui（山鬼）, Guo Shang（国殇）, Li Hun（礼魂） respectively. Guo Shang was written to mourn and sing for those soldiers, others tended to express his deep thought and sentimentality through the love story of gods. Wang Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty believed that Qu Yuan created Jiu Ge to express his sufferings in politics when he was expelled from Chu kingdom. The works of Qu Yuan have been widely read and appreciated, even in today, not only admiring for the poem but also the patriotism of Qu Yuan in it. Its well acknowledged that a poem without sincere feelings cannot be a good poem.1.3 Research Methodology This paper will adopt the comparative method to analyze the differences of two English versions of Jiu Ge. In order to make the comparative result more comprehensive and convincing, I will use some diagrams, in this way, the specific features of two versions might be more distinct and apparent. Therefore, we may find the influence of the translators subjectivity through those differences in two English translations. 2 Literature Review2.1 The Brief Survey of the English Version of Jiu Ge Many western scholars have aroused great interests in the translation of Jiu Ge like Arthur Waley, David Hawkes, E.H.Parks, and J.Legge, E.Erkes and so on. E.H.Parker published his English translation of Li Sao in 1879 in China Review, which has made Li Sao known by the west. And professor David Hawkes of Oxford said, “It is really more a paraphrase than a translation, and its bouncing Victorian verse could have been written by a clever schoolboy (David Hawkes, 1957:215). Honestly speaking, it is understandable about Davids comments, because traditional Chinese culture was totally new to the west at that time, and few people have access to learn it. All they can do is to translate it with their own understanding; therefore, there are some mistakes in the translation process. In 1895, James Legge published The Li Sao Poems and Its Author on Journal Asiatic Society. Hawkes has said that his translation is a little accurate than Parkers, and the Jamess purpose of translating this work is that Li Sao is deemed an significant literary work in the Chinese history. So it may be beautiful in form but without the enthusiasm involved in the poem. (David Hawkes, 1957:215) Another German Scholar, E.Erkes, translated the Great Requiem in Asia Major in 1923, which was totally literal translation, then the Great Lord of Fate and The Young Goddess of Fate in the God of Death in Ancient China in 1939. Hawkes remarks his literal translation making reading and understanding painstaking and arduously, though, it provides a chance for the west to learn something about Chinese literature. (David Hawkes, 1957:215) However, things have changed since the publication of Waleys essay, Jiu Ge: the study of Shamanism in Ancient China, giving a general description of the Chu Kingdom from the geographical conditions to some cultural images. And then he translated the translation of Jiu Ge, but there still is vague in the translation of some sentences or words. After that, his pupil, David Hawkes, continued to study the Chinese classics, especially engaged in Chu Ci. In 1959, Chu Ci, The Songs of The South: An Ancient Chinese Anthology by the Oxford University, which was translated according to the 18 chapters of Chu Ci like Li Sao, Jiu Ge, Tian Wen, all of which was compiled by Wang Yi of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Generally speaking, Davids translation is successful to some extent with the efforts of so many excellent scholars. Except the scholars from the west, some domestic translators are not willing to lag behind and try their best to be dedicated to the study. For example, Ling Wenqing is said to be the first Chinese who translated Chu Ci in 1920s, while Yang Xianyi and his wife, Gladys Yang, translated Li Sao and Other Poems of Qu Yuan and published in 1953, which was seen as a meaningful moment. Then, Sun Dayu, a well-known Chinese literature translator, translated most poems of Chu Ci, and he was devoted to probing into the cultural aspect of Chu Ci, which provided an access to the western readers to learn the oriental culture. Another scholar, Xu Yuanchong, translate Chu Ci, Elegies of the South (许渊冲,2009), in the meantime, he proposed his translation theory, the theory of Three Beauties, which really did matter to the field of translation, to the development of the translation theory researchers. Of course, there are other translators like Zhuo Zhenying, The Verse of Chu Ci was published in 2006 (卓振英,2006). Just as I have mentioned before, Chu Ci gained less attention and there were few essays or papers on it, let alone the study about Jiu Ge. 3 Translators Subjectivity and the Presentence in two English Versions3.1 Translators SubjectivityTranslation has undergone a great change since the emergence of the “cultural turn” in 1970s, especially the rapid development of the translation theories such as the Manipulation theory, deconstruction theory and so on, all of which provided a support for translation study. However, the appearance of the cultural turn has aroused scholars interest in the disparity of the English versions because of various cultures. And a noteworthy factor leading to cultural disparity must be the translator whose cultural background, motivation for translation even their religious are of vital importance in the translation process. In fact, there is no activity without purpose, and translation is a kind of activity, so it has its own purpose. (Hans-Venneer, 1989:221-232) we are inspired to comprehend translation from the perspective of culture: any translation is done out of a certain cultural purpose. To some extent, translators will translate the source text based on their cultural background which can be considered as a kind negotiation of two cultures. 3.1.1 The Subject of TranslationIn fact, when we referred to the question: who is on earth the subject in the translation process? Answers to this question varied greatly. Nobody who deals with the issue of subjectivity can elaborate his/her views without defining the subject in the beginning. (李德顺, 1990:3) some believed that translator was the subject, some thought that translator and author of the target text were, while others argued that translator, author and reader served as the subject in the translation process. As a matter of fact, Yang Zijian drew that conclusion that there are eight main factors that must be deemed as the object of translation studies, namely the objectivity world (nature, society and thought), the author of the source text, the translator, the translation process, the target text, and the reader of the target text (杨自俭,2002:11).3.1.2 Definition of the Translators Subjectivity Many scholars tend to give a perfect definition to the translators subjectivity, but no consensus has been reached. And I quote some of them, such as translators subjectivity refers to the subjective initiative displayed by the translator as the subject of translation, in order to fulfill his or her translation purpose under the prerequisite of respecting the translation object. The basic features of the subjectivity are the cultural consciousness, personal characters, styles, and aesthetic creativity of the translator as the subject of translation (查明建&田雨, 2003:22). The so-called translators subjectivity is the translators conscious awareness of his/her own personality and creativity. The existence and strength of the translators subjectivity influence the whole translation process and the value of the outcome of translationIn our opinion, the core of the translators subjectivity is the translator aesthetic pursuit and creativity (许钧, 2003:10). From their definition, we can say something in common is that they acknowledge that translators initiative and their cultural and personal awareness as well as the aesthetic creativity. However, initiativity and passivity are the main factors. The translators subjective factors are composed of their values, purpose, knowledge, bias, even religion, among which their motivation of translation, aesthetic inclination and cultural attitude are of great importance. In fact, the embodiment of translator s subjectivity is not only on the basis of translation of the source text, but also of the selection of the source language, the translation strategies adopted and so on. In reference to the passivity of translators subjectivity including the features of the source and target language, such as the objective laws, the original culture, and the historical background. 3.2 Translators Subjectivity in Two English VersionsJust as we have mentioned, translators subjectivity are composed of two factors of initiativity and passivity. And translators cultural attitude, motivation of translation, aesthetic inclination is the three main factors that I will make further discussion in the following paragraphs. Furthermore, the three factors embodied in their translation versions will be involved. 3.2.1 Cultural AttitudeWang Zuoliang thinks that a translator should not only have bilingual knowledge, but also be familiar with the bilingual culture. Translation is Interlingua transformation of information on the surface, but intercultural conversation and communication looked from deep-seated meaning, language is the carrier of culture, while culture is the content of a language. As the subject between two languages, a translator should understand the culture of the two languages. “As far as a truly successful translation is concerned, being familiar with two kinds of culture is even more important than grasping the two kinds of culture is even more important than grasping the two language, because only words will not make sense without a cultural background” (郭建中, 2000:315). So we can see that translators subjectivity awareness has a great position in the translation. However, translation is not a process shifting one culture into another one, which is often restricted by the historical conditions either like peoples ideology, patronage and poetics in the manipulation theory, or the impact of context composed of political norms and cultural norms in the description and normative theory. We can see that some translator will more or less show his or her political and cultural inclination in the translation context. Cultural attitude is the most stable culture deposits, cultural pursuits and cultural expectations of the social individuals in different cultural worlds. Translators should keep their own cultural attitudes. But translators subjectivity ten