（英语语言文学专业论文）和谐视角下的唐诗英译研究——以五大名家的译本为例.pdf

和谐视角下的唐诗英译研究 以五大名家的译本为例 研究生： 年级：2 0 0 6 级 学科专业： 英语语言文学 指导老师： 研究方向：翻译理论与实践 中 文 摘 要 唐诗作为中国文化的重要组成部分，历来被视为中国诗歌的精粹, 倍受国人 喜爱。迄今为止，已经有大量唐诗被翻译成英语。随着大量唐诗被译成英语，许 多研究者从不同的视角对各名家的译本进行研究与赏析。 本论文从“和谐”视角，进行唐诗英译研究。 北京师范大学郑海凌教授在其 著作文学翻译学一书中，对“和谐说”这一文学翻译原理作了比较系统详细 的论述。“和谐”以适中与得当为核心精神，强调译者在翻译过程中要恰当地富 有创造性地调和原作、译作、以及目的语读者三者之间的关系。“和谐说”对文 学翻译实践具有重要指导意义，也是文学翻译赏析与批评的重要审美标准。 该论文从 “和谐” 视角，着重分析五位名家的译例，例证英译唐诗过程中 和谐的重要性、 和谐标准对品评唐诗英译的指导价值及其对英译唐诗实践的重要 理论指导意义。 论文一共分为五个部分。 第一部分简单阐述了唐诗英译的重要性以及该研究 课题的目的与意义。第二部分主要是文献综述，比较详实地阐述了国内外唐诗英 译的状况以及国内外唐诗英译研究的重要思想观点。 第三部分主要是对“和谐” 译理的论述，涉及“和谐”的定义、特点以及“和谐” 译理的标准对文学翻译 研究与批评的指导效用。 论文第四部分主要是从“和谐”视角研究五位翻译名家 的唐诗英译。论文涉及的五位译者分别是翟理斯、弗莱彻、许渊冲、庞德及张廷 琛。许多唐诗英译研究者偏好对若干译者的个别译例简单地进行字词、形式、韵 律等方面的比较，从而得出孰对孰错，难以做出客观品评。从“和谐”视角研究 唐诗英译，研究者不受个人喜好的牵制，对译作进行比较全面客观的品评而非局 限于追究某个字词翻译的对错。 研究发现，在所涉及的译作当中，达到和谐效果的译作，都是比较忠实原作 并且充分考虑到了目的语读者认知能力及其审美需求， 而且这些译作都具有较高 的文学艺术价值。最后，研究者在论文第四部分运用一定的篇幅提炼出五位译者 比较有特色且有利于调和诗歌翻译的若干具体策略。 论文最后一部分是对整篇论 文的总结。 关键词：唐诗英译；名家译本；和谐视角；研究 on english translations of tang poems from harmonizing perspective： take translations by five notable translators as examples postgraduate: grade:2006 major field of study: english language notable translators translations; harmonizing perspective; study 论文独创性声明 本人郑重声明：所提交的学位论文是本人在导师的指导下进行 的研究工作及取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本论文不 含其他个人或其他机构已经发表或撰写过的研究成果。 对本文的研究 做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。本人承担 本声明的法律责任。 研究生签名： 蔡林建 日期： 2009 年 4 月 论文使用授权声明 本人完全了解广西师范大学有关保留、使用学位论文的规定。 广西师范大学、中国科学技术信息研究所、清华大学论文合作部，有 权保留本人所送交学位论文的复印件和电子文档，可以采用影印、缩 印或其他复制手段保存论文。 本人电子文档的内容和纸质论文的内容 相一致。除在保密期内的保密论文外，允许论文被查阅和借阅，可以 公布（包括刊登）论文的全部或部分内容。论文的公布（包括刊登） 授权广西师范大学学位办办理。 研究生签名： 蔡林建 日期： 2009 年 4 月 导 师签名： 唐高元 日期： 2009 年 4 月 1 chapter 1 introduction 1.1 the importance of the english translation of tang poems undoubtedly, the twenty- first century is an age of economic and cultural globalization. therefore, each nation should try to globalize its culture, in other words, to make its culture known to the world and become a part of the global culture so as to make it more brilliant (xu yuanzhong，2006：3). china s entry into wto is a great impetus to globalize its economy and so is it to the culture. translation of chinese literature is an important task that bridges the cultural gap between china and other nations. tang poetry as the quintessence of chinese culture symbolizes the wisdom of chinese people. as robert payne says in the white poeny, “ we can understand a people best through their poetry, and the chinese who have written poetry since the beginning of time always regarded poetry as the finest flower of their culture.” (xu yuanzhong, 2006:2). so the translation of tang poetry is of vital importance, especially the english translation of it because english is the language that is most widely used in the world. american poets often admire the chinese ancient poets who have composes poems in a limited number of words but with infinite poetic sense and prospect. and they say that the advantages of chinese ancient poetry are just the shortcomings of american modern poetry. that is to say in chinese ancient poems, for example, in tang poems, the succinctness in diction is always naturally combined with profundity in sense. if more tang poems are translated into english for the foreign readers to enjoy, it will probably contribute greatly to the prosperity of the world culture (xu yuanzhong, 2003:33). in addition, the english translation of tang poems, to a great extent, has prospered the world literature, especially the western poetry. as we know, tang poetry with exquisite forms and profound ideas enjoys a grand artistic reputation in china and abroad. there is an abundance of chinese traditional culture, ideology, and morality in tang poetry. the american modern poetics and poetic composition have both been greatly influenced by tang poetry which is overflowing with literary peculiarity and artistic glamour (zhu hui, 2004:87). in 1977, the poets of the american poets organization held a meeting in new york. kenneth rexroth, merwin, and snyder, all of the three poets who participated in the meeting, declared that the 2 english translations of chinese classical poems had greatly influenced the american poets poetic creation and become an indispensable part of american poetry. the american poets ezra pound and amy lowell who were once tremendously influenced by tang poems also did translation of tang poems (zhong ling, 2003:33). in effect, kenneth rexroth and snyder themselves have been tremendously enlightened by tang poetry. it is easy to see tang poetry s influences upon the ideology and aesthetics of poetic creation of rexroth. he once said that du fu, one of the most important and talented poets in tang dynasty, had unsurpassable influences upon his morality and thinking. rexroth dedicated almost thirty years to the study on du fu s poems, and then his poetic creation often revealed a deep love for human being and an insightful concentration on social problems (zhu hui, 2004:87). another american poet, snyder was awfully influenced by han shan, a chinese poet in tang dynasty, who was not so remarkable as lipo or du fu. snyder was enormously enlightened by han shan s poetic works in poetic diction, ideology, and prospect (zhu hui, 2004:88). another american translator says in the preface of his translation of tang poems that contemporary western culture has tremendously benefited from the exquisite and profound chinese culture (xu yuanzhong, 2003:34). the great poet ezra pound who is also a translator has found much poetic inspiration from his translation of chinese ancient poems, particularly the tang poems. for instance, in his famous seven- lake canto, there are poetic lines as following: autumn moon; hills rise about lakes against sunset evening is like a curtain of cloud, a blur above ripples; and through it sharp long spikes of the cinnamon, a cold tune amid reeds (zhu chaowei, 2005:281). in the poetic lines above, readers can find with ease that there is juxtaposition as in many tang poems. tang poems, though composed thousands of years ago, are still bewitching and glamorous, and it is undoubtedly a very important part of the world literature (xu yuanzhong, 2005: 159). 3 1.2 the purpose and significance of the study the thesis is intended to do a systematic study on the translation of tang poems, especially intended to make a just, fair assessment of the translation done by a few notable translators in the harmonizing perspective. and through detailed analyses of their translation of tang poem, some kinds of strategies, which are applicable to harmonize the translation, will be generated. the past studies on the translations of tang poems are always done through the comparisons of two or three translators works to judge whose translation is much better. seldom have the researchers applied to a specific theory or canon to do a little bit more systematic study on this special translational field. carol maier pointed out that the study of past evaluative practices presents a particular set of challenges, for example, the absence of a “ universal canon according to which texts may be assessed” （mona baker, 2004:205）. their goals are usually confined to find out who is the best translator. but the fact is that there is no best translator, but a better one, just as no one is perfect in the world. all people have their own advantages and merits, and certainly they all have their own defects and disadvantages, and so do the translators. a systematic and detailed analysis of the translations by more translators in certainty will help us understand more and better in this field. what s more, we could l earn in the process of doing the research some wonderful or even quite unique translational skills used by these translators intentionally or unconsciously in their translations. tang poetry as one of the most important part of chinese culture will always be impressive to chinese people, and its translation in many languages, especially in english, has been flourishing since it started. more foreigners have been attracted and impressed by the grand chinese poetry, and some western poets have resorted to it for poetic prosperity, even for the freedom of soul. it is due to the diligence of the translators as well as the passion of those who are fond of chinese culture and glad to share it with more people. hope that this thesis will inspire more young men with zeal to take on the task of translating chinese poetry and the responsibility to glorify chinese culture. 1.3 the organization of the thesis this thesis consists of five parts. the first part mainly illustrates the importance of english translation of t ang poems as well as the purpose and the significance of this study. the second part is primarily intended to make a literature review of the 4 english translation of tang poems and the relevant studies over it in and abroad china. and the third part mainly illustrates the harmonizing theory, including its definition, its major features and its aesthetic significance to the study and evaluation of literary translation. the fourth part focuses on studying the five notable translators english translation of tang poems from harmonizing perspective. the five distinguished translators here are herbert a. giles, w. j. b. fletcher, xu yuanzhong, ezra pound, and zhang tingchen. many researchers prefer making comparison of several translators english translation of one tang poem to judge who is right in the diction, the form, and the rhyme, and it is dreadfully hard to make an equitable evaluation. studying the english translation of tang poems from harmonizing perspective, the researcher will not be bound by personal likes and dislikes, and thus he is likely to make a just and thorough evaluation rather than confine himself to the study of certain words. upon studying, the researcher has found that among all the translations involved, the well harmonized ones are much closer to the originals, and they to a large degree can satisfy the target language readers with immense aesthetic beauty. apparently, all the well harmonized translations are of much higher literary and artistic value. then, at the close of the fourth part, the researcher distills the essence of the five notable translators certain peculiar strategies that are helpful for translators to harmonize the translations of poems. the last part of the thesis is the conclusion. 5 chapter 2 literature review 2.1 the english translation of tang poems in china and abroad tang poems in certainty enjoy great reputation in the literary history of china. lu xun, one of the most important chinese writers, once said, “ all good poems had been accomplished during the tang dynasty” . in china, numerous essays and books concerning the study of tang poems have come out. in terms of the english translation of tang poems, there are some talented and successful translators in and abroad china, and with their diligence and wisdom, a large number of tang poems have been translated into english. the difficulties of translating chinese into a western language are notorious. chinese is composed mainly of monosyllables with a wide range of diverse meanings. the grammar lacks clear tense distinctions. the characters are logographic but many contain pictorial rudiments or suggestions. the relations between propositions are paratactic rather than syntactic and punctuation marks represent breathing pauses far more than they do logical or grammatical segmentations. yet despite these impossibilities , chinese draws the western translator to its literature. in english the history of attempted transfer is extensive: it runs at least from du halde s a description of the empire of china published in 1738 to the present. and many western literary figures have translated chinese classical poems. helen waddell, amy lowell, witter bynner, kenneth rexroth have tried varying ways and strategies to fulfill their aims (george steiner, 2001:375- 376). as a matter of fact, both in and abroad china, many translators have devoted or are devoting much of their time to the translating of tang poems. amongst the translators in china, xu yuanzhong and weng xianliang have attracted more readers. xu yuanzhong, a grand professor from peking university, has several books concerning the translation of tang poems published, such as 300 tang poems, songs of the immortals，150 tang poems, and selected poems of li bai, du fu, bai juyi, li lu, su dongpo, li qingzhao. besides the books mentioned above, professor xu, collaborating with lu peixuan and wu juntao, translated 300 tang poems and had it published as a new translation of three hundred tang poems. in addition to his large amount of the translation of tang poems, xu yuanzhong has also composed many essays on the translation of poetry which will be covered later on. he is the only scholar in the world who has translated classical chinese poetry into 6 english and french rhymes (xu yuanzhong, 2006:375). the late translator weng xianliang also translated many tang poems into english which have been collected into the book titled an english version of classical poems. most of his translation of tang poems is done in prose. besides the two translators above, cai tinggan, zhang tingchen, and yang xianyi along with his wife, also have done some translations of tang poems. cai tinggan s translation of tang poems has been published as the book an english version of tang poems, and it is said to be the earliest english version of tang poems thoroughly done by the chinese (hai an,2007:554) . collaborated with the american professor bruce m. wilson who once spent a year and a half teaching at fudan university, zhang tingchen has translated 100 tang poems and had it published in the title 100 tang poems. the well- known translator yang xianyi worked with his wife and translated some important chinese classics into english. their translation of tang poems has been included in the book selected poems and essays of the tang and song dynasties. besides all the notable chinese translators of tang poems, xie wentong, xu zhongjie and li weijian have also done some translations of tang poems (xu yuanzhong, 2003:81). but it is almost impossible to cover all the chinese translators here, whether famous or not, who have ever translated some tang poems. abroad china, there found many scholars, experts, and poets who have done a huge amount of english translation of tang poems. it is said that the early spread of tang poems in english- speaking countries was done by s. jenyn, a british politician, artist and poet in the 18th century. the most widely spread english version of tang poems shall go to the three hundred tang poems edited by hengtangtuishi, and s. jenyns, basing upon this version, did his own english translation of tang poems. but the most influential english version of tang poems is thought to be the jade mountain which includes hundreds of tang poems translated by witter bynner and jiang kanghu (hai an, 2007:554). the popular and well- known english translators include herbert a. giles, w.j.b fletcher, witter bynner, arthur waley, and also the poets ezra pound and amy lowell. besides them, there are florence ayscough, charles budd, w.a.p martin, henry h. hart, l.cranmer- byng, and helen waddell who are not so familiar with the chinese readers (lv shuxiang, 1980:214). early in the late 19th century, herbert a. giles, the famous professor from 7 cambridge university, translated a number of tang poems into english in the form of verse. he was skillful at combining the literal meaning with the poetic rhyme in his translation, and he was highly praised for his translation from tang poems into english (fan cunzhong, 1981:7). herbert a. giles has done two major works of translation from chinese literature which includes his translation of tang poems, a history of chinese literature and gems of chinese literature, verse. w.j.b fletcher, once a british consul in china, devoted many efforts to the study and translation of chinese poetry and published two important books regarding chinese poetry, gems of chinese verse and more gems of chinese poetry. his translation of tang poems is mainly included in these two books. witter bynner s major translation of tang poems goes to the jade mountain and he accomplished it with the help from jiang kanghu. arthur waley did large amount of translation of chinese literature. his cardinal works of poetry translation from chinese into english consist of 170 chinese poems, more translations from the chinese and the temple and other poems. his translation of tang poems can be found in these books. the outstanding poet ezra pound has published a book of his translation of some tang poems, the famous cathay in 1915. another poet amy lowell, one of pound s contemporaries, has cooperated with florence ayscough to translate many tang poems. and their translation is collected into the book fir- flower tablets. charles budd s translation of tang poems is included in his book chinese poems, and w.a.p martin s translation of tang poems is collected into his book of chinese literature, the chinese legends and lyrics. henry h. hart and helen waddell have respectively published their translation from chinese literature as the hundred names and the lyrics from the chinese. l.cranmer- byng has made great efforts in translating the chinese poetry and has three major works of poetry translated from chinese, book of odes, a lute of jade and a feast of lanterns (lv shuxiang, 1980:214). besides all the translators mentioned above, there are still many other