九歌英译张卫(最终稿)

九歌英译张卫(最终稿) 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 On the Comparison of the English Versions of Jiu Ge from the Perspective of the Translators' Subjectivity Paper submitted to the English Department of Zhejiang Agriculture & Forestry University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts By 张卫 English 124 Supervised 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<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》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，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 i Abstract Chu 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 translator’s subjectivity. English versions show difference because of the disparities of translator’s 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 Sun’s readers are man of letters the translation of which is beautiful and elegant. The author aims to probe into the influence of translator’s 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 Study ii Contents 1 Introduction .......................................................................................... 1 2 Literature Review ................................................................................. 2 2.1 The Brief Survey of the English Version of Jiu Ge .............................. 2 3 Translator’s Subjectivity and the Presentence in two English Versions 4 3.1 Translator’s Subjectivity .................................................................... 4 3.1.1 The Subject of Translation............................................................... 4 3.1.2 Definition of the Translator’s Subjectivity........................................ 5 3.2 Translator’s Subjectivity in Two English Versions ............................... 5 3.2.1 Cultural Attitude ............................................................................. 6 3.2.2 Motivation of translation ................................................................. 7 3.2.3 Aesthetic Inclination ....................................................................... 7 4 Comparison on English Versions of Jiu Ge ........................................... 8 4.1 Reproduction of Meaning .................................................................. 8 4.2 Translation of Some Cultural-loaded Items in Jiu Ge .......................... 9 4.2.1 Translation of Plant Names ........................................................ 9 4.2.2 Translation of Mythological Image ........................................... 10 4.3Translation Style............................................................................... 12 4.3.1 Translation Styles in Two English Versions ............................... 12 4.3.2 The Choice of Words ............................................................... 13 4.4 Translation Strategies....................................................................... 14 5 Conclusion........................................................................................... 14 Bibliography ............................................................................................ 15 Acknowledgements .................................................................................. 16 iii 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 1 Introduction 1.1 Research Objectives Chu 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 thearly 19 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, that’s what we called the translator’s subjectivity. All that makes it hard to translate those classics correctly and accurately. This paper aims to probe into the influence of the translator’s 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 Ge Definitely 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” 1 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 (“三闾大夫”). Although he was a member of the royal, he didn’t 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 Yuan’s 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 Guo Shang(《国殇》), Li Hun(《礼魂》) respectively. Guo Shang was written (《山鬼》), 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. It’s 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 translator’s subjectivity through those differences in two English translations. 2 Literature Review 2.1 The Brief Survey of the English Version of Jiu Ge Many western scholars have aroused great interests in the translation of Jiu Ge like 2 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 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 David’s 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 Parker’s, and the James’s 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 Waley’s 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, David’s 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 3 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 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 Translator’s Subjectivity and the Presentence in two English Versions 3.1 Translator’s Subjectivity Translation 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 Translation In 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 4 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 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 Translator’s Subjectivity Many scholars tend to give a perfect definition to the translator’s subjectivity, but no consensus has been reached. And I quote some of them, such as translator’s 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 translator’s subjectivity is the translator’s conscious awareness of his/her own personality and creativity. The existence and strength of the translator’s subjectivity influence the whole translation process and the value of the outcome of translation…In our opinion, the core of the translator’s 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 translator’s initiative and their cultural and personal awareness as well as the aesthetic creativity. However, initiativity and passivity are the main factors. The translator’s 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 translator’s subjectivity including the features of the source and target language, such as the objective laws, the original culture, and the historical background. 3.2 Translator’s Subjectivity in Two English Versions Just as we have mentioned, translator’s subjectivity are composed of two factors of initiativity and passivity. And translator’s 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. 5 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 3.2.1 Cultural Attitude Wang 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 translator’s 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 people’s 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 translator’s subjectivity tends to require translators to promote communication between different cultural traits, to introduce and study foreign culture, to achieve deep understanding of it so as to promote our own culture (仲伟合, 周 静, 2006:43) Arthur Waley, the most outstanding British sinologist in the 20th century, enjoys great reputation in the aspects of Chinese literature, especially his English version of the Book of Poetry enjoys a high literary value which overwhelms those of James Legge and Bernhard Karlgren (洪涛，2008:57). His excellent translation works bring the oriental literature to the western world, making Chinese literature involved into western literature, and having a profound and everlasting influence on sinology in the west. Arthur Waley was fond of the literature and language study and dedicated to the study of the Chinese literature in his whole life. In his college, he approached the oriental culture, and had been attracted by the profound Chinese culture; therefore, he aimed to devote himself into studying and spreading oriental culture. To some extent, his culture attitude has greatly depended on his descent of German and Anglo-Jew. We know that Analects is the most representative work 6 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 of the traditional Chinese culture, and Arthur brings the English version into the west, and achieve a great impact at that time compared with other versions. In the translation of the Analects, he holds on his own view “one period, one Confucius”. Another example is that benevolence(“Ren”) is the most essential in the Analects, but Arthur has not adopt the “goodness” to replace “Ren”,instead, he intends to combine the same connotation between them, which means that neither of them is equal to the other. And he prefers domestication due to his cultural identity, and we can know, to some extent, he has affected by the Chinese literature. As for the translations of Sun Dayu, are also successful, and he prefers to give preface when translating Chinese literature so as to help foreign readers. So we can find a great introduction of author in his works. 3.2.2 Motivation of translation Motivation usually refers to the psychological feature arousing an organism to move forward a wanted goal, but objective means the goal intended to be attained. To some extent, translation is equal to translation purpose. When we talk about the purpose of translation, we have to mention Skopos theory. Skopos is a Greek word for “aim” or “purpose” and was introduced into translation theory in the 1970s by Hans-Venneer as a technical term for the purpose of a translation and of the action of translating. (Jeremy Mundy,2001:78). Usually we may say that translation is an objective process, however, it’s almost impossible to translate the whole text without involvement of personal feeling, purpose of translators, that’ s why we always can find out the difference between different kinds of translation works. For instance, some translators shed great light on the originality of the text, they may choose the literal translation, though, it’s obscure to understand, while others pursue the fluency and easy understanding of the original text, they may prefer free translation. In order to achieve the established goal, translators may adopt different methods in every translation activity. Chinese literary translators have the responsibility of spreading our culture into the west world, enriching the world cultural system. Chinese poetry embodying the five-thousand-year Chinese culture occupies an important part in the East world. 3.2.2 Aesthetic Inclination Translation, especially the poems translation, has to follow some certain aesthetic standards, because a good translation of poems will definitely give us an aesthetic enjoyment. Different translators, however, will meet different aesthetic standards, and their translation following different standards will produce different aesthetic effects, such as Xu 7 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 Yuanchong’s art of beautifulization and creation of the best as in rivalry, Nida’s “dynamic equivalence and functional equivalence” and Yan Fu’s “faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance”. All these principles vary from each other, but each has their own taste. Arthur Waley pays more attention to the fluency and easily understanding of the target language, so his translation works are always simple and plain. Therefore, the translation of Arthur Waley inclines to be free translation, and Sun’s translation tends to be classical translation, because it is much beautiful, and sheds great lights on the artistic conception, style and form of the original text. In other words, we can say that reader is an important element in the Aesthetics of Reception Theory. Erwin Wolff put forward the conception of “intended reader”. (姚斯,1987:442). Terry Eagleton also proposed a similar concept the “implied reader”. He explained that every work is created for certain readers. (Terry Eagleton, 2010:105). In order to realize their translation, translator will take needs of his readers into consideration in the process of translation, just as those two translators have done in the translation. 4 Comparison on English Versions of Jiu Ge Jiu Ge, a classical Chinese work, is difficult to translate due to its obscure meaning, rhyme, form and some culture-loaded items, which require translators mastering two kinds of cultures, some translating theory and strategies, moreover r, their translation style is always different from each other. All in all, the problems may give rise to the mistranslation of the source text; therefore, it also influences the proper understanding and the spread of the Chinese cultures. Once some culture is denied by the whole world, it is a tremendous disaster to that nation. 4.1 Reproduction of Meaning Translation is the way that helps readers get some new information from the source language, which means the reproduction of meaning is significantly essential. A faithful reproduction of meaning requires translators to have a complete and deep understanding of the source language as well as their cultures, some necessary skills like omission, adding. In respect of re production of meaning, many differences of two English versions can be found. To a certain extent, Sun’s translation are more concrete and beautiful than that of Waley, such as the translation of “瑶席兮玉瑱，盍将把兮琼芳”. Sun’s translation: “with saffron jades to press the close knit mat, in his grasp are blooming twigs and bunched sweet 8 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 herbs.” While Waley’s translation: “From the jeweled mat with its jade weight, why not now take the perfumed spary.” Personally I think Sun’s translation outweighs Waley’s, because Qu Yuan intends to describe the grand banquet. From their translation, we can find that Sun’s translation gives us an immersed sense because of the phrases like blooming twigs, sweet herbs. Another example is the translation of “灵连蜷兮既留，烂昭昭兮未央” in Yunzhongjun; Waley’s translation is “Now in long curves the Spirit has come down, in a blaze of brightness unending.”, while Sun’s translation is “His Divinity, coming down tall and slant, glowing with incessantly dazzling splendours.” When we analyze the two translations, we can know that Sun Dayu sheds more emphasis on the appearance of His Divinity by using words like tall, slant, splendours, which may help us to shape the image of His Divinity. While a sense of beauty cannot be found in Waley’s translation, to a certain extent. 4.2 Translation of Some Cultural-loaded Items in Jiu Ge In fact, it’s acknowledged that it’s not easy to translate Jiu Ge because of some proper nouns, and culture-loaded items. In other words, those differences are caused by different cultures. Therefore, some words are untranslatable like plant-names, and mythological images, which are endowed with ample symbolic meanings. Being a culturally-laden text, the cultural components in Jiu Ge constitute great challenges to translators. It’s also worthwhile to mention that the language in Jiu Ge. Even for us, it’s not an easy thing to give a completely right explanation, let alone those foreign scholars knowing little about the Chinese traditional culture. 4.2.1 Translation of Plant Names One characteristic of Jiu Ge is the figurative use of plants’ names, which have been embodied with great and meaningful meanings. The problem is that not all plants can be found in the western countries, even if there are the same plants whose endowed meanings are not completely equal to those in the East. For example, “香草” is considered as a kind of plant with magical function of driving away evil spirits. Moreoer, “香草” also symbolize those sweet love between young people like “杜若”. While other plants denote some bad implication, like“蘼芜”，which means the Feminine Querimony or separation of the couples. When translating those plants, the two translators did not adopt those academic names but use some other easier words to replace them. And the plants involved in Jiu Ge 9 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 including: 蕙，薜荔，荪，杜若，白芷，香兰，辛夷，石兰，杜衡，秋兰，蘼芜，女 萝，灵芝，仙草，秋菊. Because of the difference in geography, climate and other natural conditions, the plants between the east and the west vary enormously to each other, let alone those plants in the ancient China have various symbolic meaning. One example is the translation of “荪壁兮紫坛，播芳椒兮成堂” in Xiangfuren which means “香荪饰墙紫贝 铺庭院，花椒香味浓郁充满厅堂” in Chinese. Sun’s translation: “Walls hung with sweet-flag, courtyard paved with murex; I strew scented pepper-plant to dress my hall.” While Sun’s translation: “Walls, laid with sweet-flags; the courtyard growth purple grass; the hall is plastered with limed, ground Sun pepper.” One difference is the translation of “紫贝”. “紫贝” in Jiu Ge has no equivalence in English, actually, it is kind of a herb, while murex in Arthur’s translation refers to a kind of snails, apparently, it’s mistranslated, while the purple grass in Sun’s translation is more proper to some extent. Another example is the translation of “桂栋兮兰橑，辛夷楣兮药房.” in Xiangfuren , which means “桂木做正梁， 木兰做椽子，辛夷做门楣，白芷饰卧房.” in Chinese. Sun’s translation: “with cassia beams and rafters of magnolia, lintal of aloes and angelica flank.” while Arthur’s translation: “beams of cassia, rafters of tree-orchid; door-lintals of magnolia, above of white angelica.” and “木兰”. Arthur translates them into I’d like to mention the translation of “辛夷” “magnolia” and “tree-orchid”, while Sun Dayu prefers to “aloes” and “magnolia”. In my opinion, I believe that two translations have their own merits and demerits. “辛夷” is the flower bud of magnolia, while aloe refers to“芦荟”in Chinese, which is obviously two kind of plants. And the translation of “木兰”can be “magnolia or orchid”, but “tree-orchid” is not appropriate, it seems to the phrase composed of “tree”(木) and “orchid”(兰), which is meaningless. 4.2.2 Translation of Mythological Image Jiu Ge abound in culture-loaded mythological images, such as various Gods, Man of Gods, places in the Heaven, places on the Earth, and other mythological images which are totally different from those in western mythology and difficult to translate. And Arthur Waley and Sun Dayu adopt different strategies when translating those images. Let’s talk about the translation of the gods and man of gods in Chinese. The gods in Jiu Ge are presented in the flowing chart. Waley’s translation Sun’s translation 诸神 10 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 Monarch of the East Emperor Tai-ih 东皇太一 the Lord amid the Clouds King of Clouds 云神(云中君) the Princess of the Hsiang the Lady of Hsiang 湘夫人 the Lady of the Hsiang the King of Hsiang 湘君 the big Lord of lives the Major God of Life-ruling 大司命 the little Lord of lives the Minor God of Life-ruling 少司命 the Lord of the East East King 日神(东君) the River god the Count of Ho 黄河之神(河伯) the mountain spirit the Mountain Spirite 山神(山鬼) We may find that some translations differ from each other in the chart. In a word, Arthur inclines to literal translation because of the little knowledge of Chinese gods, while Sun Dayu tends to free translation that emphasize the true meaning of the gods. For example, “湘君” in Chinese culture refers to King Shun, while “湘夫人” are his wives, the daughters of King Yao. Another example are “大司命” and “少司命”. “大司命” in ancient minds is the god determining the life or death of a person, and “少司命” is the god in charge of the offspring. Personally, I tend to recon that Sun’s translation is more concrete than Arthur’s. Sun Dayu also adds some information in the footnotes in his translation in case of western incomprehension of the Chinese culture. Except the gods in Jiu Ge are distinct, other mythological images are also worthy of mentioning, like the places on the Heaven and Earth. the places on the Heaven Waley’s translation Sun Dayu’s translation and Earth Abode of Life the altar 云间殿堂 the province of Chi(N.E. the Middle Empire 九州 China or Central China) the Yuan the streams of Yuan 沅水 the Hsiang the streams of Hsiang 湘水 the Great River Waters 长江 Tung-t’ing Doong-ding 洞庭 Ts’en-yang Jin-yang water margin 涔阳 11 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 northern shore north bank of the water 北洲 the shores of the Li the Lih River 澧水之滨 the northern shore the stream’s north bank 江北小州 Nine Rivers Nine Streams 九河 Generally speaking, when they translate those places in the Heaven and Earth, they incline to transliteration, which is mostly adopted in translating places. Words in Arthur’s translation are more formal and correct like Abode of Life, the province of Chi(N.E. China or Central China), while Sun’s translation uses some informal and casual words like the alter, Middle Empire, waters. However, both Arthur and Sun Dayu create some new words like Tung-t’ing and Ts’en-yang. It would be hard for the western readers to understand without specific explanation. 4.3Translation Style When we translate some works, we not only should pay attention to its meaning, the form, but also the style of the original text, especially for those proses. In fact, each translator has his or her own style through their words and phase, which reflects their subjectivity to some extent. Sometimes, it’s an easy task to represent the meaning of the original text, while it’s difficult to imitate its style, if so, it may do harm to the beauty of the original text. 4.3.1 Translation Styles in Two English Versions Compared to other translations, poetry translation is much more complicated to deal with, because sometimes, we can translate the meaning of the poems, we cannot, however, find the equivalent of the original rhyme. That’s the emotion or author’s feelings behind the poems. Especially for those traditional Chinese poems, emotion is of vital importance, sometimes, it has been regarded as a standard to judge whether it’s a good or bad one. Yet foreign scholars cannot have a completely correct understanding, even worse, they translate those poems under their own way, which lead to the misunderstanding of the original culture. And all these problems, to some extent, have been related to the translator’s subjectivity. According to Lin Huangtian(林煌天,2001:99), the classical Chinese poetry translators are divided into three major schools, classical school, free school, and creative school. The classical school translators strictly conform to the original rhymes and meters, which results in the meaningless translation works. However, the scholars supporting free translation object to the ideas of the classical school, for they believe that two different 12 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 cultures are not equal to each other all the time. They emphasize meaning and emotion of the original text, even though; it may accomplish the beauty in form and sound at the expense of sense. Two versions of Jiu Ge have something different; Arthur Waley prefers that translation should stick to the principles aiming at easy understanding of the original text, therefore, he belongs to the free school, while Sun Dayu puts more emphasis on the beauty of the form except its emotion behind the poems, to a certain extent, he is a supporter of classical school. For instance, the translation of “浴兰汤兮沐芳，华采衣兮若英” in Yunzhongjun is quite typical. Waley’s translation is “I have washed in brew of orchid, bathed in sweet scents, many-coloured are my garments; I am like a flower.” While Sun’s translation is “In eupatory-soused sweet water bathed, with florid raiments blushing like fresh-blown flowers.” When we read these two translations, it’s acknowledged that the former one is simple and easily understood, while the latter one is more academic and beautiful as well because of the words like eupatory-soused, raiments. While another example is the translation of “若有人兮山之阿，被薜荔兮带女萝” in Shangui. Waley’s translation is “It seems there is someone over there, in that fold of the hill, clad in creepers, with a belt of mistletoe.” While Sun’s translation is “The manito from a retired mountain nook, robed in pomelo-figs vine, girdled with usnea.” Although there are some new words (names of plants) in two translations, the first translation is prone to be understood, not only for its words, but also for its sentence structure. And the second is prosaic and academic due to the background of author. Therefore, he chooses those elegant terms like manito and rhetoric such as the retired mountain. 4.3.2 The Choice of Words The words of some culture-loaded items differ from each other. Arthur Waley prefers those normal and contemporary words, while Su Dayu inclines to those academic words that are not familiar to the common people, mainly because they aim at different target readers. Words Waley’s translation Sun’s translation lucky day auspicious day 吉日 Orchid Eupatory 浴兰汤 many-coloured garments florid raiments 采衣 Quietly tranquillizingly 安流 13 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 autumn wind Zephyr 秋风 the gates of Heaven Heaven’s azure gates 天门 Amlber Horse 余马 From the above translation, we may find that their translation style varies from each other tremendously. The first reason is that the target readers are different; Waley translates for those ordinary people, while Sun Dayu for those educated people. The common people may know the words like “horse” “autumn wind” “quietly” and eat, while they may not know those elegant words such as “amlber, zephyr, tranquillizingly”. The second reason, in my opinion, is the difference of the aesthetic inclination. The man of letters in China tend to recon that a successful translation word must be elegant and beautiful, while the western scholars have own arguments in this aspect, some believe form and rhyme are of great importance, while others hold the view that meaning is central in translation. 4.4 Translation Strategies Comparing two translations, we may find that two translators adopt different strategies to deal with them. From above analysis, we may know that Arthur chooses foreignization, free translation. For instance, the translation of “神” and “皇帝” are worth paying attention to, we may find that Arthur adopts the word “God”, and “Monarc” in translation, which is part of western culture. Another example is the translation of “玉宫” in Hebo. Arthur translates it into “red palace” instead of “jade palace”, and actually, red palace (Alhambra)is a great palace in Spanish, enjoying great prestige in the word. As for Sun’s translation, from above analysis, we know that it’s a typical translation in favor of the classical school through its elegant and academic words, and its sentence structure. No matter what kind of strategies they use, it all depends on their subjectivity like their background, culture attitude, aesthetic inclination and so on. 5 Conclusion From the above discussion we can know that translation is difficult, poetry translation is more difficult and the translation of ancient poems is the most difficult (刘重德, 1991:26). Just as it’s almost impossible to have a perfect and complete translation work that is equal to the original text because of the disparities from other aspects, not alone the translation of the ancient poems. The translation of classical Chinese poetry requires translators to have a penetrating and deep understanding of the original text as well as its 14 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 cultural connotations. In the meantime, the excellent mastery of the target language is also of vital importance. Therefore, it is always difficult to master these two skills. Furthermore, the translation methods are also equally significant, for example, a flexible combination of literal and free translation and the shift of foreignization and domestication are greatly essential. Besides that, translators’ cultural background and the historical conditions should be taken into consideration. Another thing is that translation is created for the reader, therefore, spreading culture as well as arousing the interests of readers have to be involved in the translation process. Only in this way can readers have a correct understanding of the essence of Chinese culture, and ultimately achieve mutual communication between two different cultures. After the comparison of two versions, we can safely conclude that both versions are successful, though, they have something different. Sun Dayu pursues the beauty and the originality of the poetry, aiming at bringing the Chinese culture into world culture. Therefore he prefers to domesticate Jiu Ge. In contrast, a western scholar interested in Chinese literature, tries his best to bring Chinese culture into his own country, enriching the western culture. So he pays great attention to the meaning and culture of the original works, sometimes he may neglect the beauty in sense and sound and make some mistakes when translating those culture-loaded items. The application of the translator’s subjectivity into the comparative study of the English translation of Jiu Ge, has greatly changed the original standards in the evaluation of the translation versions. We can view the translation in an open-minded way, and acknowledge that translators do play a significant role in the process of translation. I hope that this thesis can do some help to the traditional Chinese literary translation, poetry translation in particular, and promote the further development of the Chinese literary translation. In consequence, more and more great versions of the Chinese literary could be introduced to the world and make the popularity of the eastern culture through the appreciation of Jiu Ge. Bibliography [1] Robert Payne. The White Pony [M] New York: The John Company, 1945. [2] Hawkes, David. Tran.Ch’u Tz’u: The Songs of the South. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957 [3] Hans-Venneer. Skopos and Commission in Translation Action[M]. Beijing: World Book 15 浙江农林大学本科生毕业论文 Publishing Company, 1989. [4] Terry, Eagleton. Literary Theory: An Introduction (second Edition)[M]. trans. Wu Xiaoming. Beijing: Peking University Press, 2010 [5] Jeremy Munday. Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Application [M] London and New York: Routledge, 2001. [8] 李德顺， 关于“主体性”研究的一些看法. 哲学动态[J]，1990(1):3-4。 [9] 杨自俭，我国译学建设的形式和任务[J]. 中国翻译，2002，(1):11。 [10]洪涛，英国汉学家与《楚辞•九歌》的歧解和流传[J]. 潭州师范学院学报,2008(1)。 [16] 姚斯，霍拉勃。周宁，金元浦译。接受美学与接受理论[M]. 沈阳:辽宁人民出 版社，1987。 [11]刘重德，文学翻译十讲[M]. 北京:中国对外翻译出版公司，1991。 [12]查明建，田雨 论译者主体性[J]. 中国翻译，2003(1):22。 [13]许钧，“创造性叛逆”和翻译主体性的确立[J]. 中国翻译，2003，(1):10-11。 [14]郭建中，文化与翻译[M]. 北京:中国对外翻译出版公司，2000。 周静， 译者的极限与底线[J]. 外语与外语教学，2006，(7):42-46。 [15]仲伟合， [16]林煌天，中国翻译辞典[M]. 武汉:湖北教育出版社，2005:99,238,991。 Acknowledgements I would like to express my gratitude to all those who helped me during the writing of this thesis. I gratefully acknowledge the help of my supervisor, Professor Huang, who has offered me valuable suggestions in the academic studies. In the preparation of the thesis, he has spent much time reading through each draft and provided me with inspiring advice. Without his patient instruction, insightful criticism and expert guidance, the completion of this thesis would not have been possible. I also owe a special debt of gratitude to all the professors and teachers in the School of Foreign Languages, from whose devoted teaching and enlightening lectures I have benefited a lot and academically prepared for the thesis. Finally, I am deeply indebted to my beloved parents who have always been helping me out of difficulties and supporting without a word of complaint. 16