On The Aesthetic Effects Of Literary Translation

This article discusses and explains the relevant theories and methods of literary translation mainly from the aesthetics perspective. The author thinks that the foremost function of literary translation is the version's aesthetic effects conveyed to the readers, and that the reproduction of the aesthetic effects in the translated text should be the faithful reproduction of the beauty of the content and form of the original text.This paper, firstly, by introducing the actuality of literary translation in our country and in the West, points out that the following principles or standards, without exception, place it as a translator's final goal to convey the literary works' aesthetic effects and to satisfy the aesthetic subjects' aesthetic mentality, whether it is Cicero's statement about "orator-like translation", Tytler's three "laws of translation", the disputes over "Wen" and "Zhi" translation of Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures into our country in the late of Han Dynasty, Yan Fu's theory of " Xin Da Ya", or it is Fu Lei's "spiritual conformity" and Qian Zhong-shu's "sublimed adaptation". But in practice, these principles and standards are often wrongly applied. Take the present debate on Xu Yuan-chong's "three facts of beauty" (beauty in sound, in meaning and in form) in our country. Philosophically, this standard is unilateral to a certain extent, as it emphasizes the aesthetics of the translated text so much so that it neglects the faithfulness to the original text. While the beauty of literature production always lies in its linguistic form such as its wording and style, which, as a result, should be taken into account in order that we can realize the aesthetic effects of the original text.Secondly, the author analyses the dialectic and unitive relation between the aesthetic effects and faithfulness in the version. There are differences in cultures and traditions of Chinese people and westernpeople, consequently, Chinese and Westerners differ greatly in their own aesthetic mentality and consciousness. Chinese classic literature focuses on the transmission of human's frame and mood of mind, expressing one's emotion by means of the description of the scenery. However, The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle claims that the most perfect aesthetics is to imitate something as it is. His point of view of "apery" has penetrated every literature-and-art field in the West and has been the basic standpoint of Western traditional art and aesthetics. Therefore, in the process of literary translation, that is, the exchange of languages, we translators should not only convey the content and form of the original faithfully, but also make the readers of the version enjoy the aesthetic values of the original just as the readers of the source text. But we cannot blindly pursue the flowery language or sometimes discard the principle of faithfulness just in order to achieve the aesthetic effects of the original. The beauty with deviation away from the original cannot be regarded as beautiful;it is only the translator's own literature production.Thirdly, this paper concretely analyses the reproduction of aesthetic effects in literary translation from the perspective of the version's linguistic form—wording, images and style. Literature production, created by special language, is an artwork with visualization and artistry, embodying the writer's peculiar artistic style and bearing the fascinating artistic conception. So when doing literary translation, we are required, on the basis of understanding the original text profoundly and grasping the spiritual essence of the original, to convey faithfully the artistic conception of the original text that is in unity of content and form.Finally, this paper discusses how to perfectly, or at least closely, reproduce the aesthetic effects in literary translation—literal translation, free translation and the combination of them two. In the process of literary translation, there is an aesthetic relationship between translatorsand the original text. Our aesthetic mentality (including our culture background, bookcraft, language ability and aesthetic interest, experience and taste, etc.) has a direct cause-and-effect relation with the correct reproduction of the beauty of the original text. And the aesthetic mentality differs with individuals. As a result, there may be different versions of the same original text. Still, scholars home and abroad are not in agreement as to the judgment of a fine or terrible version. Whether to adopt literal or free translation (namely, the domestication and foreignization) is still in debate. While the author of this paper thinks that if we can faithfully reproduce the beauty of the content and form of the original text, we may choose any method of them, literal and free translation or domestication and foreignization. Whatever translation method, on the condition that it does not go to the extreme, it has its own merits and can reproduce the aesthetic effects of the original.In short, in literary translation, faithfulness and beauty are dialectic and unitive, and they are indispensable to each other. If we want to reproduce the artistic beauty and aesthetic values of the original text, we have to insist on the principle of faithfulness, applying the translation methods as literal and free translation or the combination of them two in the process of translating. Of course, we should realize that, just as there is no perfect translation, there cannot be absolutely faithful translation and "faithfulness" is a comparative concept. We translators sometimes have to supplement the version in the hope of making up the aesthetic differences in different cultures, thus making the aesthetic effects of the version equivalent to or at least close to those of the original text.