On Chinese Translation Of Children's Literature From English From The Horizon Of Reception Aesthetics

Translation study has accentuated over and over again in the modern times. But most regrettably, translation for children has got less attention from translation scholars than translation for adults both at home and abroad. If we pay a retrospect on the history of children's literature in China, it is easy to come to a consciousness that the development of children's literature parallels the history of translation of children's literature in China since the Qing period. However, the academic study on children's literature translation remains almost untouched, which was a sharp contrast with the situation in the West.Few children's classics can match the charm and originality of Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden. Since it was first published in the US in 1911, The Secret Garden has become fashionable and an all-time best seller, republished in Britain and the USA for many times with numerous editions. With such far-reaching influence, however, the book is hardly known in China and the critics had shown little interest in it, letting alone its literary value. Thus a close research on its Chinese translated versions proves worthwhile and rewarding with regard to its lofty literary merit and the dissatisfying academic status quo of Translation of Children's Literature in current China.For Translation of Children's Literature from English, the enlightenment we draw from the researching approach of Reception Aesthetics theory is that translation studies should move its epicenter from text-centered to reader-centered. Since all translations involve compromise, translators should consider which rendition best suits the needs and tastes of their particular target readers, while preserving the characteristics of original texts.This thesis, employing the theoretical perspective of Reception Aesthetics, focuses on the two Chinese versions of The Secret Garden, helps to uncover the reader-centered translating awareness, the aesthetic components which should be flexibly represented in translations, and tactics to which the translators for children's literature should adhere. Two major terms of Reception theory are applied: "Horizon of Expectations" and "Indeterminacy" to the analysis of the examples taken from the two versions. There will be a comparison between the two, not aiming to judge a better one or measure the losses and gains in holding the young readers' interest in the two versions. The major concern is finding a new way for translators to study translation of children's literature from English, and probe the translating criterion when translators handle with Children's Literature from English. It is worthwhile in order to achieve exchange between translations and children readers, make them feel the beauty of source language and exotic culture, nurtured by the aesthetic components in translation, and finally appreciate translator's reproduction.