A Study Of The Translation Of The Literary Terms In Wenxin Diaolong From The Perspective Of The Conceptual Metaphor Theory

Composed in the 5th century by Liu Xie, Wenxin diaolong is recognized as China’s first systematic literary theory. Besides its theoretical contribution, it is also of admirable aesthetic and literary value. However, as a prominent classic, its English translation and relevant studies are seriously insufficient.Among the many difficulties facing the English translation of Wenxin diaolong,the literary terms in it require special attention, for they serve as the foundation of Liu Xie’s literary discussions and meanwhile show great disparity with the terminology of western poetics. Consistent with other traditional Chinese literary discussions, Wenxin diaolong depends heavily on metaphors(particularly metaphors novel to western readers) to elucidate its thoughts, inspiring the research to employ the Conceptual Metaphor Theory to analyze the text, the terms, and the terms’ translation strategies with consideration of textual coherence.Firstly, the thesis argues that metaphor is much more than a rhetoric device to Wenxin diaolong, but Liu Xie’s normal way of thinking and writing. Then it focuses on the literary terms in this masterpiece and analyzes how they are coined, elaborated,and connected through metaphors. After a brief review of the existent translation strategies, the research, through detailed analysis on typical examples, brings to light how metaphorical terms function in organizing texts, justifying statements, and strengthening theoretical integrity. Each of the three points are immediately followed by an examination of different translation strategies, exploring issues like the feasibility of retaining or concealing the metaphorical attribute of literary terms in translation, the balance between consistency and flexibility, and the importance of viewing terms translation with a global perspective. Based on the above findings, the research proposes that the literary terms in Wenxin diaolong be dealt with in light oftheir interaction with conceptual metaphors and the metaphors’ significance to textual coherence. Firstly, in the situations above, when a term is indispensable to the metaphor, to conceal the term’s metaphorical attribute in the TT is likely to cause textual incoherence; on the contrary, when a term only one of the many instantiations of the metaphor, besides employing the source domain-oriented strategy, a translator can resort to a near(though not exact) English equivalent, interpretation, omission, or other methods, as long as his choice is compatible with the source domain and the target domain to fit into the context. Secondly, translators need to strike a balance between flexibility and consistency. Generally, it is an efficient strategy that translators adjust a polysemous term’s translation to its sense in use. However, when a term serves as the thread connecting the source domain and the target domain of a conceptual metaphor, it is important that we adopt a source domain-oriented translation and maintain its consistency in corresponding passages. Thirdly,compared with regional coherence, global coherence is easily ignored. For this problem, the research finds that through analyzing the metaphorical system constituted by terms and their contexts, one is more likely to detect the connections between different aspects of Liu Xie’s literary thoughts and as a result reproduce the theoretical integrity of Wenxin diaolong.In the end, the research proposes a set of procedures in an attempt to provide some references for the future translation of the literary terms in Wenxin diaolong: 1)to analyze the interaction between a term and metaphor; 2) to analyze the significance of the metaphor to textual coherence; 3) to evaluate the influence of different terms translation strategies on the reproduction of the metaphor in the TT;and 4) to examine the translation of the term with a global perspective, and make adjustments or supplements wherever necessary.