On Rewriting Of Heroic Images And Plots In Outlaws Of The Marsh In The Heterogeneous Context: A Classic Poetic Perspective

Although rewriting has been acknowledged as an effective way for “going out” of Chinese literary works,yet how to rewrite has not been clearly worked out in academia.For instance,Outlaws of the Marsh has long been translated into English,however,the spread of its several English translations in the Western book market is not satisfactory.It is difficult to draw the conclusion that the English translation of Outlaws of the Marsh has successfully enabled this novel's “gone out.” What's more,the images of heroes who are so well-known and loved by Chinese readers are almost in an unknown state in the Western heterogeneous context.The reason is that the characters created in this work are inconsistent with the values and aesthetic tastes of the readers in the British heterosexual context.In fact,Western classical poetics not only constructs the expectation horizon of the readers in this context,but also forms a self-consistent system for the portrayal of characters and the design of plots in great tragedies.Inside this theoretic system,Aristotle's definition of heroes in tragedies and the theory of “classic unities” are the principles that must be borne in mind by translators.Then,if translators are to enable the heroic images in the Outlaws of the Marsh to enter into the heterogeneous context of the West and to be accepted by its readers,it is necessary to carry out proper rewriting in accordance with these core principles defined in Western classical poetics.In so-doing,the task of “going out” of the Chinese classic literary works can be carried out and thereby be successfully accomplished with translators' endeavor in rewriting.This study is composed of six chapters.Chapter one is an introduction of the background of and significance in this research.Chapter two makes a literature review of studies on English versions of Outlaws of the Marsh and put forward strategies for the Chinese literature's “going out” in the light of western traditional theories of poetics.Chapter three works on problems existing in the “going out” endeavor of Outlaws of the Marsh based on the author's observation of the sales of English versions of the novel Outlaws of the Marsh and their readers' comments on major online book stores.The fourth Chapter takes two major theories in Aristotle's Poetics as guidelines for the purpose of facilitating heroic figures' going outwards.Chapter five explores how to rewrite heroic images and plots related to them in accordance with the hero defining principle and the theory of “classic unities.” And the last Chapter,Chapter six,is a conclusion of the whole study.