A Case Study Of Yang Guobin’s English Translation Of Wenxin Diaolong From The Perspective Of The Other Theory

The English translation of excellent ancient Chinese literary theory is of great significance for overseas spread of Chinese literary theory,breaking through the“Aphasia” and realizing a dialogue between Chinese and Western literary theory.Wenxin Diaolong,the peak of ancient Chinese literary theory,is the first comprehensive literary theory work in the history of Chinese literary criticism.Therefore,its English translation is of vital importance to the “exotic rebirth” of Chinese literary theory.In the past,domestic and foreign scholars have studied the English translation of Wenxin Diaolong from different perspectives,but they rarely conducted research from the perspective of the Other theory.Yang Guobin’s English translation of Wenxin Diaolong is one of the representative translation works of Wenxin Diaolong in the new century.The Other theory contained in the translation is worth exploring.By using methods of literature analysis and content analysis,this thesis takes Yang Guobin’s English translation of Wenxin Diaolong as the research object to study its translation text from the perspective of the Other theory.More specifically,this thesis takes the Chinese literary theory,Wenxin Diaolong as the“self”,while the Western literary theory and Western readers as the “other” to study how the translator breaks the barrier between Chinese and Western culture in the process of translation,spreads excellent Chinese ancient literary theory and realizes the effective dialogue between Chinese and Western literary theory.The Other theory contains three aspects which are the emphasis on the “self”,the respect for the “other”,the dialectical unity between the “self” and the “other”.It is found that in Yang Guobin’s translation,these three aspects are fully represented.First of all,as a translator born in China,Yang Guobin inevitably assumes the responsibility of spreading excellent ancient Chinese literary theory.In Yang Guobin’s English translation,he pays attention to the meticulous study of the source text of Wenxin Diaolong,which promoted the spread of Wenxin Daiolong to the West to a certain extent.Secondly,in Yang Guobin’s English translation,he pays attention to the feelings of Western readers and the characteristics of Western literary theory.According to the actual situation of the “other”,he adopts domestication translation strategies with literal translation,transliteration,free translation,“original text plus modern Chinese text interpretation plus English translation” and other translation methods.It makes the excellent ancient Chinese literary theory easier to be accepted by the West,which is conducive to alleviating the situation of “Aphasia” of Chinese literary theory.Finally,in Yang Guobin’s translation,Yang Guobin emphasizes the relationship between the “self”and the “other” in a dialectical and unified way,which is beneficial to helping Chinese and Western literary theories seek commonality while reserving differences and communicate with each other,thereby promoting effective dialogue between Chinese and Western literary theories.The English translation of Wenxin Diaolong by Yang Guobin is of irreplaceable value in promoting the dialogue between Chinese and Western literary theory and promoting overseas dissemination of excellent ancient Chinese literary theory.