On Poetry Image Translation From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

In recent years,studies of poetry translation attach great importance to the study of images.However,such explorations mainly start from translation strategies,translator or translation work studies,and cultural comparison,with the limitations such as research objects detaching from the poem texts,research focuses not being targeted,and research significance lacking generalizability.Mao Zedong poems are concise and magnificent,creating countless aesthetic images with rich connotations.Nevertheless,the researches of image translation in Mao Zedong poems mostly focus on the translation strategies for one specific image.The research vision only stays at the literal meaning of the image,without going deep into its cultural origin and historical background.Besides,many researches ignore the target readers’ perception and reception of the translated images.This thesis proposes that when translating poetry images,the translator should pay more attention to the reception of target readers,and adopt different translation strategies according to different literary techniques of expression.From the perspective of reception theory,this thesis introduces two core concepts of the theory,"expectation horizon" and "response-inviting structure",as the theoretical support,giving an analysis of the application and significance of reception theory to translation.The thesis also introduces three techniques of expression,"Fu","Bi" and "Xing",as the way of classification to discuss poetry image translation,categorizing the poetry images into images depicting scenes,images for praising and satirizing,as well as images for the fusion of feeling and setting.Based on the historical and cultural background of the poems and images,the thesis makes a comparative analysis of the English translation and readers’ reception of the three types of images in the five English versions of Mao Zedong poems,including the versions of Foreign Languages Press,Zhao Zhentao,Zhang Chunhou,Gu Zhengkun and Xu Yuanchong.The thesis aims to find the rules of poetry image translation and discuss the translation standards and strategies for poetry images presented through the three different techniques of expression.In conclusion,the strategies of literal translation,domestication and literal translation plus annotation,as well as charm-translation should be respectively adopted to translate images depicting scenes,images for praising and satirizing,and images for the fusion of feeling and setting.In this way,the translation can meet the target readers’ expectation horizon and stimulate the readers to conduct creative interpretation through the response-inviting structure of the poetry.Integrating Chinese and western literary techniques and theories,this thesis discusses the translation of poetry images from the aspect of Chinese literary techniques of expression,evaluates the readers’ reception of the translation of poetry images and proposes translation standards and strategies within the framework of reception theory.It is expected to provide new directions and ideas for poetry image translation.It also,to a certain extent,contributes to promoting the translation of Chinese classical poems and the dissemination of Chinese excellent culture.