Franz Kuhn (1884-1961) And His German Translation Of Hong Lou Meng

This dissertation is intended to probe into abridged translation of literary texts from a new perspective on the basis of a case study of Der Traum der roten Kammer by Franz Walter Kuhn (1884-1961), the abridged, incomplete German version of Hong Lou Meng, the greatest of the repertoire of classical Chinese novels, generally known in the English-speaking world as the Dream of the Red Chamber. Abridged translation is defined as any kind of incomplete, partial transference of the content of the original into another language. Placed within the framework of descriptive translation studies and the theory of abridged translation, it critically examines the German version in a comprehensive and systematic manner. It describes the characteristics of the German translation with reference to the source text concerned and other abridged English versions, systematizes its art of abridged translation and then moves beyond the text itself to an exploration of the broad socio-cultural context governing its production and reception.To be more precise, this dissertation aims to come up with tentative answers to three intimately intertwined questions: What did the translator do about the original work? How did he manage to translate the work? Why did he process the original work that way? On the basis of a profile of the translator, it attempts an in-depth and detailed description of the German version as an autonomous text in its own right, in terms of its choice of original texts, title and chapter headings, characters and characterization, plots and structure, textual cohesion and coherence, narrative mode, culture-specific items, and finally rhetorical devices. It also categorizes the various translating methods that are employed in the processing of the chosen original texts and accounts for the extra-textual factors that have come into play in the creation of the German translation. Moreover, it highlights its unique features in comparison with other abridged English versions of Hong Lou Meng. On the whole, it investigates the German version from both within and without, integrating microscopic textual analysis and macroscopic cultural interpretation in an effort to underscore the historical contribution and contemporary relevance of abridged translation...