A Kaleidoscope Of Aesthetic Realization: The English Translation Of The Chuanqi Drama In The Ming And Qing Dynasties

Written by the ancient Chinese literary men, the Chuanqi Drama of the Ming and Qing Dynasties are the fruitful products of the Chinese classical literature as it evolves into a comparatively advanced stage. Being a typical representative of the traditional Chinese culture, they play a very important role in the Chinese literary history as they do possess great literary value. Up till now, the English translation practice of the Chuanqi Drama has been going on for some time, which has already yielded recognizable achievements; however, the theoretical research into the English translation of these drama has been relatively inadequate within the world of translation studies. The chief function of theory lies in its epistemological nature; therefore, this dissertation is committed to acquiring profound knowledge in understanding and interpreting the English translation practice of such drama and to revealing the translation laws involved. Based on descriptive translation studies, it aims at constructing translation principles and translation modes for the English translation of this special kind of drama through text analysis of the source text in general and case studies of seven English translation versions of four plays including The Lute, The Peony Pavilion, The Palace of Eternal Youth and The Peach Blossom Fan.Scientific and objective research findings should be based on scientific theoretical foundation, in view of which the present dissertation incorporates translationally relevant text analysis, translation corpus, translation shift analysis and translation norms into the theoretical research of the English translation of the Chuanqi Drama, so as to achieve validity for the research findings. Giving emphasis to both qualitative and quantitative analysis and attaching importance to both systematic and synthetic analysis, the research carried out in this dissertation boasts of a combination of six kinds of methodological nature, namely, the descriptive nature, the analytical nature, the comparative nature, the interpretative nature, the evaluative nature and the statistical nature, which work together to ensure that the translation principles and translation modes constructed in the dissertation should be of genuine academic significance. Specifically speaking, the descriptive translation studies adopted in this research start with text analysis of the Chuanqi Drama, which falls into the category of qualitative analysis. Through such analysis, four layers of textual features are extracted, including features in the linguistic layer, the literary layer, the cultural layer and the aesthetic layer, among which the first three layers of features are distributed on different text levels while aesthetic features indeed consist of information that is selected from the other three levels which is able to bring about aesthetic experience. In addition, features from different text levels are always interrelated to each other, constituting an integral identity for the Chuanqi Drama. After identifying the textual features, the translation corpus made up of the selected cases for study is built up and then different annotation schemes are subsequently designed based on the identified textual features. With such annotation schemes, the corpus is accordingly annotated manually at different levels for their textual features and the corresponding translation features. Consequently, useful data are retrieved from the annotated corpus and are later used to make quantitative analysis of the subject under study. Besides quantitative analysis based on the translation corpus, qualitative analysis is carried out as well since it is also necessary for researching translation shifts under certain circumstances. Both qualitative and quantitative analysis is employed with the aim of identifying universal translation strategies, namely the translation norms, and individualized translation strategies adopted by translators when translating specific textual features. The identified translation norms and individualized translation acts are then synthesized and integrated so as to establish translation principles and translation modes for the English translation of the Chuanqi Drama.Based on the findings obtained from both the qualitative and quantitative analysis, the present dissertation establishes general principles for translating the Chuanqi Drama of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, specific principles for translating each layer of textual features and dynamic principles for simultaneously translating interrelated textual features. In addition, it also constructed four modes for the English translation of the Chuanqi Drama, including the naturalistic mode, the realistic mode, the impressionistic mode and the aesthetic mode, with the seven versions of translation involved in the study as their respective representatives. Naturally, the four translation modes constructed in the dissertation are subject to the testing of future translation practice for their validity and interpretative power. If these modes should survive the testing of adequate translation practice, the theory for the English translation of the Chuanqi Drama of the Ming and Qing Dynasties would be finally established. All in all, no matter which mode a translator adopts, the present dissertation maintains that, any translation is considered as valuable so long as it can achieve its communication aim and reveal the basic character of the drama. Furthermore, if the translation could reproduce their aesthetic features to the utmost extent on such basis, it is naturally regarded as excellent work of translation. Just as the poem goes, the Western Lake is always charming in either light or heavy makeup. The same is true with the translation of the Chuanqi Drama—there is no limit to the pursuit of the art of translation. Hence, in the translation world of these drama, there will always be"heavier"work of translation and there will never be"the heaviest"work of translation; nevertheless, even"the lightest"translation is still qualified to project a ray of redness into the target language. The English translation of the Chuanqi Drama simply requires that the translation can satisfy the lowest standard of"light makeup"and constantly stride forward to the highest standard of"heavy makeup"—there is no limit to study and there is even no limit to artistic pursuit.