"Conveying The Meaning In Its Full Flavor"

This dissertation is an attempt to bring the translation theory of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”, which is proposed by Professor Wang Rongpei who has been in the long practice of translating Chinese Classics into English, under close scrutiny, aiming at constructing a theoretical system. This dissertation has two main aims, reflected in its title and subtitle. One aim of providing an intensive introduction to“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”keeps pace with another aim that is to construct a translation theoretical system.For the sake of constructing a translation theoretical system,“Theories of Middle Range”and“Principles-and-Parameters”, proposed by Robert Merton and Noam Chomsky respectively, are well arranged to elucidate the connotations of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”and its applications in translation practice.“Theory of Middle Range”is employed for the purpose of theoretical orientation, through which the guidance of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”in theory and its applicability in practice are brought into full play, while the framework of“Principles-and-Paramaters”is used for setting the parameters for“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”. To be concrete,“conveying the meaning”could be inspected from the semantic angle, the pragmatic angle and the cognitive angle while“in its full flavor”could be appreciated according to those overt factors of the original text including genre, style, artistic conception, emotion and form. As a matter of fact, Chinese translators and western translators have all given their close attention to principles and parameters, but they are more often to develop empirical generalizations, than to acquire its minor parameters, thus this dissertation attempts to summarize those parameters under the guidance of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”in great detail.“Conveying the meaning in its full falvor”is not in a structure of coordination, but in a modifier-modified structure. That is to say, mere“conveying the meaning”is far from enough, because“in its full flavor”is the lifeline of all literary translations. In order to give readers an overall view of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”,“conveying the meaning”and“in its full flavor”are studied respectively. With regard to“conveying the meaning”in translation, there is no objections in academic circle, thus this dissertation makes further efforts to probe into“what meaning should the translator try to achieve”and“how to achieve the meaning”. On the one hand, the answer to“what meaning should the translator try to achieve”is that the translator should stay close to the original text and then choose the meaning according to his cognitive knowledge. On the other hand, the answer to“how to achieve the meaning”is that China English is applied for translating Chinese classics into English.“In its full flavor”is not something that cannot be reached, and it can be known by effective analysis. It is usually considered that“in its full flavor”derives from the traditional painting critisicm, and it has gone through three stages of the Wei and Jin dynasties, the Tang and Song dynasties, and the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, with particular chacteristics in each stage. Combining the characteristics of“in its full flavor”and the nature of translation, the ideas of“merging the spirits of the original target and the painter into a wholeness”in the Tang and Song dynasties are adopted in this dissertation, with Su Shi’s notion as the typical example. Su Shi, a famous writer in the Song Dynasty, wrote an article about“in its full flavor”in particular, in which the notions of“general rules”and“everyone has his own flavor”were evidently presented. Shen Zongqian, another painting critic in the Qing Dynasty, made further improvement on the notion of“everyone has his own flavor”and advanced a new concept“steady and reliable flavor”. However, the notion of“in its full flavor”is not unique in China, many descriptions about“in its full flavor”, from different time and space, have also been searched out in the western painting criticism. It can be seen from the fact that China and many western countries have much common ground on the subject of“in its full flavor”.“Coveying the meaning in its full flavor”is also examined in the comparisons of different versions of the same original text so as to test and verify it in a reasonable manner.With full analytical awareness of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”and its possible parameters in translation practice, its superiority and potentiality are brought into full play. Generally speaking, the more problems handled by a given theory, the greater its scope. The author hopes that in the foreseeable future, the great clarity about these concepts, and the hidden ability to use them, will be among the most valuable accomplishments to be acquired by studying this dissertation.This dissertation is composed of six chapters.The first chapter begins with a brief look at the motivation and background, to be followed by the aim and the significance of the study, the methodology and the structure of the dissertation.The second chapter mainly places emphasis on the preparatory steps for constructing the translation theoretical system, including the definition of“thoughts”,“theory”and“theoretical system”, the necessarity and feasibility of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”. On the basis of these preparatory discussions, the author puts forword the framework of building the theoretical system of this dissertation.The third chapter traces the origins of“conveying the meaning”and“in its full flavor”separately. Taking the Chinese traditional translaton theory as the starting point, we talk about the evolution of“meaning”in succession, and then identify what is“conveying the meaning”in this dissertation. With regard to“in its full flavor”, it can be traced back to the traditional painting criticism, and its applications in the classical drama and the classical novel are also mentioned to define what is“in its full flavor”in this dissertation.The fourth chapter mainly talks about the integration of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”and“Theories of Middle Range”and the framework of“Principle-and-Parameters”. These two research methods have proven to be useful tools for building a translation theoretical system on the basis of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”. To be concrete,“conveying the meaning”and“in its full flavor”are regarded as two basic principles of classical translation, while the parameters of“conveying the meaning”can be inspected from the semantic angle, the pragmatic angle and the cognitive angle, and the parameters of“in its full flavor”can be determined as genre, style, artistic conception, emotion and form.The fifth chapter covers the application of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”in the translation of Chinese classical works. Different versions from classical poetry, classical essay, classical drama and classical novel are selected for comparison in order to demonstrate the feasibility and practicability of“conveying the meaning in its full flavor”.The sixth chapter is the final portion of this dissertation. After all the previous questions have been discussed, a brief conclusion over the previous five chapters is given at first, and the contributions and the limitations of the study are presented in succession.