Paratextual Intervention And The Possible Interpretive Space In Translation

As an organic part of the translated texts,paratexts,the peripheral textual elements functionally subservient to a text,such as prefaces,introductions,notes,illustrations,appendices,interviews and book reviews,provide indispensable historical data and new research dimensions for the studies of translated texts.It is the case especially in the translated classics,where a large number of peritexts and epitexts are used to introduce an original work and their translations,annotate cultural backgrounds and conceptual terms,interpret the text with vivid illustrations and provide extended reading materials.These valuable peritexts and epitexts manifest the presence of a translator,contribute to the production of a translation and influence their acceptance;not only can they truly reflect varied translation activities of different translators in different historical periods,but they can also constitute reasonable explanations for distinct translations of different translators in the same period and distincti've translations of an individual translator in a given period.Studies on the core texts of the translations often rest solely on linguistic analyses,while those incorporating paratexts would go beyond the languages and extend to various extra-textual factors consequently broadening the perspective of translation research.Therefore,the paratexts of the translations of the classic Zhuangzi are worthy of our attention and research.Fruitful researches on the Zhuangzi both at home and abroad have covered multiple aspects of the Zhuang studies(or Zhuangology)and translations of the Zhuangzi,yet currently,few scholars have conducted studies of the paratexts of the English translations of the Zhuangzi,and fewer have conducted in-depth ones from the perspective of translation.Existing researches have yielded some results that,despite some summaries of translation thoughts of translators presented in the prefaces and postscripts of the English translations of Zhuangzi,still lack a systematic research of making comparative analysis through the combination of historical contexts,translators'intentions and translated texts.This study,applying the historical paratextual data of the English translations of the Zhuangzi and an integrated research approach of searching and critically evaluating the research literatures,descriptive analysis,bibliometric visualization,qualitative analysis,text interpretation approach of Hermeneutics,and overseas reading market investigation,traces the subject-context and history-text relations and investigates into the influence of paratextual intervention in translations on their interpretation,including the intervention of the historical contexts and the translators' intentions,in an effort to find explanations as to why the Zhuangzi appears to have limitless potential for interpretations and why it becomes an all-time classic.This study finds that,on the one hand,due to the intervention and influence of historical contexts,the Zhuangzi has acquired different characteristics in different historical periods,as the result of the translations or interpretations of Chinese and overseas translators over the past century:scholarly translation driven by missionary work,application-oriented translation driven by teaching,domesticating translation driven by translation profession,antique-book-restored translation style driven by academic work,popularization rewriting driven by cultural communication,and a translation seeking common ground while reserving differences driven by East-West scholarly dialogue.On the other hand,due to the intervention and influence of the translators' intentions,there is no single interpretive vision of the Zhuangzi and that allows multi-perspective interpretations of its translations:James Legge's interpretation from the perspective of philology,Fung Yu-lan's interpretation from the perspective of philosophy,Burton Watson's interpretation from the perspective of literature,Angus Charles Graham and Brook A.Ziporyn's interpretation balancing philosophy and literature,and Martin Palmer's interpretation from the perspective of religion.This gives a hint of the possible interpretative space in English translations of the Zhuangzi.Its interpretation sees no end;the changing eras and the intervention of the historical context and the translators' intentions provide opportunities,perspectives and possible breakthroughs in previous horizons for multi-dimensionally interpreting the Zhuangzi and translating it in English.For ancient Chinese classics,there may be different interpretations of the same text.Such diversified English interpretations indicate the endless and extensible space for interpretation of the Zhuangzi that enable the possibility of translator intervention in next era.It is right in such continuous intervention of eras and translators that the Zhuangzi maintains enduring vitality and becomes a timeless classic.Research on the paratexts of the English translations of the Zhuangzi and investigation into the intervention of the historical context and translators' intentions thereof give us an idea of the openness of text and that the intervention of eras and translators expands the interpretative space of text and maintains the vitality of original work,which bears practical significance in renewing understandings of the importance of classics retranslation,realizing the limitations of traditional "translation criteria of equivalence" and perceiving the appeal of readers in the new era for more interpretive space available from translations.The success model of three bestselling "Zhuangzi"translations by Burton Watson,Martin Palmer and Brook A.Ziporyn on the overseas reading markets sets a good example for the translation of Chinese classics:when it comes to language,the translation can be both target-language-oriented and target-language-reader-oriented;when it comes to culture,it is important for the translators to show respect for the cultural otherness and attempt at linguistically eloquent translations as well;when it comes to content,the translators need to retain the openness of the source text so as to leave interpretive space for readers;when it comes to reading markets,we need to take into account the reading habits of overseas readers,and it is essential for the translators to use different translation strategies to meet the needs of their targeted readers——scholarly translation of the classics for scholars and popularization of the classics for non-scholar readers.And it is where the significance of our study of the paratexts of translations of the Zhuangzi and representation of its interpretive space lies.