The Aesthetic Transference In Xu Yuanchong's Translation Of Classical Chinese Poetry

Professor Xu Yuanchong, an outstanding translator in the late 20th century, has made great contributions to the spread of Chinese literature to the rest of the world, especially that of the translation of classical Chinese poetry. Apart from his abundant translational practices, Professor Xu has also put forward quite a few theories about classical Chinese poetry translation. Some of his theories, however, have evoked argumentations in the circle of translation. Especially the theory of "Three Beauties" has once triggered a host of controversies. In this thesis, the author attempts to review Xu's translation theory and practices from the perspective of image-G actualization theory, in the hope that this paper can shed new light on classical Chinese poetry translation and provide some fresh ideas for the researchers in this field.The theory of image-G actualization is proposed by Professor Jiang Qiuxia in her book Aesthetic Progression in Literary Translation:Image-G Actualization (Jiang Qiuxia,2002). The major points include:image-gestalt is an image in the gestalt sense, which is a universal property existing in a literary text; literary translation involves a process of aesthetic image-G actualization; the internal structure of any image-G is a kind of scenes-and-frames integration; aesthetically, successful literary translation resides in successful image-G actualization; an image-based literary translation model is as such:phase 1:source text comprehension--a mental actualization of image-G; phase 2:target text creation--a verbal actualization of image-G.As an attempt to apply image-G actualization theory to the study of Xu's translation, the present thesis has three focuses:1) to prove the feasibility of the theory of image-G actualization to interpret and guide classical Chinese poetry translation; 2) to analyze the transference of beauty in Xu Yuanchong's translational practices of classical Chinese poetry from the perspective of image-G actualization; 3) to probe into the similarities and differences between the theory of image-G actualization and the theory of "Three Beauties" to prove that the two theories can complement each other so as to push forward the translation of classical Chinese poetry.