A Comparative Study Of Three Chinese Versions Of Shelley's Ode To The West Wind In Light Of Rewriting Theory

This paper endeavors to make a detailed and comparative study of three Chinese versions of Ode to the West Wind(Guo Moruo in 1926,Zha Liangzheng in 1958 and Jiang Feng in 1980) under the guidance of Lefevere's innovative Rewriting Theory. According to Lefevere, the prominent translation scholar, ideology and poetics, to some extent, will definitely exert enormous influence upon the translation process and product as well. To be specific, during the course of translation, the ideology and poetics will exert influence upon the translator's adoption of certain translation strategies to some extent. Different translation strategies will bring out the discrepancy of the translation style. In a word, the style of the rendition has the delicate relationship with both ideology and poetics.Based on the previous detailed and delicate analysis, we can summarize the stylistic features of the Chinese version respectively. In terms of the treatment of the original form, Guo Moruo preferred free verse. It is in accordance with his advocacy"hates form most"and insists on"absolute and extreme freedom". As for Zha Liangzheng, his version is more faithful in this regard. This treatment has a lot to do with individual translation theory. Jiang best transfers the original line form by using more run—on lines in his translation. As a whole, the sentence pattern is strict but full of alterations. This can be attributed to his advocacy that rewriting should be strictly based upon the original. In terms of the rhyme scheme and rhythm, Guo's version is basically not rhymed. Guo Moruo's individual poetics ,to be specific, the advocacy of the internal rhyme can best explain this point. By comparison, Zha faithfully maintains the original rhyme pattern, which has a lot to do with his translation theory. Comparatively speaking, the sound effect in Jiang's version is most fluent and harmonious. In terms of handling of the artistic conception, Guo is the bravest one since he is not bounded by the original image and artistic conception and handles is most flexibly . His translation method of the image is in conformity with his"Mood Translation"advocacy. In contrast, Zha preserved successfully the original image. Jiang faithfully and appropriately retained the original image, which is in conformity with his pursuit of imitating the formal structure as well as transference of the spirit of the original. In terms of language feature, Guo preferred to employ classic and elegant diction. Due to the fact that Guo experienced the transitional period in language, it is understandable that the mixture of the standard vernacular and traditional Chinese is distinctly exhibited in Guo's version. Besides, his agreement with Yan Fu's three character criteria also contribute to the formation of Guo's language feature. Owing to his advocacy of poetics, Zha prefers to adopt some common ,ordinary and colloquial modern vernacular words. Jiang would try to be faithful to the original in terms of diction. Jiang's version seems much more elegant, vivid, vigorous, dignified and accurate due to his use of four–character literary expressions. As far as poetry translation is concerned, the translation strategy ,the treatment of the original form, the employment of the rhythm and rime scheme, the handling of the image as well as the diction of the target language are all influenced and rewritten by some constraints ,to be specific, ideology and poetics. In a word, the style is influenced by ideology and poetics to certain degree...