Astudy Of Wang Zuoliang's Translation Thoughts

Wang Zuoliang, an accomplished expert who have deep understanding and solid knowledge about English literature, comparative literature and literary history and an eminent scholar in the circle of translation in China, achieved his status with theoretically innovative thoughts and a mass of classic translation works. His literary research and translation and the enrichment in both theories and practices of translation won him an everlasting fame in China and a worldwide reputation. It helps explain why Mr. Wang's theoretical thoughts on the translation theories and practices need to be studied thoroughly.A systematic study on Mr. Wang is conducted in this Thesis. By comparatively thorough analysis of his theoretical thoughts and comparative studies of his and other translators'translations in aspects of the style, cultural awareness, response of readers and loyalty etc., the traits of his translation are completely exposed. The author believes that Wang Zuoliang is a forerunner who dedicates himself to advancing the modern translation theories in China in terms of the theories of translation. By inheriting the traditions and taking example by Western translation theories, he has made distinguished and heuristic comments on Yan Fu and emphasized that the response of readers need to be attached with great importance. This is an extremely illuminating act in the translation circle in 1980s. What is more, he has developed and enriched the translation theories of China from perspectives of stylistics and cultures etc. As for translation practices, he left behind him a mass of classic works, some of which are still unparalleled today. Among the considerable number of translations of Of Studies in China, Mr. Wang's version can be assessed as the most successful one in aspect of the amazing stylistic equivalence. One of his representative masterpieces of drama translation is the Thunderstorm. In the field of verse translation in China, he is reputed as a top-class expert in translating Robert Burns'verses. This thesis is composed of four chapters and an introduction as well as a conclusion.A brief introduction of its purpose, significance and the principal structure is stated in the first place. The career of Wang Zuoliang is introduced in Chapter One, including his life, education background, representative works, achievements and influences in the circle of translation. His theoretical thoughts are studied systematically in Chapter Two, which mainly includes: (1) culture awareness; (2) translation and stylistics; (3) fidelity to source text in spirit; (4) target text readers to be attracted; and (5) thoughts on verse translation. The analysis on Wang Zuoliang's theoretical thoughts in combination with the traditional translation studies stated in Chapter Two reveals the significance and influences of his thoughts in the field of translation in China. In Chapter Three, the translation practices of Wang Zuoliang are studied, including the famous A Red, Red Rose, Of Studies and Thunderstorm. And in Chapter Four, the contributions made and the value of Wang Zuoliang's translation theories are assessed. In the end comes the conclusion, which reviews the main ideas discussed in the previous parts.