On The Translation And Reception Of The Book Of Songs In Britain And America

Chinese culture has a long history with vast extent and unique characteristics;however,its value has not been sufficiently recognized in the world. There are still people who depreciate China and Chinese culture. Through the research on the translation and reception of The Book of Songs (Shijing) in Britain and America,this thesis questions and criticizes the depreciation of Chinese culture in the West.This thesis intends to conduct an intensive and systematic research on the translation and reception of The Book of Songs in Britain and America in the light of historical hermeneutics,reception theory and cultural criticism. It reexamines the significance of the translation and reception of The Book of Songs in Britain and America in the process of cultural globalization.This thesis consists of five chapters besides introduction and conclusion.Introduction briefs the writing motive and the basic structure of this thesis.Chapter one offers a general account of The Book of Songs. It covers the basic knowledge of the present text of The Book of Songs and its poetic features.Chapter two makes a comprehensive and systematic study of the English translations of The Book of Songs. It traces the English translation history of The Book of Songs,and offers a detailed comparison of four important versions rendered by translators with quite different identities at different historical periods.Chapter three examines different interpretations as embodied in the major English translations of The Book of Songs. It applies historical hermeneutics to the research on the cause of different understanding andinterpretations of the culture reflected by this ancient anthology.Chapter four analyzes the reception of The Book of Songs in Britain and America in the light of reception theory. It mainly discusses social and historical conditions and the people's expectation and offers some important Anglo-American scholars' thoughts on The Book of Songs.The last chapter reevaluates the translation and reception of The Book of Songs in Britain and America in the process of the cultural globalization. It applies Orientalism to criticize the Western representations of the East. Westerners boast of the superiority of Occidental culture to Oriental culture,ignoring and unjustifiably depreciating Oriental culture. This thesis takes the translation and reception of The Book of Songs in Britain and America as a good example to question this bias. At last it stresses the significant function of translation in "de-marginalization" of Chinese culture.The conclusion sums up the whole thesis,emphasizing the significance of translation and dissemination of Chinese literary works like The Book of Songs in the process of cultural globalization. Chinese culture has been unjustifiably ignored and depreciated and is still in the marginalization on the global stage. It is the responsibility for translators to highlight the spirit and identity of Chinese culture,making its value fully recognized in the world. Only through this way can we speed up the "de-marginalization" of Chinese culture and justifiably put it in an equal position with Western culture,and it can finally be realized that Occidental culture and Oriental culture communicate and co-exist equally in the world.