A Study On Imagery Transference In C-E Translation Of Chinese Classical Poetry

Imagery is the soul of poetry. On the basis of the imagery theory in Chinese conventional literary documents and the research findings on poetry translation from the aspect of imagery made by the previous scholars both at home and abroad, this dissertation makes a comparatively systematic study on the transference of imagery in C-E translation of Chinese classical poetry from the angle of its translatability, translation principles and strategies. Imagery is the key to conveying the beauty in sense in C-E translation of Chinese classical poetry. By exploring the origin and development of the notion of "yi xiang"in China and its counterpart "imagery"in the West, the author summarizes the definition of imagery in the present study. After that the paper presents the categorization of imagery in Chinese classical poetry and its multiple functions in order to make the notion more full-fledged. Generally speaking, imagery is translatable. The factors that contribute to the translatability of imagery mainly include four aspects. First, thinking in terms of images is common in both Western and Chinese poetic composition. Second, there is a common convention of adopting imagery in English and Chinese poetry. The third is the common tradition of theoretical studies on imagery in English and Chinese poetic circles. The fourth is the influence of imagism upon the Western and Chinese poetic circles. However, due to cultural difference between Chinese and Anglo-American nations, the translatability is limited to some extent. Some examples are offered to show the limitation of translatability on account of cultural differences. Professor Xu Jun has proposed three levels of translation, namely, the thinking level, semantic level and aesthetic level. The commonality between English and Chinese poetry at the thinking level constitutes the basis for the translatability of imagery. Imagery materialized in linguistic symbols can be regarded as the basic unit for both semantic level and aesthetic level. As for the translation of imagery at the two levels, there are different principles and strategies for each of them. At the semantic level, the translator should follow the principle of semantic equivalence and adopt such translation strategies as preserving, changing and omitting the images. These strategies can be subdivided into more specific ones and illustrated with examples. At the aesthetic level, the translator should try to achieve equivalence in aesthetic function of imagery between SL and TL text. The aesthetic function of imagery in poetry mainly lies in two aspects, namely, it can give the TL readers aesthetic enjoyment at two levels, one being the sensuous level, the other the level of emotion. The dissertation analyzes the beauty of imagery at the two levels with examples selected from Chinese classical poems and then explores corresponding translation strategies by making comparative studies on the different versions for those poems.