Colors In A Dream Of Red Mansions

Compared to rare flower with brilliant hues, A Dream of Red Mansions remains unsurpassed in the history of Chinese literature and even world literature. Numerous loyal readers have been attracted by the artistic glamour of the great classic. Cao Xueqing was not only an unparalleled writer but a painter. By means of color terms and color images, he painted varicolored scroll paintings, enabling the readers to witness the erection and collapse of the red mansions. All the colors in the natural world—red, orange, yellow, green, black, blue and purple were put in good use either to depict landscapes or to express the characters' sentiment. Each color in the book seems to be full of emotions and thus is of unique artistic charm. In line with translating aesthetics and linguistic theory, the thesis examines the color terms and color images in A Dream of Red Mansions from various angles and probes into the best way to translate them.The thesis is developed into six parts.To have a better understanding of the color terms and color images in A Dream of Red Mansions, a brief introduction is given to the important status of the novel, the function of color terms and color images as well as the necessity of translation study in this aspect. In the second chapter, the relationship among language, culture and translation is stated, including the language of color, the comparison of cultural connotation between major Chinese and English color terms, the cultural and linguistic translatability and untranslatability of color terms and color images. In the third and fourth chapter, color terms are classified into basic color terms and entity color terms. Their usage and translation are discussed. The color images in the novel are also categorized. With considerable examples, an analysis is made on the description and symbolic meanings of colors in flowers, females, names and architecture of the story.The thesis tells about the literary translation theory and the translation of color terms and images in A Dream of Red Mansions in the fifth chapter. First, the author generalizes several viewpoints on the standards of translation for literary works. 1) Formal resemblance — the translator attaches more importance to the form instead of the content of the original, trying to keep the style, rhythm and intonation. 2) Spiritual resemblance — the translator aims at reproducing the spirit and essence of the original instead of the form.