On Ezra Pound's Strategies In Translating Cathay: The Skopostheorie Perspective

Ezra Pound is the famous American poet, poem critic and vanguard of Imagism. 1915witnessed the first appearance of his slim anthology entitled Cathay, a collection of translations of nineteen classical Chinese poems based on the manuscripts of Ernest Fenollosa. Pound's creative translation and Cathay's exotic flavor have won some critics'praise, while its grammatical and syntactical errors often fall under others'attack. This dissertation aims to reevaluate the translation strategies and effects of Cathay in the perspective of Hans Vermeer's theory of Skopostheorie. Judged in the Skopostheorie framework, the purpose of translation determines translation strategy. A translator will and should decide what to translate and how to translate under the guidance of translation brief (translation requirements). As for the evaluation of the translated text, linguistic equivalence is no longer the only yardstick. Translation criticism should extend its scope to cover more factors. In the light of Skopostheorie, although there are some limitations, Cathay is, generally speaking, an anthology of successfully translated poems, for its conformation to Pound's poetry translation principles, the warm reception by the western readers and the tremendous influence on the target-language culture, and therefore, we should be positive when judging Cathay.