On Indeterminacy In The Translation Of Bian Cheng

The"reader-centered"reception aesthetics established by the Constanz School in Germany During the late 1960s,on the basis of phenomenology and hermeneutics, has exerted a unique influence upon literature as well as literary translation circle with fresh viewpoints.Reception aesthetics believes the text meaning cannot be produced by itself, and it is just a result of communication between the text and readers. As one of the founders of reception aesthetics, Iser believes that the text is full of"blanks"intended for readers to fill in by their imagination. So, reception aesthetics establishes the central status of readers and considers reader an indispensable factor in the process of aesthetic valuation in literary works. Furthermore, basing on the"Schematised Views"of Ingarden, Iser puts forward"Appealing Structure", namely, places of indeterminacy or blanks in the meaning of literary text left by the author deliberately, awaiting the concretization or actualization by the reader. Coincidentally, the reception aesthetics has also been cherished by Chinese authors since it was introduced into China in the late 1980s. Zhu Liyuan has made a thorough research on Iser's appealing structure, and extended his theory. He takes the view that the appealing structure should cover a broader area. According to their opinions, this thesis mainly deals with the process of understanding and aesthetic representation in literary translation from the perspective of multi-layers language system, taking the two English versions of"Bian Cheng"for demonstration.Literature, an aesthetic reflection on real life, first and foremost must live up to the aesthetic standards. Literary translation as an art is in line with this standard, the ultimate aim of which is to satisfy readers'aesthetic requirements. Literary translation entails a translator to cope with all kinds of questions arising from language, culture, author, text, reader, and so on. Literary translation is an actual representation of aesthetic art, which is not only the wisdom of ancient translators, but also the common view of contemporary translators. Of course, the representation is a limited creation fettered by the faithfulness to text and reader. Aesthetic representation covers a variety of areas and concerns many factors. Here, this thesis, taking the two versions of Bian Cheng for illustration, mainly discusses the recreation of the indeterminacy for the purpose of reader reception in view of theory and practice.Firstly, the author deals with the origin and evolution of reception aesthetics and its process of introduction and acceptance in China. The core of reception aesthetics lies in the appealing structure of text. As literary works are rich in gap, fuzziness, polysemy and indeterminacy, it exposes the ultimate open space, and every reader may be aroused to explore and create the open and profound meaning of text according to his own experience, knowledge and imagination. To reconstruct the connection left by indeterminacy and gaps, the readers are required to apply"gestalt"psychology to fill in the indeterminacies and gaps in their own way.Traditional translation theories hold that translation is a monomial process aiming at text-center, ending with the reader- terminal and regarding the translator as a media. However, reception aesthetics adheres to the notion that translation is a dialogue-relationship between the literary text and its interpreter, and the meaning of the text is achieved after the fusion of readers'horizon with the horizon of the text during the process, so the meaning of the text is never closed or static but always open-ended and dynamic and indeterminacy exists in both process of understanding and representing. The emphasis of this thesis is laid on the aesthetic representation in multi-layers language system. As the literary works are full of gaps and indeterminacies, a translator is expected to recreate the original appealing structure in his translation. He should recreate the corresponding context and appealing open space in appropriate diction and expressions. In the recreation of the appealing structures in the literary language and textual meaning, a translator should bear the notion of reader's need in mind, by virtue of empathy, which would influence his diction, and make his version a difference. The immediate aim of literary translation is to endow reader with aesthetic enjoyment by enabling him to decode the text through the process of reading. According to reception aesthetics, the literary works are created by both the author and the reader. And comparatively speaking, the reader more than plays a crucial part in literary recreation; he is an actual pivot of the whole recreation.Bian Cheng is known with universal praise, as its glamour and popularity lie in its limitless appeal. In this thesis, taking the two versions of Bian Cheng for illustration, the author made a tentative pursuit into the aesthetic representation of indeterminacy from the perspective of"Prosodic features and form","Semantic construction","Image and artistic conception"and"Psychology". The losses and gains of the two versions are also evaluated in accordance with reception aesthetics. To summarize, in this thesis,"aesthetic representation"is the focus, and"reader reception"is the target, with the"translator subjectivity"as a prerequisite and the"faithfulness"as a constraint. These aspects are correlated intrinsically and integrated into an organic whole unit. Thus this thesis provides an effective method for the translation of Chinese literature in the light of reception aesthetics.