Multiple Criteria For Translating Classical Chinese Poetry-from The Perspective Of The Reception Theory

Classical Chinese poetry is regarded as the wondrous gem of Chinese literature and world literature as well and its translation as a uniquel flower blooming in the translation garden,and translation theorists have never spared their efforts to explore endlessly into this wonderland.However,its charms fail to be reproduced as its translation criteria mostly follow the traditional literary translation theories and criteria which strictly observed a uniform criterion of faithfulness or equivalence centered on the source text. Therefore scarce attention was paid to the translator's subjectivity or the interaction among the subjects or the reader's active participation/reception in the translation process.Fortunately,the Reception Theory has been introduced in recent years to the literary translation field with its scientific quality and openness,opening up a new research vis(?)ta,but it is not on a large scale,particularly in the study of classical Chinese poetry translation, let alone the investigation into its translation criteria.The Reception Theory conceives of the literary text itself as an evocative structure filled with many spots of indeterminacy and blanks waiting for the reader to complete so as to actualize the meaning and re-creation with his horizon of expectation.This point seems to come to an inherent agreement with the appreciation and translation of classical Chinese poetry which always emphasizes the aesthetic effect of words beyond words and images beyond images with distinctive forms,compact language,strict rhyming,abundant images,connotative ideorealm,special metaphysically and cultural implications.The theory also attaches great importance to the dynamic evolution of the reception and the historicity of interpretation.The literary text is like a temporal musical work for the reader to form a spatial fusion of horizon in the constant act of reading and then play it with the new understanding.The history of transmission and reception of classical Chinese poetry could not remain unchanged;nor could different translators as the first readers with their own personality produce the identical version for the same poem.Obviously,the traditional uniform criteria become inadequate to guide translation practice,so poetry translation is in urgent need to establish multiple criteria to follow the growing passion for learning Chinese.Moreover,the multi-levels of readers along with the multiplicity of current cultures also facilitate the multiplicity of poetry translation criteria.This may be the originality which this(?)t thesis rests on:attempting to study the multiplicity of translation criteria for classical Chinese poetry from the perspective of Reception Theory and on the basis of the three general principles:①conformity to the objectivity of knowledge②rationality of understanding and validity of interpretation③consistency with the orientation of the original text presented by professor Lu Jun,the author specially suggests for classical Chinese poetry three more criteria:④effective blanks reserved for readers' aesthetic appreciation⑤encouragement of the translator's re-creation⑥flexibility in the treatment of cultural elements.The thesis falls into five chapters.The first chapter is literature review which overviews the influential traditional translation theories and criteria in China and the West and influential poetry translation theories and criteria in particular.The author states the positive points but highlights the historical limitations of traditional theory and criteria,and then the author puts forward her new ideas at the end of this chapter.The second chapter forms the theoretical foreground for the multiplicity of translation criteria of classical Chinese poetry by exploring the uniqueness of classical Chinese poetry at five levels from the perspective of phenomenological aesthetics,one of the origins of the Reception Theory.The third chapter makes exploration into the feasibility and practicality of the Reception Theory in establishing the multiple criteria for classical Chinese poetry translation,so the chapter focuses on the theoretical enlightenment from the theory.The fourth chapter constitutes the theoretical background for the thesis and discusses the necessity of establishing multiple criteria for translating classical Chinese poetry from the historical perspective by researching into the reception and transmission of the poetry.The fifth chapter proposes from the perspective of the Reception Theory three new criteria for classical Chinese poetry in additional to the existing three criteria,as introduced above.At the end the thesis concludes the significance in establishing multiple criteria for translating classical Chinese poetry.The author hopes she can -throw some light on classical poetry translation study and practice through her limited insight and efforts,thus making her modest contributions to the future prosperity of the study.