| In recent years, with the flourish of children's literature, the theoretical study on children's literature has made a great progress. In addition to the study on its creation, much attention has been paid to the study on its translation in west countries. The book Translating for Children written by Riitta Oittinen published in 2000 is a good example. In China, the majority of books on children's literature are concentrated on its creation, while little attention is paid to its translation. Even though some researches of such kind were made, they are seen only in odd articles and concerned with the historical significance of translation for children and its influence on children, or with the problems in translating the text of a specific work. Up to now, there is no such a book as systematically specializing in the translation of this kind of literature. This is incompatible with the situation. Based on this fact, the author chooses to undertake a study on this subject.Whenever the children's literature is concerned, there is one thing which has long been neglected by people, that is, the artistic nature of this type of literature. If it is not fully recognized, it will further obstruct people's understanding of the artistic nature of the translation of children's literature. Therefore, this paper intends to explore the activity of the translation of children's literature in a comprehensive way from the angle of aesthetic representation. This issue is planned to be studied from three aspects. First is the artistic nature of this activity; second is the aesthetic object in the translation, i.e. the source text and the two important aesthetic subjects involved, i.e. the child-reader and the adult-translator. Meanwhile, a discovery is made through observation and examination, which is often neglected by people, i.e. the disharmony between the two aesthetic subjects. Finally, the solution to reduce the disharmony is proposed by illustrating abundant translating examples.In the author's opinion, the translation of children's literature takes on the artistic nature like all other kinds of literature. The translation is indeed an aesthetic representation. This paper first explores the characteristics of the text of children's literature, for it carries its own distinctive features to benefit its unique reader group. The paper proceeds to explore the characteristics of two aesthetic subjects. By applying some of the standpoints of reception theory in particular, the paper discloses the translator's characteristics as adult in reading the original and rendering all its features. On this basis, the disharmony between the two aesthetic subjects, often neglected by people, is disclosed. The author holds that if this disharmony is overlooked by the translator and not properly dealt with, the translation is bound to be undesirable. The author also points out the key to reducing the disharmony rests with the translator and proposes two principles for them. The disharmony between the adult-translator and the child-reader in aesthetic appreciation will doubtlessly manifest in the translating practice. Therefore, efforts are exerted mainly to explore the superstratum elements, which could be perceived directly by children as readers.This paper comprises five chapters. Chapter One presents the intimate connection between the translation of children's literature and literary translation and concludes the translation of literature is also an aesthetic representation like all other literary translations. Chapter Two explores the characteristic of the aesthetic object—source text. Chapter Three explores the characteristics of two aesthetic subjects, i.e. the adult-translator and the child-reader. Chapter Four points out there is a disharmony between the adult-translator and the child-reader, and proposes two principles for the translator. Chapter Five undertakes an exploration of the techniques to represent the aesthetic constituents. Efforts are exerted mainly to explore the superstratum elements.
|
PDF Full Text Request