On Strategies Of Drama Translation From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

Generally, regarding the central topic in drama translation studies—performability, there are two mainstreams co-existing in recent years: text-focused and performance-focused. In the viewpoint of the present author, as drama texts and performance weigh equally in optimizing and measuring translation work, the key to combining both is to study the receptors of original texts—the translator as well as the receptors of translated scripts——mainly the audience of performance, and therefore the author attempts to introduce into the present study Reception Aesthetics that gives priority to the aesthetic effect of literary texts on receptors.The author has separated the present thesis into five parts. In the introductive part, the author first gives a general review of the research and status of drama translation studies in China as well as in western countries and thereupon puts forwards the purpose and subject of the thesis. After that, the features of dramatic texts are briefly discussed with focus on their rhetorical and linguistic aspects along with a literary review of some representative theories in the field of drama translation studies. It is then followed in chapter two by a systematic summary of the theoretical assumptions found in Reception Aesthetics. In chapter three, the author tries to apply the theories of Reception Aesthetics to drama translation on both structural level and linguistic level by integrating the main features of drama with Reception Aesthetics as the theoretical and methodological tool. In the concluding part, with further justification of applicability of Reception Aesthetics in drama translation, the author clarifies some general strategies regarding the structural and linguistic dimensions of drama translation from the perspective of Reception Aesthetics. To sum up, this thesis applies Reception Aesthetics to the studies of drama translation concerning major rhetorical and linguistic textures of dramatic texts. Apart from introducing a new perspective into drama translation studies, a more significant purpose of the thesis is to propose some constructive strategies and methodologies for translators in general to follow.