A Tentative Study On Lin Yutang's Translation From The Perspective Of Aesthetics

As a famous Chinese scholar,on the basis of his abundant accumulations in linguistics and culture, Lin Yutang shuttled between Chinese and English language and culture skillfully, made outstanding contribution to the East and West cultural exchange. During this process, he continued to implement and improve his own translation theory and practice, won an important status in translation studies. However,because of several reasons , studies on his translation are far from being sufficient compared with studies on other translators. It is very incompatible with Lin Yutang's historical status and outstanding contributions .The author thinks we should extend and deepen the research on Lin Yutang's translation from more aspects. We should inherit our traditional translation research technique, and unite the translation research in macroscopical and microcosmic, static and dynamic way.In Chinese traditional translation theories, nearly all propositions have philosophic and aesthetic origins. They are exploration and comment of literary aesthetics. Aesthetics plays a profoundly significant role in the development of Chinese traditional translation theories. And especially Lin Yutang is the first one to bring the theory of aesthetics to the field of translation in Chinese translation history,which exerts great influence on Chinese translation studies. The author will unify the Chinese traditional translation theory to discuss Lin Yutang's translation from the perspective of aesthetics. In this thesis, the author will discuss the aesthetic subject --- Lin Yutang with his translation theories, and the aesthetic object --- Lin Yutang's Six Chapters of a Floating Life with the detailed analyses of the aesthetic information in forms and in contents, presenting the"aesthetics"in Lin Yutang's translation theory and practice, accordingly explores the significance of Lin Yutang's translation.In aesthetic subjects, the author unifies the Chinese traditional translation theories to discuss Lin Yutang's aesthetically oriented view and translation theory from the perspective of aesthetics. The thesis traces back to translation aesthetics in Chinese traditional culture , searches Lin Yutang's absorption of Chinese traditional culture, analyzes Lin Yutang's criteria of translation,"faithfulness, smoothness and aesthetic quality", especially the"aesthetic quality", and obtains the nature of Lin Yutang's aesthetically oriented theory of translation . In aesthetic objects, with the application of translation aesthetic theories, the author analyzes some cases in Six Chapters of a Floating Life by comparing the original with Lin Yutang's translation, discusses the principles that Lin Yutang employed when conveying aesthetic information. Six Chapters of a Floating Life, as one of the representative works of Lin Yutang, perfectly reflects his aesthetic translation theory, completely presents his artistic achievements in translation.Lin Yutang's contributions to translation is irreplaceable. The author hopes that the study of Lin Yutang's aesthetic view in translation theory and practice can promote the present studies on Lin Yutang to a certain degree.