A Study Of Zhang Jin's Translation Thoughts

As a translator, along with Zhu Guangqian and one of the first group of translators who rendered western aesthetic classics into Chinese in the translation history of New China, Zhang Jin translated American D. H. Parker's The Principles of Aesthetics and English Bernard Bosanquet's A History of Aesthetic to Chinese readers. He also translated Washington Irving's The Life of George Washington which narrates in detail the whole life of the first president of America. Zhang, regarded as one of the most important founders of literary school of translation studies along with XüYuanchong and Fu Lei in the new era of China, has made a great contribution to the cause of literary translation and translation studies of New China. His translation thoughts are mainly represented in his book The Principles of Literary Translation (文学翻译原理).As a thinker, Zhang has made great achievements in the study of dialectics. The dialectic basis is a distinguished feature of his translation thoughts which brings unceasing vigor into his translation studies and makes his translation thoughts more theoretical and systematic. Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics also has a dialectic nature. In terms of this point, this thesis tries to use Gadamer's"fusion of horizons"theory in hermeneutics as its theoretical framework to analyze the development and change of Zhang's translation thoughts and also his translation strategies in the translation of literary works.In this thesis, there are altogether five chapters.The author, in Chapter one, first gives a general review of Zhang Jin as a translator including his life experience and translation activities, and then has a general review of the study of translators and also the previous studies on Zhang Jin, and finally states the research objective, methodology, and organization of this thesis.Chapter two is mainly about Zhang's views of literary translation based on his book The Principles of Literary Translation (文学翻译原理) and dialectic in his translation thoughts. Chapter three mainly talks about Gadamer's"fusion of horizons"theory in hermeneutics, dialectic in it, and its application in translation. Also the feasibility and rationality of analyzing Zhang's translation thoughts with the theory of"fusion of horizons"will be included in this Chapter.In Chapter four, the author analyzes in detail the development and change of Zhang's translation thoughts and also his translation strategies from the perspective of"fusion of horizons". His translation thoughts undergo two times of fusion of horizons on a macro level. On a micro level, Zhang as a translator pays much attention to the influence of prejudice horizons to translation process, increases the resemblance degree of two main horizons, coordinates the relationship between all horizons, pursues a harmonious unity between the content and form of the TT with the ST's horizon as its starting point, translates with a combination of domestication and foreignization and gives full play to the translator's creativity.In Chapter five, the conclusion part, the author looks back on Zhang's translation activities and the above study of Zhang's translation thoughts in this thesis and draws a conclusion. Zhang's literary translation thoughts benefit a lot from his study of dialectics, which also tells the younger generation of translators a good translator has to be knowledgeable in all ways. Because of limited time and resources about Zhang's originally-used ST in his translation of the foreign aesthetics works, this thesis can not do more and deeper case studies on his translation practice. If in the future more resources about Zhang's originally-used ST are accessible, it is necessary for us to analyze Zhang's translation practice further in greater detail by a comparison study of his translation and others', which certainly will benefit the whole study of Zhang's translation thoughts greatly.In the end, the author still hopes this study can be helpful to the translation practice and translator studies of today because of its applying Gadamer's"fusion of horizons"theory into analyzing Zhang Jin's translation thoughts.