Legge Translation And Interpretation Of The "book Of Songs"

Set in the development of English sinology, this thesis analyses the variation of two different versions of James Legge's Shi Jing in The Chinese Classics Translated into English with Preliminary Essays and Explanatory Notes. And through the analysis both in his perception and practice of translation, the thesis demonstrates the two times of translation is actually experienced a process from the critical reinterpreting to the literary rewriting, moreover it reveals his reception of the Confucian hermeneutic of Shi Jing in Late Qing period, as well as the influence for the later translation of Shi Jing. At last, from this individual case, the thesis tries to explain the reasons of the distortions and the misreading in the modern interpretations of old classics and in different cultures'communications and conversations.The introduction puts forward the reason of this study, giving out the special value and the complex history of two versions of Legge's translation of Shi Jing. Then, the text is divided in to four chapters. The first chapter elaborates the western culture context in 19th century in which James Legge lived, and the establishment of his concept of translation. The second chapter entries into the textual analysis of the 1871's version of Shi Jing, exhibiting James Legge's critics and rewriting about the Confucian hermeneutic of Shi Jing, unfolding his special cultural attitude and cultural transforming intention of the translation. The third chapter analyses the transversion of his concept and practice of the translation in 1876's version, in order to display the variation of his cultural mentality on Shi Jing's interpretation, and to proclaim the cultural value of this kind of transversion. The forth chapter starts out from the comparison of two versions, ended with the exposition of relation and influence between the transition of his translation behavior and the outward cultural context, displaying the western aesthetic standard in his translation, and taking the case as a mirror, reflecting the inevitableness and the value of the misreading in the modern interpretation of the old classics and in the cultural communication.