Translation Studies: From The Reception Aesthetics To Diverse Interpretation

The issue of literary blankness, meaning theory and reading phenomenology, has gradually attracted great attention of literary theorists and therefore has become the hot topic of discussion. However, these theories haven't been comprehensively introduced into translation studies. This dissertation takes the blankness theory as the cornerstone to study translation by means of taking the evolution of three aesthetic paradigms of translation studies as a clue. In addition, this thesis also explores the dynamic communication between the translator, the reader and the author and the constructive roles blankness theory plays in translation studies.This essay attempts at an in-depth study of Iser's phenomenological approach to literary reading, which includes his idiosyncratic accounts of the text, the reader, and their dynamic interaction with each other. The indeterminacies are actualized by the translator under the constraint of the determinacy of the text. He cannot interpret all his understanding of the original text. He should leave enough room for the reader to realize the biankness in the original. In this sense, translation cannot be defined simply as interpretation or dialogue. The process of translation is actually a dynamic process of understanding and representing the blankness.This paper puts emphasis on Iser's latter theory of communication. Iser distinguishes himself again from other reader-oriented critics in his account of reading. The difference here is marked by his concern with the process of literary communication between the reader and the text, and his endeavor to formalize a basic structure for such a communication. Blankness as a core of reception theory becomes the medium and regulation mechanism of interaction. Without communication, there would be no act of reading.This thesis aims at the study of the external context of blankness and indeterminacy and takes a new look at the'Chinese traditional aesthetic translation idea. Another purpose is to point out the constructive meaning of the phenomenology theory for translation studies..