A Study On Zhu Guangqian's Views On Translation

Zhu Guangqian was a scholar-type translator, whose ideas or views on translation deserved study. A down-to-the-last-detail analysis of his thoughts on translation is a valuable job which is worth to take. Up to now, we have found that only a few scholarly articles published are concerned with his translating practice and views on translation but in contrast, the researches are plentiful on his accomplishments in esthetics, literary theory and practice, psychology and philosophy and they rarely touch upon his arguments for literary translation. The literature available indicates that only a few fragmented words in some articles or in some important monographs are referred to his main ideas about translation such as "translation as an art". Finding in literature collection indicates that only one doctoral dissertation and about ten journal articles published have focused on his translation contributions so far. Things being so, a large space has been left in the research on his contributions to the field of translation. The same are true of the traditional Chinese translation theories. The traditional translation theories still enjoy great vitality and their smooth modern transition demands careful and subtle analysis and study. The relationship between his translation theory and the traditional Chinese translation theories is also worth a treatment or discussion. In order to gain a better understanding of the relationship between the traditional and contemporary translation theories, and on the purpose of adopting their advantages but avoiding their disadvantages, this research intends to make a rather thorough study of what Zhu Guangqian as a great scholar has achieved and advocated in the field of translation, including his fruitful translation practice and theory. Based on what stated above, this thesis also has made some significant reflections on the traditional translation theories. Three methods are adopted to finish this work:a thorough analysis of all the related materials, a comparison of translation theories both at home and abroad, and put the theoretic problems in contemplation in a philosophical way.This dissertation attempts to make a study in three aspects:(1) a detailed study of Zhu Guangqian's translation practice and theory; (2) a detailed analysis of his translation theory, including his theoretical ground, his theoretical characteristics and the enlightenment that we will get from them; (3) a discussion on the relationship between his proposition and traditional Chinese translation theories as well as on the proper attitude we should take towards the traditional Chinese translation theory and the contemporary translation theory.There are still some issues left for further study such as follows:the relationship between Zhu Guangqian's idea about the integration of the Chinese and western learning and the traditional Chinese translation theories; the similarities and differences of Zhu Guangqian's poetic translation theory and his poetics in literature and the relationship between the two; the enlightening points from einfuhlung in translation and the relationship between translation and creative writing, etc.. All in all are waiting for a study in the days to come.