The Recreation Of Artistic Conception In Translating Wanyueci (Poetry)

Chinese classical poetry is a brilliant gem in Chinese as well as in world literature. TheSong dynasty, with its advance and excellence in civilization, initiated two schools in the literaryform called“ci”, including Wanyue and Haofang poetry Schools, of which Wanyue Schoolcontributed considerable masterpieces and these works attached importance to the artistic beauty,which imposed great influence on the later literature. Due to its popularity, the translation ofwanyueci poetry began very early. Many foreign poets absorbed the Chinese poetry elements totheir poetry and brought many cultural fruits to their culture. In order to well communicate witheach other, translating Chinese poetry into English becomes very necessary. Until today, thereare so many active translators who devoted to wanyueci translation. Whether the poetrytranslation is successful or not relies on its substantive characteristics that lie in the accuratetransference of the core profoundness of each poem. Meanwhile, the translation should meet theexpected effects and have the readers create the same resonance as the original texts transferred.The quintessential core in poetry is the artistic conception, which is the understanding andimagination to the poetry. The most important thing is that it is abstract in itself, which isdisplayed by concrete images. Such abstract attribute embodies the difficulties for poetrytranslation. Therefore, this thesis put artistic conception as the explorative point.As for Chinese poetry translation, there are different translation schools. The translationeffects are manifold in terms of reproducing the artistic conception. Artistic conception is apeculiar concept in Chinese poetry, which pertains to aesthetic category. So analyzing it fromaesthetic perspective is the best strategy. Reception aesthetics theory which was formed in 1960scatered for the translation needs and won great popularity. The conspicuous feature is thatreception aesthetics cares about feelings of the readers. The concept“expectation horizon”raisedby the representative figure Jauss was the prerequisite condition for communication betweentranslators and readers. The other concept“blank and indeterminacies”raised by Wolfgang Isermeans the imaginative spaces of readers. These two principles are the requirements the Chinesetraditional poetry translation pursues. So using this theory to analyze artistic conception ofwanyueci poetry is pretty reasonable.The thesis will mainly introduce the concepts of the reception aesthetics through large amount of translating examples; then the thesis will attempt to utilize those concepts to analyzethe realization degree of recreation of artistic conception in translating wanyueci poetry. Throughthe different translating versions rendered by different translators, we realize that there are greatdistance between the expectation horizons of different translators, so the translating effectssharply varies; Meanwhile, many translation merely pay attention to the patterns and sound tothe poetry but leaves no imagination blanks and gaps to readers, so the artistic conceptionimpossibly can be talked about.Finally, the thesis comes into conclusion that: firstly, though the wanyueci poetry is difficultto translate, it is translatable. Secondly, the prerequisite to translate wanyueci poetry is toprecisely transfer the carrier supporting artistic conception; thirdly, the translation should be inaccordance with original text and the words should be apprehended and accepted by readers.Finally, if the translation can leave enough spaces for readers to experience the unanimousaesthetic significance, the translation could be regarded as successful one. In the end, the thesispoints out the issue needs to be further explored.The whole thesis is divided into four chapters; chapter 1 briefly introduces the definition ofartistic conception, imagery and their relation; chapter 2 mainly embraces aesthetic study bycomparing the aesthetic features of wanyueci poetry and western imagist poetry and the resultshows that reception aesthetics is helpful for translating wanyueci poetry; chapter 3 primarilyintroduces reception aesthetics and the influences that the reception aesthetics imposes onwanyueci translation; chapter 4 collects different translating versions and analyzes thereproduction of artistic conception under the perspectives of reception aesthetics.