| For a long time, aesthetics has special meaning for both Chinese and western translationtheories ever since the translation activity came into being. Especially for Chinese, languagefunction is closely linked with aesthetic judgment. From generation to generation, manyscholars and translators contributed a lot to the Chinese traditional aesthetic translation theory.Among them, Professor Liu Miqing has made due contributions to enrich China’s modernaesthetic translation theory. He applies traditional Chinese aesthetic theory to guidetranslation activity. According to him, literary translation is to use one kind of language (thetarget language) to reproduce the aesthetic constitutes of another kind of language (theoriginal language), therefore, it embodies the process of aesthetic experience and aestheticrepresentation. The process of aesthetic representation can be divided into four steps:comprehension, transformation, improvement and representation. Literary translation is basedon the understanding of the aesthetic object (the original text), and is the transformation andimproving process of the original. It is also the last step of translation aesthetic experiencewhich is the best proof of translator’s ability and skill.Essay is a literary genre as important as poetry, fiction and drama, and its translation isan integral part of the contemporary literary translation field. The famous scholar Tsi-an Hsiahas great achievements in the field of English prose translation. His translation A Collection ofAmerican Essays is delicate in language, elegant in writing, and authentic in expression,which is a classic in translation field. Although there are many articles from time to timeevaluated the splendid excerpts of it, most of them are from the angle of language features ortranslation skills, and the aesthetic elements of it is rarely involved.Based on the translation aesthetic theory proposed by professor Liu Miqing, this thesistries to make a study on Tsi-an Hsia’s Chinese version of A Collection of American Essaysfrom two aspects of formal system (involves sound, lexis and syntax) and non-formal system (involves image, culture and artistic conception), to figure out how the aesthetic subject andaesthetic object achieve harmony to represent the aesthetic effect. Through the analysis ofsome typical examples of his translation, this paper explores how to reproduce the aestheticvalue of the original prose, and provide certain reference for the practice and study of Englishprose translation.It is confirmed that this paper, which conducts research from the perspective oftranslation aesthetics, is a meaningful taste. It shows the operability of professor Liu’stranslation aesthetic theory in English prose translation. It is hoped that this paper is helpfulfor the theory and practice of prose translation.The present thesis is made up of five chapters. Chapter One introduces the researchbackground, research object and questions, theory and methodology, and the significance aswell as the layout of the thesis. Chapter Two gives a literature review of the aesthetic originsof translation both in China and the west and the major modern translation aesthetics theory.Chapter Three is the theoretical basis of the thesis, which presents the definition of translationaesthetics, and focuses on professor Liu’s translation aesthetics theory, which includes theaesthetic subject and object, the makeup of aesthetic object, and the aesthetic process ofliterary translation. Chapter Four serves as the main part of the thesis, and it gives a carefulanalysis on the aesthetic representation of the formal aesthetic values including the beauty ofsound, of lexis and of syntax; and non-formal aesthetic values involving the beauty of image,of culture and of artistic conception in A Collection of American Essays. Chapter Five is theconclusion of this thesis which summarize the way how Mr. Hsia successfully represents theaesthetic value of the original and some shortcomings as well as the suggestions of this research. |
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