A Comparative Study On The Aesthetic Representation Of The Two English Versions Of Biancheng

Biancheng, the masterpiece of Shen Congwen, is at the peak of Chinese modern prosaic verses, possessing high academic and research value. Thanks to its exploration into the eternal humanity, deep concern for modern people’s situation in the world and its distinctive style, it occupies a significant position in Chinese even in world literature. It came out in1934, until now the study on it has undergone almost eighty years, and achieved fruitful results. It is so popular that it has been translated into thirteen languages, and even compiled into the text books for university students in the USA, Great Britain, Japan and South Korea etc. As for its translation, so far there have appeared three English versions of the work. The first version is The Frontier City rendered by Ching Ti and Robert Payne and published in1947; the second one, The Border Town, translated by Gladys came out in1981; the third one entitled Border Town translated by Kinkley and published in2009. The Chinese translation scholars have conducted researches on Ching Ti and Gladys’s versions from various theoretical perspectives, but few have so far done a research on Kinkley’s version. Therefore, Gladys Yang’s version and Kinkley’s version are chosen for the comparative study in this thesis.Biancheng carries Shen’s aesthetic ideal, thus imbued with rich aesthetic values. How to successfully represent the aesthetic effect of the original text is of great significance to a lasting viability of the translated versions in the circumstance of target language. In view of above, the present thesis attempts to make a systematic study of Glady’s and Kinkley’s versions in the light of translation aesthetics.Literature, as an aesthetic reflection on real life, first and foremost must live up to the aesthetic standards. Meanwhile literary translation is the artistic recreation on the basis of literary creation. The intermarriage of translation and aesthetics makes in heaven. With translation aesthetics as a systematic theory and Biancheng as a pastoral with superb aesthetic value, the integration between them seems to be terrific. Within the framework of translation aesthetics, the analysis of aesthetic representation is conducted in two aspects:formal system and non-formal system. As for the formal aesthetic values, it involves the beauty in sound, lexis, syntax and paragraphs. While for the non-formal aesthetic values, it involves the beauty of image and ideorealm. Through a detailed comparative examination of some typical examples, the author explores how the two translators try their utmost to recreate the aesthetic value of the original respectively. After having done the analysis, the author discovers that on the whole both are well handled and have their own strong points. Though Kinkley did better, there still exists some parts need to be reconsidered.This thesis enriches studies on Biancheng’s English versions. It also demonstrates that translation aesthetics is an operative instrument to literary translation, making prominent the important constructive role translation aesthetics plays in literary translation and literary translation criticism.