On Aesthetic Subject’s Subjective Initiative In Tang Poetry Translation

Translation, as a comprehensive and interdisciplinary subject, has an indissoluble bond with aesthetics. Translation is a process of aesthetic representation, and a process of translator’s cognition of subjective initiative. The translation aesthetic subject in thesis refers to the translator, translator’s subjective initiative embodies in translator’s understanding and expression of both languages, correct choice of translation methods, selection of translation materials, life experience and emotion and so on. aesthetic subject’s subjective initiative decides the translator’s role in the translation activities and the quality of his translation works. The aesthetic subject’s subjective initiative is the summary, precipitation and crystallization of the translator’s years of experience, and it’s also the essential condition for being an excellent translator.Tang poetry represents the highest achievement of Classic Chinese poetry, it’s the essence of Chinese cultural heritage. Tang poetry’s unique style, concise language as well as the exquisite poetic imagery, work together to bring the reader a strong artistic enjoyment. Tang poetry translation can greatly spread Chinese culture and improve cross-cultural communication. The translator, as the aesthetic subject in Tang poetry translation, should understand and appreciate the essence of the original poetry well, and fully use his subjective initiative to represent the aesthetic information in the creative translation.This thesis applies the methods of literature review and case analysis to conduct the case study of Xu Yuanchong(许渊冲,2009)’s English Version of Three Hundred Tang Poems. Based on Liu Miqing(刘宓庆,2005)’s theoretic framework of aesthetic subject’s subjective initiative namely "knowledge, aesthetic feeling, capability, intelligence" theory, this thesis makes an all-round discussion about Tang poetry translation in Xu’s English version to analyze the aesthetic value and the influence of the aesthetic subject’s subjective initiative on the poetry translation quality and the aesthetic effects. It attempts to maximize the translators’ subjective initiative to deal with the aesthetic subjects’constrained factors, and provides a new aesthetic perspective for the poetry translation practice and research. This will have certain reference value to Tang poetry translation theory and practice. Finally, on the basis of the above research, it draws a natural conclusion of this study by summarizing main achievements and pointing out some limitations.