Restudy The Creative Translation Of Ezra Pound’s Cathay From The Perspective Of Deconstructive Translation Theory

Ezra Pound was one of the most famous poets in America of20thcentury. Hisgreat contribution to the western literature not only is that he was a poet, but also atranslator. He had translated lots of works; one of the most influential works wasCathay, which was produced from the famous Sinologist Fenollosa’s manuscripts. Itimmediately won a lot of discussions after it’s’ publication. Some scholars speakhighly of his creative translation. They hold such views that Pound kept theoriental-characteristic factors of the source text, which gave the English reader astrong exotic touch. And it made the Chinese classic poems more close to the westernreaders. While others thought that Pound did not know Chinese (or at least it was so inhis former years), and there were so much creation in the process of the translation byhimself. They doubted the “faithfulness” of the translation. This thesis tried to restudyPound’ translation thoughts and methods of Cathay from a new perspective, which isthe deconstructive translation theory.First of all, this thesis gives a brief account of deconstruction, including its origin,developments, major representative people and their ideas, then probes into the impactthat this theory exerts on translation studies and practice.This thesis then gives a comprehensive description of Pound and hisCathay. And the comments by home and abroad scholars of Cathay arepresented. Next, the deconstruction translation theory are used to analysis hiscreative translation methods in Cathay. In language, he made brave innovation,and he kept the Chinese syntax by deleting verbs and linking words. Throughhighlighting images, Cathay preserved most prominent image of the originalChinese text. On the other hand, he created some new images though hisimagination and previous accumulation. In cultural, transliteration, notes, and generalizing the meaning of allusions were used. This chapter introducesPound’s innovation of Cathay and how do Pound reflect his creativetranslation strategies under the deconstruction translation theory of Cathay.On the basis of the analysis in the thesis, we conclude that from thedeconstructionist perspective, Pound’s strategies in his translation of Cathayare successful, which cannot be regarded as abused translation andmisinterpretation. Because it achieves his translation purpose, gets thepopularity with western readers, and imposes strong and lasting influence onAmerican poetry. It is though his translation that the original text gets itsafterlife. In addition, through a deconstruction study of this translation, wehave found that deconstruction functions powerfully in literary translationstudies, and provides guidance for literary translation.