A Study On Ezra Pound’s Translating Cathay-from The Skospotheorie Perspective

Being one of the most influential poets of the20thcentury, Ezra Pound makessignificant contributions to American poetry not only as a poet but also as a translator.1915saw the appearance of Pound’s anthology entitled Cathay, translations of19classicalChinese poems. This anthology has been widely and warmly welcomed in the Westernworld, receiving much praise and compliments. It helps greatly in the process ofintroducing Chinese poetry and Chinese culture into the Western world. However, disputesand even negative comments coexist with praise since its appearance. While the creativetranslation and distinct foreign flavor of Cathay win much praise, its errors often fall undersome critics’ attack.This thesis will reexamine Pound’s translation works-Cathay, analyze the specifictranslation purpose when Pound chose to translate classical Chinese poetry as well as theconsequential choice of translation strategies from the perspective of Skopostheorie.Through tracing back to Pound’s thinking process, the author explores the reason whyCathay was severely attacked by Chinese scholars and gives it an objective comment. Wemust admit that Pound’s Cathay is the first success that classical Chinese poetry makes inthe English world. With former practice, we can find that the skopostheorie provides thetranslation practice with a very important theoretical foundation.Apart from that, the author also compares the translation collection with the originaltext through specific case study from the microscopic perspective to show Pound’stranslation techniques as well as his creative treat of linguistic and cultural element andfound the reason why Pound’s Cathay received floods of praises as well as condemnations.The author also makes detailed analysis of misreading in Pound’s translation inCathay and talks about the values and limitation of such misreading. The critics generallyagree that Cathay is the "pencil sketches" for The Cantos. Pound’s poetic skills andtranslation practice both have made profound impact on his own literary career as well asthe later translation theories and translation practice.