A Study Of The Chinese Translation Of Oscar Wilde’s Fairytales From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

With the expanding cultural exchange, the demand for more and better translatedliterary works soared to an unprecedented level. Sometimes there may be three or moretranslated versions of a classic literary work, some of which have won great success, somereceived a cold welcome, and some rose from obscurity years after its publication. Up tillnow, the study on literary translation tends to go to extremes without giving anyexplanation of the rise and fall of a translated work. Further more, the conclusions, moreoften than not, tend to be too generalized and obvious. This dissertation tries to account forthe life of a translated version on the basis of Reception Theory in literary translation, andapply the theory and its derivative theories in both translation criticism and translationpractice.Reception Theory, proposed in1960s, was first used in literature criticism and then inliterary translation criticism. The introduction of the theory refines the translation process,improves the study approach and can help produce more objective results by analyzingentities involved and three links in the process. What’s more, it can also offer moredetailed and operable instruction in translation practice.Oscar Wilde’s fairytales serve as the sample in this dissertation because they are quitetypical of English fairytales and the four translated versions are the gems of the wisdom ofChinese translation practice. Reception Theory is first used in the comparative study as anexplanatory tool in criticism. And then the theory brings about the question of re-translation. Helped with other theories like Dynamic Equivalence, the dissertation furthergoes into a new standard for a qualified version, which is also illustrated by more examples.With the analysis, the role of Reception Theory in translation criticism and practice isbetter explained, and a new path for study on other works is suggested.