Gaps In SLT And Gaps-preservation In TLT

Classical Chinese poetry, terse in language and profound in artistic conception, expresses poets’bounteous feelings with limited words. It occupies an important position in Chinese literature and is spread and studied through thousands of years. In the circle of translation study, scholars produce a large number of translations of classical Chinese poetry and the study of it develops well no matter in scope or depth. However, traditional study on poetry translation lays its focus on the processing of words and grammar, neglecting the mobilization of TL readers’aesthetic initiative. Born in the1960s, reception aesthetics places readers at the central place of literary theories and aesthetical studies, transferring the focus of literary research from writers and their works to the aesthetic reception and aesthetic experience of readers. As a unique theoretical framework, reception aesthetics not only provides a new perspective for literary research, but also brings new enlightenment to translation. Based on the theory, the author of the thesis points out translators should take TL readers’aesthetic expectation into consideration, consider their expectation horizon and emphasize the play of their imagination.Literary critics and poets in ancient China have always treated the creation of implication and the expression of meaning between lines, beyond lines and behind lines as the highest level of poetry writing. The existence of gaps in classical poetry contributes a lot to achieve that goal. Gaps not only show the ingenuity of poets, but also provide wide space for readers’imagination. They are critical for the realization of the artistic value and the aesthetic value of poetry. So how to reproduce gaps in the translation of classical Chinese poetry should deserve translators’attention. Starting from the perspective of reception aesthetics, the author of the thesis chooses gaps in classical Chinese poetry as the object of the study. Firstly, the author makes a categorization of the gaps in classical Chinese poetry and analyzes their artistic value and aesthetic value with concrete examples. Then she applies the technique of gaps-preservation which at first is used in traditional Chinese painting, exploring the necessity of gaps-preservation in the translation of classical Chinese poetry. Finally, the author puts forward several methods to preserve gaps and discusses the factors that may affect the realization of gaps-preservation. The author of the thesis believes that gaps in classical Chinese poetry should be properly preserved in the translation to give TL readers the chance to reconstruct the text and give full play to their imagination. Gaps-preservation is possible but it is by no means an easy thing. It needs the translator to consider the artistic features of the original work and the expectation horizon of TL readers and to treat the work with great care.To apply reception aesthetics into the discussion about gaps in classical Chinese poetry is a new attempt in the study of poetry translation. By discussing the importance and processing methods of gaps in poetry translation, the author hopes to improve the quality of translations, provide TL readers with proper aesthetic space in poetry appreciation and realize the aesthetic value of poetry art.