Aesthetic Representation In Children’s Literature Translation

Despite the fact that children’s literature is an important branch of the literary polysystem, it was neglected as a peripheral subject for long. It is not until in recent years that much attention is increasingly poured into it due to the rapid development of economy and booming cross-cultural exchanges. Currently, the newly-developed children’s literature is gradually occupying a dominant position and winning children’s favor. Translated works are no exception. Numerous classic children’s literary works from abroad are translated and retranslated, including Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales. The author of the thesis will make a comparative analysis of its two Chinese versions made by Ba Jin, Su Fuzhong and Zhang Min.People tend to care much about translation activities, yet forget to formulate the theoretical framework. The thesis attempts to explore how the incorporation of translation aesthetics and functional equivalence theory guides children’s literature translation. Children’s literature is characterized by its artistry, which is no doubt linked to children’s unique disposition. Children’s rich imagination, their acute sense of color, rhythm and children-favored animated images, etc. should be given priority in the process of translation. Based on Liu Miqing’s interpretation of translation aesthetics, the thesis will be developed from the perspective of the formal aesthetic system and non-formal one to exemplify the realization of aesthetic transference and representation. However, the effectiveness of the aesthetic transference can hardly be convincingly evaluated. Therefore, the author turns to Nida’s theory of functional equivalence to compensate for the deficiency of translation aesthetics, and meanwhile reinforce the importance of children’s response. Liu Miqing’s frequent references to "equivalence" and "dynamic equivalence" in his introduction of translation aesthetics have much in common with Nida’s core theory. Based on that, the author presents two hypotheses, namely, the applicability and validity of functional equivalence in guiding children’s literary translation. A case study will finally be conducted as to how the two hypotheses can be helpfully effective in achieving the aesthetic representation in translating children’s works.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is a general introduction of the thesis, including its background, purpose and organization of the paper. Chapter Two integrates translation aesthetics with children’s literature. In dealing with aesthetic constituents, the author of the thesis presents some initiative ideas into the general framework, trying to clarify the correlated connection between translation aesthetics and children’s literature. Meanwhile, basic principles of aesthetic representation are introduced Chapter Three mainly deals with the relationship between functional equivalence and children’s literature from the perspective of the theory’s applicability and validity. Chapter Four is the case study of the two Chinese versions of The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Based on the two hypotheses put forward in Chapter Three, the case study is carried out based on the aesthetic object’s formal constituents and non-formal constituents. What follows is a conclusion which analyzes the aesthetic similarities and distinctions between the two versions. Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis. The general framework of functional equivalence theory and translation aesthetics can be the solid theoretical basis for the aesthetic representation in children’s literature translation.