Study Of The Translation Of Plant Image In James Legge’s Version Of Shijing From Perspective Of Foreignization Theory

Foreignization translation, raised by Lawrence Venuti in his book The Translator’s Invisibility--A History of Translation published in1995, is an attitude or strategy in opposition to traditional "fluent" strategy in the19th century when the translation theory study comes into the cultural turn. The foreignization strategy advocates the adoption of culture and language of the source language convention, in order to resist the invasion of ethnocentrism and cultural imperialism of the Anglo-American countries as well as protect the culture of the foreign country, whose importance has gone beyond the linguistic matter, and up to the cultural, poetic and political level. With the aim of investigating the embodiment and function of foreignization theory in the translation of Chinese classical poetry, the thesis studies the translation of plant image in James Legge’s translation of Shijing in the view of foreignization theory, with the help of critical interpretation of ancient texts in Chinese Classics. The thesis analyzes the foreignizing features in the translation of plant image and tries to arouse the discussion of the translation of Chinese classical poetry. It falls in to several aspects.Chapter one is about the significance and purpose of research. First, in the1970s and1980s, translation study tends to focus on the cultural, poetic and political level, especially in the background of post-colonialism. The thesis aims at introducing the discussion about maintaining cultural equality and exoticism of the developing countries and "inferior" countries by analyzing the foreignization strategy in James Legge’s translation of plant images in Shijing. Chapter Two is the literature review, which illustrates the study on translation of Shijing as well as on Venuti’s foreignization theory both home and abroad. In Chapter Three, the source of theory and the main theoretical structure is explained. The author points out that deconstructionism and Benjamin’s "pure language" are its philosophical source and illustrates foreignization theory from perspectives of visibility of translator, foreignization strategy and its contribution. Chapter Four is the main body which consists of two parts. First, the author analyzes several aspects from Legge’s experience, selection of text, translation purpose, and translation strategy. Second, with reference to Er Ya (《尔雅》), Compendium of Materia Medica (《本草纲目》) and Iterms of Mao Poetry(《毛诗名物图说》), the foreignizing analysis of translation of plant image in Legge’s translation of Shijing is given in details. Chapter Five is the conclusion, in which research findings are revealed that Legge’s translation of plant image has the tendency of foreignization, making the translated work an exotic and unique botanic world. The foreignization strategy is advocated in the translation of classical poetry to maintain the style of source language, as well as resist the ethnocentrism and cultural hegemony of the western world.