Study On Lin Yutang’s Self-translation Of Folklore In Moment In Peking

Moment in Peking is Lin Yutang’s masterpiece for the introduction of Chinese traditional culture and a bridge for culture communication is built between Chinese and westerners. The successful presentation of Chinese folklore is one of the reasons for which the novel is popular with the foreigners. The novel is characterized by rich connotations, exquisite descriptions and complicated forms of folklore. Chinese folklore is rich in contents and various in forms and can be divided into folklore on material, folklore on society, folklore on spirit and folklore on language. Folklore, as the main constituent of Chinese culture, shows the unique culture and concepts of Chinese people. Thus it is necessary to take folklore for a systemic and deep study. We can point out that the novel contains the features of translation because the novel is full of the contents about China but is written in English. In such a world of globalization, the transmission of Chinese folklore to the world must be aided by translation, so the study on folklore translation plays an important role in cultural communication.By the reading, the author found that main concepts of western literary theory--Reception Aesthetics can be reflected in the expression of Chinese folklore by Lin Yutang. Reception Aesthetics places the readers at the center of the study of literary work and suggests a new view for the study of translation. The theory believes that before the reader entering the literary work, he has his "horizon of expectation" which he takes to fill in the "gaps" or "blanks" of the literary work and the real understandings of the literary work come from the fusion of the reader and the literary work. This thesis presents an analysis of the main concepts of Reception Aesthetics and the application of the theory to translation study, especially to the study of folklore translation in literary work.Under the framework of Reception Aesthetics, the author finds that Lin Yutang took foreignization as the main strategy for the aim of satisfying the wonders of westerners and spreading Chinese culture. Sometimes the strategy of domestication was adopted for an easier understanding by the reader. By the study on self-translation of folklore in Moment in Peking, the author intends to find out an effective way for folklore translation in literary work and a better cultural communication can be reached.