Aesthetic Representation In Prose Translation From The Perspective Of The Interpretive Theory Of Translation

Chinese prose-as well as English prose has a long history. Prose has been an important genre which is widely enjoyed and used. However, compared with other studies, the study of prose translation seems to fall far behind. In the translation of prose, the aesthetic representation is the most important and difficult task for translators in order to keep the characteristics of prose. It is the formal and non-formal systems that the beauty of prose is mostly embodied. And a perfect prose translation is to transmit beauty on both levels.This thesis applies the Interpretive Theory to the prose translation. According to this theory, sense equivalence must be achieved in translation. Sense equivalence here is not only on linguistic level, but also on non-linguistic level, which is similar to the idea that the aesthetics in both formal and non-formal system need to be transferred in prose translation. To reach the sense equivalence, a three-step translation procedure has been put forward in the Interpretive Theory: comprehension, deverbalization and re-expression. Besides, the Interpretive Theory holds that the linguistic features and writing style in the original text need to be kept similarly with the translated text. Through the comparison between the translation criteria in the Interpretive Theory and the requirements of prose aesthetic translation, it is not hard to find that the Interpretive Theory is an ideal one to direct prose translation.This thesis tries to apply the Interpretive Theory to the prose translation and proves that the Interpretive Theory can successfully guide prose translation.And it’s hoped that the Interpretive Theory could be widely used in prose translation by future translators.