Representation Of Artistic Conception In Jeffrey C.Kinkley’s English Version Of Biancheng From The Perspective Of Liu Miqing’s Translation Aesthetics

Nowadays, it is a general trend that the whole world is becoming an integrated entity. Therefore, it would be impossible for any cultural theory to develop without absorption of the excellence of others. Translation aesthetics comes into being and plays a considerable role in the translation theories both in China and in west countries. The aesthetics in Chinese traditional literature has a long history with profound content. At the same time, the translation also has a long history. Although the origin of China’s translation theory was in religion, it naturally has a close relationship with Chinese traditional philosophy and aesthetics. Therefore, the combination of these two disciplines plays a significant role in Chinese translation theory.Chinese traditional aesthetics puts much focus on artistic conception which has an important role in the translation theory. In the process of translation, the artistic conception is not only the representation of the images, but also is the combination of the emotions and the imagination aroused by the images. Therefore, the representation of artistic conception not only contains the representation of the beauty from the formal system, for instance the language level, but also from the non-formal system, such as the images, the expression of the emotion and’image beyond image’.This thesis is dedicated to a discussion of the representation of artistic conception in Biancheng, a modem classic novel, from the perspective of Liu Miqing translation aesthetics. Firstly, this thesis introduces fundamental theories of aesthetics and translation aesthetics, focusing on Liu Miqing’s translation aesthetics. Then, it reviews the origin and development of the Chinese traditional artistic conception. Artistic conception can mainly be expounded from the following three components:image, emotion and’image beyond image’. This conception bears inner consistency to Liu Miqing’s translation aesthetics which involves the translation aesthetic object and translation aesthetic subject. Formal system and non-formal system are the major elements in translation aesthetic object, while the non-formal is the most important part. However, artistic conception can be considered as the most important part of the non-formal system, or even as the’soul" of it. In addition, to combine the theory with practice, this thesis discusses Shen Congwen and his masterpiece Biancheng, and its aesthetic values, together with some simple comments on its English versions. Consequently, it also presents an analysis of the representation of artistic conception in Jeffrey C. Kinkley’s translation of Biancheng with the guidance of Translation Aesthetics, particularly, the translation aesthetics theory written by Liu Miqing. Jeffrey C Kinkley’s translation represented the original aesthetic values from the formal system, such as the word, sound or rhythm and so on. What’s more, it also concentrates on the non-formal system, especially on the image, emotion, and image beyond image for the sake of the transference of original profound and idyllic style together with original genre. In summary, artistic conception plays a significant role in translation aesthetics. In addition, the artistic conception can be represented in the translation text through varied methods. Naturally, the translator has added some recreation elements during the process of representation of artistic conception.