An Integrated Pragmatic-Aesthetic Perspective On Literary Translation

For literary translation, many studies have been conducted separately from pragmatic perspective or aesthetic perspective, while only a few scholars have combined the two perspectives and applied the integrated perspective into literary translation study. This thesis believes that compared with the single pragmatic or aesthetic perspective, the integrated perspective can provide more comprehensive interpretation for the literary translation process and the literary translation evaluation. Therefore, based on the previous studies, this thesis conducts research into the necessity and feasibility as well as the operating mechanisms of the integrated perspective.Since the translation of a literary work is still supposed to be a literary work, this thesis takes "the essence of literature"as the starting point of the research, finding that the integration of the two perspectives is not a deliberate endeavour, but is based upon the essence of literary works. The fact that literary works involve both realistic and aesthetic levels makes it necessary and reasonable to integrate the pragmatic perspective with the aesthetic one in literary translation. Through pragmatic inference, the pragmatic perspective on literary translation can help the translator grasp the realistic level of the source text (ST) and effectively convey the contents of the ST; the aesthetic perspective can direct the translator’s attention to the beauty of the linguistic forms, the aesthetic value of images&artistic conception as well as the style of the ST and the target text (TT), which contributes to the transference of the aesthetic meaning in the TT. Compared with the single pragmatic or aesthetic perspective, the integrated perspective is of greater help for translators to appreciate the ST and transfer it into the TT. This thesis believes that the integrated perspective is expected to provide better analysis on literary translation.After exploration of the necessity and feasibility of the integrated perspective on literary translation, a case study is conducted on the English translation of Chengnan Jiushi from the integrated perspective, attempting to apply this very approach to the appreciation of literary translation.