On The Fusion Of Horizons In Literary Translation

This research is aimed to conduct a study of fusion of horizons between the source text and the target text in the process of literary translation. The theoretical framework is fusion of horizons in reception aesthetics, and a comparative study is carried on between Lang Tu Teng by Jiang Rong and its English translation Wolf Totem by Howard Goldblatt, a famous translator and sinologist in America.According to reception aesthetics, understanding and interpretation of a literary work is based on the fusion of horizons between the readers and the text. A reader’s horizon of expectations is influenced by his/her life experience, knowledge structure, level of education, literary capacity, aesthetic experience as well as the reception degree of the traditional culture and the foreign culture. In order that target readers can understand the source text, a translator will take various measures to make sure that the horizon of the target readers can be fused with that of the source text. In this thesis, the author will analyze how a translator makes possible the fusion of horizons between the target readers and the source text.Based on a comparative study between the source text and its translation, the author categorizes fusion of horizons into three forms:fusion of horizons, semi-fusion of horizons and zero-fusion of horizons.’Fusion of horizons’ refers to the phenomenon that a translator retains the form and meaning of the source text, such as the linguistic forms and unique cultural elements, so that target readers can folly appreciate the source-text culture.’Semi-fusion of horizons’ refers to that a translator partly changes the source text, either its meaning or form, in order to cater to the target readers’ horizon of expectations.’Zero-fusion of horizons’ refers to the phenomenon that a translator totally changes or deletes some parts of the source text due to severe conflicts between the source culture and the target culture and by doing so the readability and acceptability of the target text are ensured.From the comparative study, it is not difficult to find that fusion of horizons is a very common phenomenon in literary translation because the translator’s horizon of expectations and the target readers’horizon of expectations influence the translator’s choice of what to translate and how to translate. Due to various reasons, a translator either retains the form and meaning of the source text to prolong the time of readers’ enjoyment, or partly rewrites the source text, or totally changes or deletes parts of the source text. The success of a literary work is closely related to the readers’ interpretation. Thus, translators, who hold an important position in cultural communication and transmission, have to take the responsibility of ensuring the interpretation of the text by the target readers.The focus of this research is on the fusion of horizons in the process of translating Chinese literature into foreign languages. Various measures employed by the translator to make possible the fusion of horizons between the target readers and the source text are analyzed. Thus, this research carries theoretical significance to maintaining and transferring the aesthetic effect of a literary work in translation and cross-cultural communication, and also contributes to improving practical translation abilities.