A Study On Xu Yuanchong’s Translation Of Elegies Of The South From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

As a new literary theory, Reception Aesthetics was born in Constance University in the late 1960 s. The most distinctive feature of Reception Aesthetics is its emphasis on the readers’ central position, which challenges the traditional theories. Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser, the most outstanding representatives of Reception Aesthetics, developed such important conceptions as “horizon of expectations”, “fusion of horizons” and “indeterminacies” on the basis of Phenomenology and Hermeneutics. Scholars have tried to apply this theory into the translation study since 1990 s. They discuss the readers’ significant function to the translator’s translation activity through the combination of Reception Aesthetics and literary translation study.Elegies of the South, which has been recognized as the earliest collection of romantic poems written by poets of the State of Chu, is especially significant to Chinese anthologies of poetry. This collection of poems includes many names of plants and animals, myths, allusions and rhetorical devices. At the same time, the poets express their deep patriotism through these poetic lines. Hence, the translator should take the target readers’ horizon of expectations and aesthetic level into consideration when he translates these meaningful poems. This thesis combines Reception Aesthetics with Xu Yuanchong’s translation Elegies of the South to make an analysis from the starting point of the key concepts of Reception Aesthetics. By concluding Xu Yuanchong’s personal view of translation, this study shows the translator’s own horizon of expectations. It explores how the translation meets the target readers’ horizon of expectations in terms of the names of plants, the names of animals, myths, allusions and rhetorical devices. Then it analyzes how the translator achieves the fusion of horizons on the phonological, lexical, and syntactical levels. At last, this thesis shows the translator’s maintenance or concretization when he deals with the indeterminacies. The thesis finds out that the translator takes the target readers into full consideration during his translation process. Some specific translation methods as transliteration, literal translation and free translation are adopted in the target text.This thesis contains six parts: introduction; literature review; theoretical framework; an analysis of Xu Yuanchong’s translation of Elegies of the South from the perspective of Reception Aesthetics; major translation methods adopted in Elegies of the South in light of Reception Aesthetics and conclusion. The introduction reveals the research background, research objective, research questions, research methodology and the significance of this study. Previous studies on Reception Aesthetics concerning translation and on the translation of Elegies of the South at home and abroad are involved in the literature review. In the theoretical framework, a general introduction to the theory, key notions of Reception Aesthetics and the enlightenment of Reception Aesthetics to literary translation are expounded by the author. The central part of this thesis concerns in what aspects Reception Aesthetics is manifested in Xu Yuanchong’s translation of Elegies of the South. Major translation methods adopted by the translator to meet the readers’ receptivity are discussed in the following. The concluding part sums up the major findings and implications of the present research, as well as the suggestions for the future study.By analyzing Xu Yuanchong’s translation of Elegies of the South from the perspective of Reception Aesthetics, this study shows that the translator is affected by the target readers to a considerable degree in his translation process. Xu Yuanchong takes the target readers’ reception and aesthetic perception into full consideration. This thesis is expected to provide reference materials for translators in translating Chinese classical poetry.