A Comparative Study Of Two Chinese Versions Of Vanity Fair From The Perspective Of Readers’ Different Horizons Of Expectations In Different Times

Vanity Fair is William Makepeace Thackeray’s masterpiece. It won a great reputation for its sarcastic language style and a social panorama of the English aristocratic bourgeoisie since its first publication in 1847. When western people were wondering at the totally different characters and fate of two heroins of Vanity Fair, people in China knew nothing about it until Yang Bi translated it completely in 1957. Yang Bi made a success for her vivid representation of the sarcastic language in the original novel and many scholars and translators admired her translation of Vanity Fair since then. But when time went on to 1990 s, many translators in China started to retranslate this classic English novel and created different versions of Vanity Fair among which Rong Rude’s version was regarded as a success. There are many articles in which Yang Bi’ version is discussed and analyzed; whereas few one focuses on the comparison between these two versions.Reception theory was propounded in Germany in the late 1960 s. It means a general shift of concern from the author and his work, to the text and its readers. With Jauss and Iser as significant founders and representatives, the appearance of reception theory firstly took reader’s reception into consideration. The reception theory has firstly influenced literature and then the literary translation. As the purpose of translation is to strengthen reader’s understanding, reader’s reception is the key point which translators should take into consideration during the interpretation of languages and cultures. In order to create better translation and further researches on translation, it is necessary for us to call for further focus on the role of target readers in the process of literary translation. This thesis will employ some main terms in reception theory, such as “horizons of expectations” and “indeterminacy” on the comparison and analysis of some instances selected from two Chinese versions of Vanity Fair.By analyzing and comparing these two different Chinese versions of Vanity Fair under the guidance of reception theory, this thesis will probe into the causes for the differences of these two versions. The author believes that such literary classic like Vanity Fair deserves endless interpretations and researches. In addition, one particular version could not meet different readers’ horizons of expectations living in different times. A translator must give prominence to the culture environment in which the reader lives and the reader’s reception of the work if he does wish to make his translation better and to let his readers get much more aesthetic enjoyment from this literary translation.