Representation Of "Literary Regionalism":a Comparative Study Of The Four English Versions Of Biancheng From The Perspective Of Receptive Aesthetics

Biancheng, an outstanding regional fiction in the history of modern Chinese literature, is acclaimed as "a unique unsophisticated genre painting" for its beauty in language, customs and imagery. As Shen Congwen’s representative work, it has been translated into ten or more foreign languages of which four English versions are produced so far. They are Green Jade and Green Jade co-translated by Emily Hahn and Shing Mo-lei, The Frontier City by Ching Ti and Robert Payne, The Border Town by Gladys Yang, and Border Town by Jeffrey C. Kinkley, all of which play an important role in spreading the influence of Biancheng to the western world. Each of the four English versions, produced in different historical periods and in different social and cultural environment by different translators, presents western readers with a picture of West Hunan with its own characteristics.Biancheng itself undergoes several revisions, which result in at least five Chinese versions. The four English versions are all based on their corresponding Chinese texts. On account of this, the author of this thesis believes that the prerequisite for all researchers on C-E translation of Biancheng is to identify and confirm the corresponding Chinese versions of their English counterparts, whether they are conducting a comparative study of two or more than two English versions, or a case study focused on one particular version. The first part of this thesis is just some efforts the author has made in this respect.The bigger part of the thesis is an investigation of how and to what extent literary regionalism, the essence of Biancheng, a pastoral prose, has been reproduced in the four English versions. The reasons for the different versions are explored into from the perspective of such representative concepts of receptive aesthetics as "horizon of expectations" and "indeterminacy." The discussion mainly centers on the translation of landscape, social customs and culture-loaded words. Gains and losses of each version are also discussed and analysed.