The Translation Thought Of The Jena Romantics,Its Roots And Influences

The Jena Romantics is the earliest literary school in the history of German Romanticism.It was officially founded when two members of the school,the Schlegel brothers,established the Athen?um,a literary journal in Jena.Hence the school is referred to as the Athen?um Romantics as well.Through this periodical,the Jena Romantics attempt to propagate their literary theories,aesthetic ideas,and translation thought by means of literary creation and literary translation.In view of their achievements in the fields mentioned,the Jena Romantics became the academic interests of scholars of later generation.Scanning on the studies concerned with the Jena Romantics from both home and abroad,we have found that their focuses are largely devoted to the philosophy of literature and aesthetics of the school rather than its translation thought.As a matter of fact,the Jena Romantics,represented by Novalis,the Schlegel brothers and Tieck,have made a great contribution in the field of literary translation.They leave behind to later generation not only a large number of literary translated works,but also prospective philosophy of translation theory.Their perspective study of translation is thought to have formed different schools of Western thought on translation.As far as its innovative translation theory is concerned,and regarding the current study on it is insufficient,the present thesis,under the title of “The Translation Thought of the Jena Romantics,Its Roots and Influences” and by the method of historical material analysis,induction-deduction,and influence research,intends to present a clear picture of the translation thought of the Jena Romantics as well as its influences on the development of Western translation theories.At the very beginning,this thesis introduces translation thought of the main figures of the Jena Romantics,and accordingly it draws a conclusion on their core translation philosophy.In Chapter two,it analyzes theoretical roots contributing to the formation of the Jena Romantic translation thought in aspects of their philosophy of world literature,poetry and hermeneutics.Chapter three,with the illustration of the formation of translation theories of Benjamin and Steiner,demonstrates that the Jena Romantics have exerted an impact on the establishment and development of schools of Western translation studies.At the end,the thesis comes to the conclusion: “Everything is translation”,“poetic translation”,and “reproduction of the original whole spirit” are the major concepts of the Jena Romantic translation philosophy.The concept that “everything is translation” is an essential component of their philosophy of world literature;“poetic translation” is an extension and embodiment of their romantic views on poetry;“reproduction of the original whole spirit” is theoretically based on their philosophy of hermeneutics.All in all,the innovative thought on translation put forward by the Jena Romantics not only constitutes the basis of schools of Western translation studies,but also lays a solid foundation for the development of Western translation theories.