On Translation Of Rhetorical Devices From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

Tang Xianzu(1550-1616),known as "the Oriental Shakespeare",was a great playwright in the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644).His masterpiece Mudan Ting moves many people and influences a lot of playwrights,including Hong Sheng(1645-1704)and Kong Shangren(1648-1718).The rhetorical device is an important aspect of literary works.In the great play Mudan Ting,Tang Xianzu used many rhetorical devices,which increases the appeal of the play.Therefore,in the translation of literary works,translation of rhetorical devices can never be ignored.The thesis chooses Wang Rongpei's version of Mudan Ting as the case,and analyzes the version in terms of translation of rhetorical devices from the perspective of hermeneutics.In the thesis the rhetorical devices are classified into six categories,namely,association-signifying rhetorical devices,musicality-and-colour-signifying rhetorical devices,balance-signifying rhetorical devices,emphasis-signifying rhetorical devices,variation-signifying rhetorical devices and implicitness-signifying rhetorical devices.Each category includes several kinds of rhetorical devices.The analysis is made to cover as many rhetorical devices in Mudan Ting as possible to ensure the credibility of the study.The qualitative method is used in the process of the analysis.Meanwhile,in order to make the study more convincing,the text comparison method is used,that is,Birch's version and Zhang's version are used to make a comparison with Wang's version when necessary.According to hermeneutics of translation,the hermeneutic motion is fourfold:trust,aggression,incorporation and compensation.In the move of trust,the translator invests trust in the meaningfulness of the original,in the move of aggression,the translator comprehends the original,in the third move,incorporation,the translator imports the meaning and form,and in the final move,the translator makes compensation so that the translation will not fall short of the original and the parity will be restored.It is found that Professor Wang tends to invest trust in the meaningfulness of the rhetorical devices in the original,comprehend the rhetorical devices correctly,and try to transfer the meaning of the rhetorical devices in the original.He takes the forms of musicality-and-colour-signifying rhetorical devices,balance-signifying rhetorical devices and emphasis-signifying rhetorical devices to the translation,but his transfer of the forms of association-signifying rhetorical devices,variation-signifying rhetorical devices and implicitness-signifying rhetorical devices is insufficient,therefore,he has not done enough in the move of compensation,and his translation falls short of the original.The study suggests that in translating,the translator should not ignore any move of hermeneutics,and he should pay attention to the reproduction of meaning as well as the form in the original,thus authentic Chinese literature can be obtained and spread abroad.