A Review Of Xu Yuanchong’s English Version Of Lunyu From The Perspective Of Translation Aesthetics

Lunyu,as one of the classical works of Confucianism,mainly records Confucius’ s and his disciple’s words and deeds and comparatively reflects Confucian thoughts and has a deep impact on the formation of Chinese culture and spirit.It is also one of the most translated and interpreted Chinese classics and plays an important role in the cultures of the world.The emergence and prosperous development of Confucius Institute highlight the critical position of Lunyu.The high aesthetic value of Lunyu contributes a lot to its enduring popularity.As the interdisciplinarity of translation is gradually recognized by academia,aesthetics also returns to the view of many scholars.Translation aesthetics employs mature theoretical basis and scientific research method to realize the perfect combination of the scientificity and artistry of translation.Liu Miqing points out that the ontology of translation is aesthetics and initially constructs the basic framework of modern translation aesthetics,defining aesthetics judgment as fundamental task and aesthetic representation ultimate goal;highlighting the important role of empathy in aesthetic representation.Lunyu has various kinds of English versions,the studies of which cover a long history and a number of perspectives.However,the study in the respect of aesthetics has rarely been conducted.On the basis of translation aesthetics put forward by Liu Miqing,this thesis selected contemporary translator — Xu Yuanchong’s English version as the research object,attempting to probe into and summarize the translation strategies for aesthetic representation through analyzing Lunyu from the micro-levels of language,mainly involving sound,words and sentences and emotion,image and artistic conception in non-formal system.Through the analysis of well-chosen examples,this research draws the following conclusions: take the imitation of discourse pattern of SL as the main method,make use of target language and adopt compensating methods,mainly including replacement,explanation and self-creation while representing aesthetics in formal system;take the emotion and intention of source text as the standpoint to achieve the oneness between the object and self;overcome cultural obstacles and obstacles in time and space based on translation empathy theory while representing aesthetics in non-formal formal system.The topic is comprehensive and innovative,which involves micro-levels and the fuzzy set of language.The level of words consists of words within rhetoric devices and Confucian key concept words.All these make the analysis of version more thorough and forceful.This thesis is written on the basis of translation aesthetics theory by Liu Miqing,rooted in ancient Chinese philosophy and takes Chinese classical work —Lunyu as research object,which possesses distinctive Chinese characteristics.This thesis first conducts a systematic research on and then makes a review of Xu’s English version of Lunyu,enlarging the extent of studies on the English translation of Lunyu.It is hoped that this thesis can offer some new enlightenment for improving translation quality of Lunyu,thus contributing to the spread of Chinese classical works and better implementing the strategy of the globalization of Chinese culture.