Research On The Representation Methods For The Semantic Beauty In The Translations Of Li Sao From The Perspective Of Xu Yuanchong's Theory Of "Three Beauties"

Nowadays,we have entered a globalization era,and the cultural exchanges between countries have become more and more frequent.The translation of Chinese literary and cultural classics is an important part of Chinese culture going global and it can promote cultural exchanges between nations.As the most important part of Chu Ci,Li Sao plays an important role in the history of Chinese literature.Therefore,the studies of the English translation on Li Sao is of great practical significance for carrying forward Chinese culture and carrying out cultural exchanges between China and the West.Li Sao breaks through the traditional form of Shi Jing's four-character verse.This new form of poetry is called the Sao-style poetry.It has enhanced the form of expression of poetry and opened a new chapter in the history of Chinese poetry,which has a profound influence on the poetry creation of later generations.However,the study of the English translation of Li Sao has started late in China,and lagged far behind that of other Chinese classics.Therefore,based on a comparative analysis of the elements of “beauty in meaning” in the three English versions of Li Sao and taking Xu Yuanchong's theory of “Three Beauties” as the theoretical guidance,the author of this thesis makes a tentative study of the effective ways of reproducing the semantic beauty in traditional Chinese classics,aiming to promote research on the representation of beautiful meanings in the classics.The author of this thesis uses the descriptive method and the contrastive analysis method to do a comparative study on the semantic beauty in Li Sao and its three English versions by Xu Yuanchong,Zhuo Zhenying and David Hawkes from the perspective of Xu Yuanchong's theory of “Three Beauties”.She tries to study the translation methods adopted in the reproduction of semantic aesthetics in the three English versions of Li Sao on the basis of the classification of the semantic beauty in Li Sao.At the same time,the gains and losses of the translation methods for reproducing the original beauty in meaning are discussed.Through summarizing the translation methods and analyzing their gains and losses,we can find out some effective ways of translating traditional Chinese classics.This study can provide valuable reference for the English translation of Chinese classics in future.This thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter is the introduction.It mainly introduces the research background and purpose,research questions,research methods and the structure of the thesis.The second chapter is the literature review,which gives an overview of Chu Ci and Li Sao,and then reviews the major previous studies on the translation of Chu Ci and Li Sao at home and abroad as well as the translators' studies on Li Sao and scholars' studies on the translation of Li Sao at home and abroad.The third chapter is the theoretical framework,which gives a brief introduction to Xu Yuanchong's translation views and his theory of “Three Beauties” as well as the application of Xu's “Three Beauties” to the rendering of classical poetry so as to create a theoretical foundation for the case study.The fourth chapter is the case study.First,the author of this thesis classifies the elements of semantic beauty in Li Sao,which are divided into three categories: images,artistic ideo-realms and sentiments,and then she compares and analyzes the translation methods for reproducing the semantic aesthetics in the three English versions of Li Sao.Meanwhile,the gains and losses of the translation methods for reproducing the original beauty in meaning are discussed.Finally,we summarize the translating methods and their gains and losses so that we can be enlightened with respect to the future translation of traditional Chinese classics.The fifth chapter is the conclusion of this thesis,in which the author summarizes the findings and limitations of the thesis and also offers some suggestions for future research.In this study,we can find that the three translators mainly adopt literal translation,free translation,transliteration,the combination of literal translation and free translation,the combination of transliteration and free translation,and the combination of literal translation and annotation to translate the beauty in image.They mainly adopt empathy,omission,literal translation,free translation,transliteration,the combination of literal translation and free translation,and the combination of transliteration and annotation to convey the beauty in artistic ideo-realm.By using rhetorical questions,modal particles,exclamatory sentences,inverted sentences and rhetorical devices,the translators have reproduced the sentimental beauty in Li Sao.We can see that various translation methods have their own advantages and disadvantages according to their specific use in the process of reproducing the elements of “beauty in meaning” in Li Sao.Translators should deal with the problem of form and content in an appropriate way.There is no absolutely effective translation technique.Only by applying translation methods in a flexible way,can translators reproduce the semantic beauty in the original text to the greatest extent and accurately convey the images,artistic ideo-realms and sentiments in the original text.