A Study Of James Legge's English Translation Of Shijing From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

Shijing is the first poetry anthology in China.In its translation history at home and abroad,about a dozen translations have been published.In the initial stage of Shijing's translation,translator groups were mainly composed of missionaries and sinologists,among which James Legge was a famous sinologist in the 19^th century.Legge published three versions'of Shijing's translation respectively in the year of 1871,1876and 1879.The version published in 1871 was the earliest unabridged translation in Shijing's translation history.This version,containing the translation text,the original text,the annotation,the appendix and index of Chinese proper nouns,is regarded as the standard translation of Shijing in the Western Sinological Circles.Under the theory of Reception Aesthetics,this thesis makes a deep analysis of the Reception Aesthetics embodied in James Legge's translation.The theory of Reception Aesthetics arose in the 1960s.It gives priority to the readers in the literary studies and explored the readers'creative function in the meanings of the literary works.It was not until the late 1970s that Reception Aesthetics was gradually applied to translation studies,focusing on the translators,the readers,and the readers'reading process,and attaching importance to the translators'initiative and creativity in the process of translation as well as the readers'acceptance and understanding of the translation in the course of reading.As to research questions,this thesis analyzes the influence of the horizon of expectation of James Legge and the readers,especially the special readers,i.e.the patrons.It explores the indeterminacy of the words,images and themes of Shijing in the process of translation,and expounds the mutual promotion of the expansion of the interpretive community and the popularity of the translation.After a concrete analysis,it is found that in the process of translation,James Legge,on the basis of his Chinese cultural background,acts as a reader communicating with the original writer,which is called the first reception.Considering the implied readers'needs,the translator makes a creative and specific interpretation of the indeterminacy in the original text.Besides,this thesis not only analyzes the needs of individual readers,but also puts the readers in the socialized context.From the perspective of the interpretive community,it points out that the popularity of the translation promotes the spread of culture and expands the interpretive community.Thus,the completion of the second reception is guaranteed.This thesis gets rid of the limitations of the translator and the text,and analyzes the influence of James Legge,the target readers and the patrons on the success of James Legge's English version of Shijing of 1871.In addition,the thesis not only analyzes the needs of the individual readers,but also studies the readers from the perspective of the social context,and points out the promoting function of the interpretive community's expansion to the spread of the translation.The successful reception of James Legge's English translation of Shijing is mainly attributed to his evaluation of the target readers'reception ability,and his satisfaction of the readers'aesthetic requirements.To contribute to the globalization of the Chinese culture,this thesis gives some valuable suggestions for reference.