A Study On The Images Of Qu Yuan In Hawkes' English Version Of Li Sao From The Perspective Of Imagology

Chu Ci,as the first anthology of poems in the south of China,possesses unshakeable status in Chinese literature,which is represented by Qu Yuan.It blends ancient myths and legends on the basis of Southern folk songs,as one of the sources of Chinese poetry and even Chinese culture.Li Sao is one of the famous poems in Chu Ci.From 1895 to the present,many Chinese and foreign scholars have made different comments on the image of Li Sao.Most of them believe that Li Sao is a long lyric poem with autobiographical nature,in which the character is the author,Qu Yuan.Herbert Giles compared Qu Yuan to the famous Roman lyric poet Pindar,affirming the achievements of Qu Yuan;Arthur Waley argued that the expression of Qu Yuan's emotion was unique and no one transcended;Lin Wenqing praised Qu Yuan;while Legge belittled Qu Yuan,believing that Qu Yuan could not write classical poetry.There are a variety of English versions of Chu Ci,most of which are excerpts.Hawkes' translation is the first complete translation of all the Ch'u Tz'u.David Hawkes' Ch'u Tz'u: The Songs of the South(1959)is widely known as an English version with the whole poems of Chu Ci,regarded as the classic,which has a great influence on the English-speaking world.Although translations play a crucial role at studies of Li Sao,Qu Yuan's image in English version has rarely been analyzed.The research of Qu Yuan's image in English version helps to promote traditional culture and transmit classical Chinese literatures;on the other hand,it can develop cultural exchanges between China and west countries.Based on self-image and hetero-image in comparative literature,the author applies comparative studies,quantitative analysis,case studies and descriptive methods to explore the expression of Qu Yuan's image in the original text and Hawkes' translation.The thesis probes into the change of Qu Yuan's image and the factors of image variation.The research focuses on two questions in the process of exploring the images of Qu Yuan.Firstly,what is the difference in the images of Qu Yuan between the English version and the source text? Secondly,what factors contribute to the variation of Qu Yuan's image?With collecting the researches of Qu Yuan's image by domestic authoritative scholars,this study extracts 111 expressions about Qu Yuan's image in Li Sao,which produces a brief introduction of Qu Yuan's image in the original text,with three words: loyal,emotional,solitary.Combined the expression of Qu Yuan's image in the original text with Hawkes' translation,a total of 88 corresponding translations appeared.From above all,it is presented that Qu Yuan's image has changed in the English translation.The result shows that the loyal image of Qu Yuan is deleted,the confident image of Qu Yuan is added and the romantic image of Qu Yuan is omitted.Hawkes pays more attention to free translation through literal translation,as a supplement.The image of Qu Yuan has been reproduced by means of literal translation,addition,omission and adaptation.There are various factors contributing to the variation of Qu Yuan's image,including the historic context of Qu Yuan and Hawkes,the purpose of translation,the application of different lexicons,as well as the translation strategy.In spite of the fact Qu Yuan's images in the translation of Hawkes and the source text are analyzed from imagology,there are still some limitations to the research,like no reliable references and high subjectivity.Further research should encompass a much wider range of data,anecdotal and theoretical,archival and statistical,text-analytical and historicizing;in the meanwhile,the variety of the image of Qu Yuan will have more analysis.