A Study Of Stephen Owen's Poetry Translation In The Poetry Of Du Fu

In recent years,translation from Chinese into English,as a means by which Chinese culture “goes out”,has been gaining momentum.More and more Chinese classics which carry thousands of years of history and cultural tradition of China have been translated into foreign languages by translators at home and abroad,and spread to the outside world.Classical Chinese poetry is an important part of ancient Chinese classics and the Tang Dynasty is the peak of poetry creation in the history of Chinese literature.Among the galaxy of Tang poets,Du Fu has been referred to as Poet-Sage,who is the most outstanding realist Chinese poet of all time.His poems are imbued with lofty Confucian spirit of benevolence and strong sense of concern and care,which are renowned as works recording history in the form of poetry.He is also one of the most admired ancient Chinese poets in the West,where many scholars have studied and translated his poems.Stephen Owen is a famous contemporary sinologist in America,who has translated a large number of ancient Chinese poems and prose works into English,including the poems of Du Fu.The Poetry of Du Fu,which took him eight years and was published in 2016,represents his latest achievement in translating classical Chines poetry.Through studying his English translation of Du Fu's poems,we can learn the new experience of the scholars in the English speaking world in translating Chinese classics,thus providing reference for the development of translating classical Chinese poetry,and meanwhile reflecting the existing state of Chinese poetry in foreign countries.This study takes Owen's The Poetry of Du Fu as its main object and his translation of classical Chinese poetry in his Readings in Chinese Literary Thought as a contrast.It is conducted under a framework set up on the basis of Wang Hongyin's modern interpretation of Yan Fu's translation theory,by adopting such research methods as literature research,descriptive research,comparative research and etc.Its key research questions include: With Owen's translation of classical Chinese poetry in his Readings in Chinese Literary Thought as a reference,what features characterize his translation of Du Fu's poems in his The Poetry of Du Fu? What main strategy does he employ in translating Du Fu's poems in his The Poetry of Du Fu? Is his translation theory he has claimed consistent with his practice of translating Du Fu's poems in his The Poetry of Du Fu?The study has made the following research findings.In Readings in Chinese Literary Thought,Owen's translation of classical Chinese poetry shows strong features defining translation for academic purpose,with an explicit orientation to translation based on the original conceptual content.On the three levels of faithfulness(content),communicability(language),and elegance(overall stylistic profile),his translation in The Poetry of Du Fu is characterized by mixed features of academic translation and literary translation,which is relatively closer to his translation of classical Chinese poems cited in Readings in Chinese Literary Thought,clearly displaying his strategy of a classics-wise translation.Meanwhile,some translated poems of his in The Poetry of Du Fu can be regarded as literary translation with strong creative treatment.In some cases,Owen betrays inconsistency between his theory and practice in translating Chinese poetry which can be illustrated and testified by his translation in The Poetry of Du Fu.On the whole,his translation of Du Fu's poems shows his personal interpretation of classical Chinese literary works and poets,broadening the perspective of and enriching the approaches to the field and instilling fresh vitality into the translation and study of ancient Chinese poetry.