A Study Of Paratext And China Image Construction In The First Translation Version Of Hao Qiu Zhuan

Paratext theory is proposed by Gérard Genette,the renowned French narratologist and literary theorist.Paratext,consisting of peritext and epitext,is defined as all materials added to a text,which promotes presence,reception and consumption of the text.Hao Qiu Zhuan,one of the“works by talented authors”in the Ming and Qing dynasties,is the first Chinese novel disseminated westward in a genuine sense.Most previous studies have focused on the body text.Few researches have associated paratext with image construction and not enough attention has been paid to China image presented in literature translation.Thomas Percy's translation version is characterized by massive paratexts,which offers a model of“translation+paratext”for translating Chinese literature during the period of“the Western introduction of Chinese learning”.As the paratexts are too many to be studied in the round in one thesis,this study focuses on notes,the most representative one.It is aimed at analyzing what kinds of China images are constructed from what aspects and exploring causes of image variations from the perspective of imagology.The thesis finds that there are altogether 370 notes in Percy's translation version in which diverse China images are constructed mainly from aspects of ideology,custom,political system and so on.In terms of religion,Buddhist monks are ascetic,hypocritical and lowly.Taoists are addicted to alchemy and pursue immortality.But literati and philosophers are respected for wisdom and morality.As for law and discipline rite,the Chinese people uphold ceremonies.Concerning view on death,Chinese are scared of death.They believe in cause-and-effect transmigration and pay attention to burial.When it comes to implement,Chinese show great craftsmanship in doing handwork.As for family,matchmakers play a crucial role in marriage and filial piety is stressed.Women have low status and men are short of art of gallantry.China surpasses any other country in food and drink.Chinese almost eat anything.As for bureaucratic establishment,the imperial examination system boasts the strictest standard to select officials based on personal capacity.The emperor is almighty and civil officials are superior to military officers.Concerning law,Chinese laws are not as strictly implemented as Western ones,hence crimes cannot be indeed interdicted.In the aspect of diplomacy,Chinese are self-conceited and seldom send ambassadors to other countries.With respect to traditional Chinese medicine,Chinese make unparalleled achievements in pulse feeling.As to historical figure,some Chinese are wise,erudite,virtuous,upright and resolute whereas some are flattering and cruel.Regarding geography,there are majestic natural sceneries and artificial projects thanks to wisdom of the Chinese people.The key point in imagology theory is not to decide whether images are true or not,but to analyze causes of image variations.Many factors influence Percy's constructing China image.Imaginaire social affects his understanding of China to a large degree.The translator examines the self when speaking of the other.If the other is considered superior to the self,hetero-image is usually positive and vice versa.In the 18^th century,there was Chinoiserie in Europe,so most images reflected in implement are positive.Personal factors influence image construction,too.Percy is ignorant of the Chinese language and can only know about China by reading works in other languages.Want of first-hand resources may easily cause image variations.As a bishop and literature lover,he tries to preach the Gospel by editing and translating Hao Qiu Zhuan and reveals Christian superiority consciously and unconsciously.In the age he lived,industrialization was in full swing in Britain but moral problems became prominent.A major theme of this work is morality and one of his translation purposes is moral education.To increase acceptability of his translation version,he always appeals to the target readers in the West and helps them understand by establishing linkages between the observed and the observer.Percy's translation views also exert great influence on his constructing the China images above,divided into revision of the manuscript,translation of culture-loaded words and translation of poems.The text is re-divided on the basis of Western poetics and the translation strategy of domestication is adopted.Fluency and coherence of the text are emphasized as well as elegance and implication of the expression.Most culture-loaded words are translated with the method of“paraphrase”or“transfer translation+paraphrase”.Percy supports the idea of untranslatability of poetry.When translating poems,he seeks to be loyal to the source text in content as much as possible,but might change the form if necessary.He would rather translate literally than make the target text elegant in order not to deviate from the meaning.When assisting readers in understanding the China images and increasing acceptability of his translation version,he retains certain exotic features.