A Study On C-E Prose Translation From The Perspective Of Translation Aesthetics

Prose is a literary genre juxtaposed with poetry,novel and drama.The prose is flexible in form,beautiful in language,profound in artistic conception and sincere in emotion.There is a long history of Chinese prose.After the May 4th Movement,Chinese modern prose has achieved quite high achievements.During the period,numerous outstanding essayists emerged and uncountable excellent works were created,which are not only rich in thought,but also novel in contents,distinct in personality and unique in charm.Translation aesthetics is the product of the “marriage” between translation and aesthetics,which inherits the aesthetic characteristics of Chinese traditional translation theories and absorbs rich content from western aesthetics.The research value of translation aesthetics is mainly reflected in the guiding function of literary translation practice,especially in that of poetry and prose.On the question of how to convey the beauty of the original work,the research categories of translation aesthetics provide a methodological reference for the study on prose translation.Compared with the studies on other literary genres such as novels and poems,those on English translation of Chinese prose are relatively scanty.In recent years,with the implementation of the strategy of Chinese culture “going global”,prose translation and its publication have been paid more attention to;consequently,the studies on prose translation are increasing,but most only focus on the famous translator's works,such as Zhang Peiji and Liu Shicong,neglecting the promising young translators.For instance,Xu Yingcai,who used to be an English teacher in Fudan University,has published many translations of Chinese literature and put forward the translation criteria of “accuracy,expressiveness,and naturality”.With the guidance of Liu Miqing's translation aesthetics and supplement of Mao Rong's aesthetic ideas,the study analyzes Xu's Selected Works of Classical Chinese Prose respectively from the formal system and non-formal system,including the aesthetic constituents of sound,lexis,syntax,artistic conception,style and emotion.It's concluded that through the translator's analysis and process,these aesthetic elements can be retained and represented in the interlingual conversion.In a general way,Xu's translation takes the feelings of English readers into account on the basis of retaining the aesthetic constituents of the original text.On the aesthetic qualities in the formalsystem,the beauty in sound is mainly represented by the means of equivalent English and Chinese onomatopoeia and the dynamic imitation of rhythm;that at lexical level mainly by the accuracy,beauty and compactness of diction;and that in syntax mainly by rhetorical devices.In non-formal system,Xu pursues the correspondence of the linguistic function,connotation,commendation and derogation of the original text so as to reproduce the beauty of the original artistic conception,style and emotion,ensuring that the aesthetic value of the translated text is similar to that of the original text.