On The Translation Of Rhetorical Devices From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

The thesis mainly discusses the translation of Chinese rhetorical devices under the guidance of reception aesthetics.The data is selected from I'm Not Pan Jinlian written by Liu Zhenyun and its English version I Did Not Kill My Husband translated by Howard Goldblatt.The study finds that,firstly through reviewing literature,there is interconnection between reception aesthetics and rhetorical translation.Translators will be given full liberty under the guidance of the core concepts of reception aesthetics,like horizon of expectation,indeterminacy and blanks,implied reader and fusion of horizons.Secondly,through the comparison between Chinese and English rhetorical translation from the level of images,semantics,grammar and culture,it can be found that both English and Chinese share the similar rhetorical devices but are different in images.From the level of images,due to cultural differences,sometimes source language readers(SL readers)and target language readers(TL readers)have different understandings on the same images.While from the level of semantics,the translation of rhetorical devices should consider the semantic features of English and Chinese.From the level of grammar and culture,in order to realize cultural communication,most of rhetorical devices are retained.Thirdly,based on the analysis of previous chapters,all these translation methods adopted by Goldblatt can be concluded as follows: given the reader-centered role,keeping rhetorical devices and adding meanings or conversion methods is used in the translation of some rhetorical devices to promise indeterminacy of TL text and participation of TL readers.To achieve TL readers' horizon of expectation,appropriate domestication strategy,methods like replacement,free translation and omission help to reduce the contradictions between the expectation of TL text and TL readers' expectations.While in order to invoke TL readers' innovation and participation,the use of foreignization strategy and literal translation are helpful to well reserve the indeterminacy of rhetorical effects.In short,under the guidance of reception aesthetics,this thesis is of practical meaning in that the C-E translation strategies of rhetorical devices help the translationclose to TL readers' aesthetics.Also,it reminds translators that the aim of the translation of rhetorical devices is to serve target language readers rather than blindly cater for them.