A Comparative Study Of The English Translation Of "The Peony Pavilion" From The Perspective Of Performance Theory

Tang Xianzu is one of the most famous dramatists in China who is known as"the Oriental Shakespeare".The year 2016 is the 400th death anniversary of both Shakespeare and Tang Xianzu.At the same time,Tang Xianzu' s The Peony Pavilion is a world renown play which is as famous as Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.As the representative work of Tang Xianzu and one of the most important Chinese Kunqu opera pieces,The Peony Pavilion has extremely high research value.With the carrying on the policy of "the Belt and Road Initiative",cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries are on the rise.It is necessary to make a study on the translation of Chinese opera so as to introduce our culture to the world.This thesis is guided by the performance theory which is of importance as one of the American folklore theories.Meanwhile,two translated versions are chosen to make comparison and analysis.The first one is completed by Wang Rongpei,and the second one is finished by Xu Yuanchong together with his son Xu Ming.This thesis aims to make a contribution to the translation methods of making the translation of drama as a screenplay.To begin with,this thesis mainly introduces the author Tang Xianzu and his representative work The Peony Pavilion,as well as all the translated versions of this work so far.Secondly,it gives an explanation to the performance theory and the performability of drama translation.Next it makes a comparison and analysis to the translation of the appellations in those two versions.Then,it analyzes the translation of librettos of main characters in this play.Finally,it analyzes the methods used on the translation of allusions which are used on the drama.The last chapter is the conclusion of this thesis.