A Report On The E-C Translation Of The English History Play In The Age Of Shakespeare(Chapter One)

The source text of this translation practice is selected from Chapter One "History and Drama in the Age of Shakespeare" of The English History Play in the Age of Shakespeare(1957),an academic monograph written by the prestigious American Shakespearean critic Irving Ribner.This book is from a translation project that my supervisor has worked on,which is to be published by the Press.Chapter One gives an authoritative definition of the English history play based on the connection between the country’s history and dramas in Shakespeare’s times.Therefore,translating it into Chinese not only provides historical materials about the era,but also creates high academic value for studies within the Chinese academic community on English history plays,which further enhances cultural exchanges.The source text mentions numerous historical figures and their works,texts in early modern English and other languages,as well as the author’s profound insights,which demand massive professional knowledge to understand.Given its technicality and significant academic value,it requires a professional and comprehensive understanding,interpretation,and expression to faithfully convey ideas in the source text,so the hermeneutic translation theory proposed by American translation theorist George Steiner can be considered a guiding theory for this translation practice.This report discusses and verifies the theory’s applicability to the translation of academic monographs.It also explains how the fourfold hermeneutic motion of the theory—trust,aggression,incorporation,and compensation—function as a guide for the employment of various translation methods and techniques,such as transliteration,omission,and division,by analyzing typical cases,such as the translation of proper nouns,polysemous words,complicated sentences,passive sentences,and cultural information,to solve the difficulties occurring in the translation practice.Steiner’s hermeneutic translation theory is believed to be helpful and guiding for the translation of this academic monograph both theoretically and practically,as it puts forward an idea about the steps and methodology worthy of reference.Since there are few domestic studies on the applicability of this theory in the translation of academic monographs about English historical dramas,this report on translation practice is anticipated to provide material support for translation practices for such texts and offer a fresh perspective for research on the theory and English history plays in the Shakespeare era.