| The Art of War has a far-reaching impact in the world as an ancient military book containing profound thoughts.Because of the constant translation,it is able to spread the unique Chinese culture.There are many famous English versions of The Art of War in history,and a new upsurge translating The Art of War in English has been set off in recent years.Among these English versions,the translation by John Minford,a well-known British sinologist,published in 2002,is an outstanding achievement.However,it is rare to study Minford’s English version and its value has not been paid much attention to in China.This thesis focuses on the systematic analysis of Minford’s complete English version by textual comparison,trying to show the advantages and disadvantages of this version clearly,combing and summarizing Minford’s translation features,translation thoughts and translation art,and further searching the causes of their formation,then undertaking rational thinking on the translation action reflected by this version,thus putting forward some enlightenment about the spread of English translation of Chinese classics overseas,filling a gap in systematic research on Minford’s translation.This thesis is comprised of the following parts:Introduction explains the research background and object,the research significance and methods and the literature review.Chapter One introduces the original text of The Art of War from the aspects of the author profile,layout and idea overview of the book.Chapter Two introduces the English version of The Art of War by John Minford from the aspects of the translator profile,layout and general characteristics of the translation,demonstrating its "Brevity"preliminarily.Chapter Three,as the main part of this thesis,does a close reading by textual comparison in Chinese and English,analyzes systematically Minford’s translation sentence by sentence and paragraph by paragraph to strive for relatively objective evaluation,expounding its "Subtlety".Chapter Four is based on previous textual comparison and sums up the general translation thoughts,translation strategies and translation style revealed by Minford’s specific translation action reflected in the translation,analyzing deeply in the theoretical level from different perspectives of Skopos theory,translation aesthetics,hermeneutics and intersubjectivity.Chapter Five clarifies the existing problems in the English translation of Chinese classics,and explores some enlightenment for the English translation of Chinese classics via this translation.Chapter Six is the conclusion,which forms a general understanding of this translation—"brevity with subtlety".In terms of "Brevity",the number of words used in the translation is closest to the one in the original,reproducing succinct style of the original;the page layout is unique,translation texts are divided into short lines according to sense groups,reducing reading obstacles;the rare and difficult words are avoided and most of them are common,increasing readability.In terms of "Subtlety",the translator treats translation with care and strictness,fully considers the choice of the original text;the use of rhetoric devices,rhyme and semantics in the original is reproduced vividly and precisely;the translator does his utmost to consider readers’ experience,the style of the layout reveals his logic. |
