Translation And Transformation: On The Reception Of Journey To The West In Britain And America

Journey to the West is one of the few well-known Chinese classics in Britain and America, even throughout the world. In Britain and America its translation and transformation depends on the audiences as a whole and its popular reception is characteristic of its successful "reception-oriented" translation and transformation integrated into the literatures and cultures of the target-language countries. Thanks to its translation and transformation for over 100 years, the classic has been deeply rooted in the British and American cultures, and now it is often accepted as a Sino-English cultural symbol which gives birth to many cultural products in different forms.The earliest English translation of Journey to the West appeared in 1895 and since then over 60 English editions of the novel have emerged. Since the 2nd half of the 20th century, various texts and non-textual forms based on the translations of the novel have made a superb collection of cultural products. Hence it is safe to say that as the translated texts of the novel become popular in the English countries, they have changed into new works of English literature from works of Chinese literature, that is,they have been accepted as a collection of texts transformed by some sinologists in the English context and they boast of widely-accepted elements and lasting maternal influence in the English literature.Therefore, this dissertation begins with receptional aesthetics for discussing the widely-accepted elements and lasting maternal influence of the "reception-oriented"translation of the novel and represents the cultural influence and receptive significance of such translation. Then this dissertation goes on with the reception of Journey to the West in Britain and America, including the reception of its texts,non-textual forms and receptional angles, and reveals the features and causes of such reception of the classic. The dissemination of Journey to the West in Britain and America involves that of texts (including translated texts and new literary texts) and that of non-textual forms (including film&TV shows, dramas, cartoons, music and web games). Each production means a transformation at the micro and macro levels,because such transformation attributed to "reception-oriented" translation starts with the translation of the book and gradually extends to all textual and non-textual production of the classic until the Chinese Journey to the West turns the English Journey to the West in nature and trend. In the English literary and cultural context different receptive demands cause different translations and transformations of the novel and create different audiences, including common audience and special audience. All the audiences integrate their receptional capacities into the translation and transformation of the novel and help facilitate the receptional dissemination and evolution of Journey to the West.Therefore,it is also pointed out that the study of the translation and transformation of Journey to the West in Britain and America from the perspective of receptional aesthetics tells that the texts and non-textual forms of Journey to the West are basically the products of the English culture,a mirror of the mental and spiritual world of the English audiences, which will contribute to the understanding of the receptional capacities and changes of the audiences in different ages, as well as the examination of the differences between the Chinese culture and the English culture.Finally in the last part this dissertation illustrates the "reception-oriented"development space of Jorney to the West in Britain and America from the angles of the translation-reception significance of the newest Chinese edition of Journey to the West and the characteristic-function role of the audience reception, proposes the"reception-oriented" translation principle of Affinity for the translational and receptional foundation, and emphasizes the role of cultural commeasurability,universality,generativity,filterability and Sino-English combination of the audience reception in the domestication of more Chinese cultural symbols and spirits in Britain and America.