Liu Ruoyu's Literary Criticism And Translation Studies

This graduation thesis holds that domestic study of James J.Y.Liu(1926-1986)in China should consist of three parts:the first part is to judge and study Liu's critical thoughts of Chinese literature;the second part is to research strategies of translation and trans-culture communication applied in Liu's English works,and Liu's translation practice,all of which will shed light on how to further promote foreign influence of Chinese culture;the third is to make a complement to Chinese versions of Liu's English works,criticize and improve Chinese translation of Liu's English works.It is a pity that the academic circle of China pays much more attention to study of the first part than those of the second and third parts.For the above three parts,this thesis focuses on study of the first part,elaborates on that of the second part,even involves that of the third part.Specifically,this thesis not only attaches importance to Liu's literary criticism which belongs to the first part and probes into Liu's translation strategies and practice which belong to the second part,but also involves the revision and improvement of Chinese versions of Liu's English works which belong to the third part,all of which have a positi've significance in laying the foundation for the future prosperity of research into James J.Y.Liu's academic fruits.This thesis is composed of the introduction,the mainbody including five chapters and the conclusion.In the introduction,the reasons and significance of the topic selection of this thesis are firstly presented,then overseas and domestic research status and prospects are introduced.Lastly,research designs,approaches and innovative points are respectively expounded.In the first chapter,the cultural accumulation which plays an important role in James J.Y.Liu's academic success can be traced back to the early background of Liu's family and education in Beijing,China and later overseas higher education and teaching experiences.The first chapter also analyzes the relationship between Liu's life experiences and his distinguished achievements and classifies Liu's academic fruits.In the second chapter,a deep analysis and discussion of Liu's systematic construction of Chinese poetics is made and the improvement of Chinese name translation of "Four Concepts of Chinese poetics" is put forward.Moreover,this chapter elaborates on analogy and difference between James J.Y.Liu's circle framework and Meyer Howard Abrams' triangle framework,and from the seven aspects makes a discussion about the imperfection and deficiency of the circle framework and" Six Theories of Chinese Poetics" presented by James J.Y.Liu,including not establishing relations between "writer" and " reader","world" and;"works",not putting the chapter of" Deterministic Theories" into the suitable position,and not successfully dealing with "archaism".Although English expressions of " An Eventual Universal Theory of Literature" presented by James J.Y.Liu and " World Literary Theory" are different,Chinese expressions of the two above theories are very similar.So,the profound analysis of the differences between the two theories is made in this chapter.The third chapter focuses on James J.Y.Liu's critical ideas and practice.This thesis names the critical ideas presented by James J.Y.Liu" World-Language Idea".World-Language Idea and World-Language criteria for criticism play an important role in Liu's whole critical activities.This chapter traces back to the academic sources of World-Language Idea.Besides,this chapter selects the excellent example of criticism of World-Language Idea-The Poetry of Li Shang-yin:Ninth-Centry Baroque Chinese Poet(Chicago:The University of Chicago Press,1969)to analyze how World-Language Idea is applied to criticize Li Shang-yin's poems.The fourth chapter gathers the scattered translation strategies and ideas,most of which are publicly put forward by James J.Y.Liu,and some of which are not clearly and directly put forward by James J.Y.Liu but actually exist in James J.Y.Liu's translation works.This chapter respectively names James J.Y.Liu's translation strategies and ideas in the form of phrases:" Manner of Resistance ","Method of Accordance ","Method of Eclecticism"," Method of Compatibility","Idea of Roles","Method of Adding Annotation"," Method of Anti-ambiguity".From the perspective of the types of translation practice,James J.Y.Liu's English works are mainly composed of two types:translation of literary critical theories of China and translation of Chinese poetry.The representative of the first type are The Art of Chinese Poetry(Chicago:The University of Chicago Press,1962),and Chinese Theories of Literature(Chicago:The University of Chicago Press,1975);the representative of the second type are The Poetry of Li Shang-yin:Ninth-Centry Baroque Chinese Poet and Major Lyricists of Northern Sung A.D.960-1126(Princeton:Princeton Universtiy Press,1974).For the first type,a comparison of James J.Y.Liu's and Stephen Owen's translation of literary critical discourse of China is made so as to reveal and remark on characteristics of James J.Y.Liu's translation.For the second type,on the basis of an overview of development of translation of Tang poetry in the United States,The Poetry of Li Shang-yin:Ninth-Centry Baroque Chinese Poet is analyzed as the typical example,from which some James J.Y.Liu's translation strategies of poetry such as "Method of Adding Annotation"?" Method of Anti-ambiguity" are detailedly discussed and James J.Y.Liu's great efforts to promote the foreign dissemination of Chinese culture are revealed.James J.Y.Liu's translation practice mainly including literary criticism and poetry of China is particularly advantageous to the development and improvement of later English translation activities of Chinese culture.The enlightenment of transcultural dissemination brought about by James J.Y.Liu's literary critical practice are provided in the fifth chapter.By means of applying some transcultural principles such as "Motivation of Shortage"?"Motivation of Enrichment","Outsideness" by Mikhail Bakhtin,"Latency Pattern Maintenance"by Talcott Parsons to analyzing James J.Y.Liu's thoughts and strategies of transcultural dissemination,James J.Y.Liu's contribution to advancing overseas dissemination of Chinese culture,values and spirits is affirmed and bring about enlightenment from three aspects for later work of transcultural dissemination of Chinese culture.In short,first,we should grasp " Motivation of Shortage"?"Motivation of Enrichment";second,we should take "Latency Pattern Maintenance" into account;third,we should be equipped with insights of "Outsideness".Under the background of the nowadays era calling for "promoting mutual learning and communication between China and foreign countries,and enhancing level and abilities of cultural exchanges ",to draw a conclusion about James J.Y.Liu's experiences of disseminating Chinese culture and literature in English world will undoubtedly provide useful enlightenment and advice for how to strengthen and improve the overseas dissemination of Chinese culture.In the alien context and cultural space the dissemination of Chinese culture and literature has the positive and great significance for breaking the unequal situation of world literature system,resisting western culture hegemony,proposing multi-culture?co-existence and harmony in diversity.The task of overseas disseminaton of Chinese literature and culture is arduous,significant,and far-reaching.