A Study Of The Translation Approach And Principle In The English Version Of Tung Hsi-hsiang Chu-Kong-Tiao

Hundreds of years ago, great play writer Wang Shifu in Yuan Dynasty wrote down The West Chamber Romance, which is passed on from generation to generation and stood the test of time. There are several English versions of it as well, but seldom have the researchers noticed the origin of The West Chamber Romance. As far as the author is concerned, nobody has conducted any research on it. Composed of several Gongdiao, Tung Hsi-hsiang chu-kong-tiao, which is the only version that was well-preserved of Song and Jin period, is a mixture of singing and telling. It was written by Tung Chie Yuan (a Jin period writer at 12th century) based on Yingying Zhuan which is a pearl in literature. Chie Yuan, was a respectful title for scholars not the real name for Tung.This 12th century masterpiece suffered virtual oblivion from the late fourteenth century until 1912, when it was rediscovered by the great sinologist Wang Kuo-wei who helped restore it to its preeminent position in Chinese literature. Professor Lili Chen at Tufts University translated it into English in the 70s of last century. The translation was collected into Cambridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature and Institutions, winning the recognition among foreign readers.Just as Professor Susan Bassnette of University of Warwick commented, drama translation was always the labyrinth in translation field which is most difficult and easy to be neglected by researchers. Thus, the author of this thesis tries to discuss the approaches and principles in prose and verse of Tung Hsi-hsiang chu-kong-tiao English version to provide a perspective and material to later researchers.The thesis consists of five chapters. The paper begins with an introduction. Chapter two focuses on drama and drama translation. Chapter three is the theoretical discussions on drama translation. Chapter four is the most important part of this thesis--a case study. Together with the English version, some translation strategies adopted in it would be discussed and analyzed. The last chapter, the author would make a brief summary and put forward some humble opinions on the English version, with the aim to promote the spread of the essence of our country, and benefit scholars in drama translation research field as well.