Vacancy & Indeterminacy And Literary Transiation

The aesthetic category of vacancy and indeterminacy proposed both in Chinese and western art and literary criticisms is considered to be an important feature of literature and art. However, it is recognized and expounded differently due to different cultural backgrounds, thinking modes and aesthetic perspectives of Chinese and western literary critics. Furthermore, at home and abroad, the remarks about applying the theory of vacancy and indeterminacy to literary translation tend to be sporadic and scattered. Taking this situation into consideration, the author attempts to synthesize the vacancy and indeterminacy in ancient Chinese aesthetics and western theories of Phenomenology and Reception Aesthetics, make clear its connotations, explore its origins and causes, analyze its embodiment in the literary text, and combine it with the literary translation, elucidating its significance to the plurality of interpretations, retranslation and the criteria of translation.This thesis consists of five chapters in addition to introduction and conclusion.The introduction briefs the author's basic aim, as well as the content and structure of the thesis.Chapter One makes a brief review on the category of vacancy and indeterminacy in both ancient Chinese literary criticism and western literary criticism. Through the comparison of their different understandings of this category, taking literary translation into account, the author puts forward her own views on literary vacancy and indeterminacy, which is endowed with new connotations.Chapter Two probes into the origins of the existence of literary vacancyand indeterminacy as well as basic reasons for the adoption of vacancy and indeterminacy in literary works, among which, the limitation of language proper, the restriction of political surroundings, the influence of literary trend and the aesthetically motivated choice of the creative subject are respectively discussed. This chapter also touches on the tactics of handling vacancy and indeterminacy according to different reasons.Chapter Three focuses on the embodiment of vacancy and indeterminacy on three main layers of the source text, i.e., the discourse layer, the image layer and the layer of literary significance. Insofar as the interdependence of vacancy and indeterminacy on different layers is concerned, corresponding requirements for its handling in literary translation are also covered in this chapter.Chapter Four elaborates on two strategies of dealing with the vacancy and indeterminacy in literary translation. Through the comparison between these two approaches, i.e., the maintenance and the explication and concretization of literary vacancy and indeterminacy, it makes clear that the translator should take both the artistic object (source text) and the aesthetic subject (target text reader) into full consideration so as to seek a balance in his handling of vacancy and indeterminacy.Chapter Five attempts to reveal the significance of vacancy and indeterminacy to translation practice and translation theory, especially on the plurality of interpretations, retranslation, and the criteria of literary translation.The conclusion sums up the whole thesis.