A Study Of Translating Figures Of Speech In "Fortress Besieged"-An Aesthetic Perspective

This thesis tentatively carries out a study focused on Gestalt theory, which is originated from psychology. As an aesthetic approach, Gestalt theory mainly concentrates on the perception, and it lays emphasis on receptors rather than the source text, which attaches importance to the active participation of readers. Meanwhile, it emphasizes the whole instead of the part and provides us a comprehensive and systematic approach applied in translation. The thesis also reviews the history of translation of aesthetics as well as the historical studies of aesthetics in both China and the West so as to lay a theoretical foundation for further analysis.Through the examples taken from the English version Fortress Besieged(by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao), this thesis mainly examines the aesthetic objects, the aesthetic subjects and the Gestalt theory applied in translation. It is noted that in the context of translation, the aesthetic object refers to the source language, while the aesthetic subject mainly refers to the translator. The previous studies always highlight the importance of the translator and ignore the active participation of the reader.Complementary to the aesthetics of reception, the Gestalt theory turns to the readers who have always been ignored. By means of the four-step aesthetic process in translation, the thesis tries to study the interaction and influences among the source language, translator as well as the reader in the process of aesthetic activities. The author places special emphasis on the analyses and discussion of concrete language materials concerning figures of speech in Fortress Besieged, aiming at exploring some laws of the Gestalt approach for translating, namely, the Law of Closeness, Past Experience, the Law of Figure-ground and the Law of Simplicity. Through these specific analysis of the laws applied in the English version, the thesis expounded the necessity and rationality of application of Gestalt theory to the translation.Surely certain achievements have been scored in certain aspects of Translation Aesthetics. Nevertheless, research on Gestalt theory is far from satisfactory and much remains to be done. Owing to the differences between traditional translation theory and Gestalt theory, its introduction and application to translation field still have a long way to go. It is the author's sincere wish that this thesis may shed some light on the study and practice of Translation Aesthetics and Gestalt theory in particular, and it also wishes to offer some suggestions for the perfection of Gestalt theory in translation.