Study Of Two Translations Of Shui Hu Zhuan From The Perspective Of Translator's Aesthetic Psychology

Shui Hu Zhuan, one of the most famous classic masterpieces in China, holds an important position in the history of Chinese literature. However, as Shui Hu Zhuan consists of a great many Chinese cultural elements, the translation is a challenge for translators. Meanwhile, it is also a crucial way for spreading Chinese culture. Among the English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan, All Men Are Brothers by Pearl S. Buck and Outlaws of the Marsh by Sidney Shapiro are widely accepted. There are many studies of the translations of Shui Hu Zhuan at present, but the studies from the perspective of aesthetic psychology are very scarce.This thesis tries to study the two English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan from the perspective of translator's aesthetic psychology. Through analyzing the different psychological elements of the two translators, the author tries to reveal the influence of translator's aesthetic psychology in his or her literature translation, and make a suggestion that in literature translation, it is necessary to pay special attention to the cultivation of translator's aesthetic psychology. The thesis contains four chapters in addition to an introduction and a conclusion.In Introduction, the author elucidates the significance and purpose of the study, the main contents of research, as well as the creative work he tries to complete.Chapter One is literature review. The author makes a brief introduction to the status quo of the study, and points out the deficient parts of the former researches, which lead to the main study of this thesis.In Chapter Two, the translator's aesthetic psychology and translation studies are discussed. The author points out the feasibility and necessity to study translation from aesthetic psychology.In Chapter Three, on grounds of the former researches, the author discusses the main psychological elements of the translator's aesthetic psychology with some examples from the two English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan. The main elements are aesthetic sensation and perception, aesthetic imagination, aesthetic feeling, and aesthetic understanding. And the author indicates the important influences brought by these main elements in the process of literature translation.In Chapter Four, in light of the principles of Gestalt psychology theory, the author makes comparative analyses between the two English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan from the perspective of translator's aesthetic psychology. In detail, the author makes analyses from the aspects of figures of speech, syntactic level, and image and artistic conception. The author makes comparative analyses of the two versions of Shui Hu Zhuan, aiming at studying the influences from different translators'aesthetic psychology, so as to make a humble contribution to translation research. The conclusion summarizes the main idea of the thesis, indicating the complexity and the significance of the exploration to the translator's aesthetic psychology in translation. Generally speaking, the study of translation from the perspective of aesthetic psychology is a comparatively new point of view, and can deepen the understanding of the nature of translation, analyze the translation process, and verify the aesthetic psychology expressions in the translation process. The author chooses two English versions of Shui Hu Zhuan as a case study on the basis of the relationship between aesthetic psychology and literary translation, with the hope of making an effort to the aesthetic study of Chinese literary works and their translations.