Generation And Recreation Of Aesthetic Images In Poetry Translation

Beauty has always been an important issue in the studies of poetry translation. In both China and the West, many scholars have made profound studies on poetry translation from the perspective of beauty or aesthetics since ancient times. Generally speaking, existing theories of poetry or literary translation believe that poetry or a literary work has an intrinsic beauty that transcends time and space and that the task of poetry or literary translation is to reproduce this universal beauty. Many scholars have thus set various dichotomous criteria for poetry translation and are critical of translations diverging from their understanding. However, those theories fail to recognize the gaps in poetry interpretation and the complexity of strategies adopted in poetry translation, nor can they explain the existence, acceptance, and success of different versions. Major scholars from the field of cultural studies have highlighted the influence of socio-cultural elements on the beauty of poetry and questioned the validity of universal or intrinsic beauty of poetry. However, they have not studied poetry translation systematically from the perspective of aesthetics and their views of some issues in poetry translation lack consistency. Therefore, it is necessary to employ a more explanatory aesthetic theory to systematically study the issue of beauty in poetry translation.The author believes that the main cause of the contradictions and problems in existing theories of poetry translation is an inadequate understanding of the development of aesthetics. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, major schools of aesthetics have refuted the existence of universal beauty and laid their emphasis on aesthetic activities. The theory of beauty as aesthetic images combines the achievements of aesthetics at home and abroad, represents the development trend of modern aesthetics, and plays the leading role in the current aesthetic field of China. Therefore, the author adopts this theory to study poetry translation. This thesis aims, from the perspective of the generation of aesthetic images, to explain the gaps and differences in the process of poetry translation and unveil the liberating power of poetry translation in the aesthetic continuity of mankind. The body of the thesis is divided into three chapters to fully demonstrate the author’s points of view.Chapter Two questions the validity of translation theories based on the universal or intrinsic beauty of poetry and points out that the beauty of poetry is the images generated in the aesthetic activity of mankind. Although the fixed beauty upheld by existing theories of poetry translation has undergone author-centered, text-centered, and reader-centered shifts, none of them can fully explain the divergences in poetry interpretation and translation. The theory of beauty as aesthetic images believes that beauty can only exist in a specific historical aesthetic activity and is not immutable. The generation of aesthetic images is subject to the influence of aesthetic trend, aesthetic interest, and aesthetic judgment.Chapter Three discusses the generation and recreation of aesthetic images in poetry translation as well as translation strategies and gaps involved in the process. From the perspective of beauty as aesthetic images, translation strategies plagued by dichotomy in traditional poetry translation theories are unified and the heatedly debated gaps in poetry translation are inevitable and justified. Although poetry translation invariably involves indefiniteness and infinity, the existence, acceptance, and even success of translated poems demonstrate that the fulfillment of aesthetic promise is dependent upon the translator’s "illusion" and the reader’s "collusion".Chapter Four puts poetry translation in the infinite aesthetic continuity of mankind and highlights the liberating power of poetry translation. The recreation of aesthetic images in poetry translation enriches and passes along the aesthetic images generated from the original poem. Poetry translation releases the aesthetic potential of poetry and poets by reviving them in a different time and place. Moreover, poetry translation exerts a far-reaching influence on the target literature and culture by promoting the innovation of poetics and the enrichment of aesthetic material.