A Study Of The English Versions Of Mao Zedong Poetry From Translator’s Subjectivity Perspective

Mao Zedong is a great revolutionist, thinker, strategist and poet. As such a great man, the greatness must accordingly characterized his poetry the attributes of enormous breadth of mind, great aspiration and daring in spirits. He followed the rules and forms of Chinese classical poetic composition, but made innovations, accordingly, his poetry is an invaluable treasure in the circles of contemporary Chinese poetry.The translation of Mao Zedong poetry, on the one hand, makes benefits to the transmission of Chinese culture, on the other hand, makes chances to present the world a real Mao Zedong’s image. In early1937, Edgar Snow cited Mao Zedong poetry "The Long March" into the English version of Red Star over China, which ushered the translation of Mao Zedong poetry. Ever since, the English versions of Mao Zedong poetry have been more than twenty. No doubt, all these versions have contributed a lot to the translation of Mao Zedong poetry.Translation is a work full of challenge, especially the translation of poetry of Mao Zedong the great. The translator not only must be faithful to the meaning of original poem, but also need to take initiative to display the translator’s subjectivity and to craft creative translation, with the purpose of reproducing the imagery of original poem, and retaining the poetry flavor and the resemblance of original poem. However, the traditional translation study neglected the role of translator, which has already brought about the unbalanced development to the translation theory.This thesis is to study the translation of Mao Zedong poetry by Xu Yuanchong version and Li Zhengshuan version. Through the study, the guiding role of translator’s subjectivity upon translator’s practice has been highly emphasized; the reflection of translator’s version to his translation ideology was clearly verified. With respect to translator’s subjectivity, this thesis has made proper introduction, along with translator’s creativity. As for the creative translation, the author of this thesis has thrown his own shallow idea about the degree of creative translation, just for a tentative exploration on it at the academic level, and in hope of inducing penetrating insight from the circle counterparts. This thesis consists of three parts:the introduction, the body and the conclusion. The introduction begins with the discussion upon the literal translation and the liberal translation, and then the phenomenon that the silent shift of concern on translator’s subjectivity by Chinese scholars, and last the reviews upon the translation of Mao Zedong poetry. The main body has two chapters, respectively introducing Xu Yuanchong’s and Li Zhengshuan’s translation ideology, and carried out elaborate study on their translation. Through study, the reciprocal interaction between translator’s subjectivity and translator’s practice has been clearly impressed. The conclusion reviews the main content of the thesis and reclaims the main idea of the author of this thesis.