A Comparative Study Of Translating Lantern Riddles In Three English Versions Of Hongloumeng From The Perspective Of Reception Theory

Hongloumeng, as the greatest Chinese classics, has attracted many scholars and readers to make studies on it since it was published. And the researches on its various English versions have made up an important part of Redology. Compared with these abridged versions of Hongloumeng, the three complete English versions rendered by Bramwell Seaton Bonsall, David Hawkes and his son-in-law, John Minford, as well as Yang Hsien-yi and his wife Gladys Yang get the upper hand in their comprehensiveness. The complete ones translated the poem, the rhymed prose and so on, which makes them superior to the abridged ones. Among them, the lantern riddles which is one integral part in Hongloumeng are of great importance in adumbrating main characters’destinies, portraying the images of the major figures and reflecting the cultural and spiritual life of that time. Thus, whether the translation of the lantern riddles is successful will surely have impact upon the degree of acceptance of Hongloumeng in English world.According to the reception theory, every literary text contains many blanks and indeterminacies that constitute the response-inviting structure of the text. And readers possess their own horizon of expectations before reading a literary text. They will fill the blanks and clarify the indeterminacy under their horizon of expectations during the reading course. Only when they fuse their horizon of expectations with the text can the literary text get acceptance by readers and realize its significance. Thus, firstly as readers of the original text, translators is obliged to make efforts to fuse their horizon of expectations with the source text, and then do their translating work on the premise of fully consideration of the target readers’horizon of expectations. Most of the lantern riddles in Hongloumeng are written in the form of quatrains with unique features and beauty in sound, form and meaning. Therefore, how to make target readers get the same esthetic feelings as that of Chinese readers when they read the original text and how to render a translated version with which the target readers can fuse their horizon of expectations are of great significance to the acceptance of the translated versions and acceptance of the original literary text in other countries with different language system and culture.This thesis firstly makes an introduction of the reception theory’s origin, main viewpoints and its enlightenment on translation studies, and introduces reception theory into the translation of the lantern riddles in Hongloumeng. Then, the riddles and lantern riddles in Hongloumeng as well as the challenges arising from its special features in translating them into English are examined. And then, this thesis conducts a comparative study on the different performances by the three translators in the two courses of fusion of horizons. First of all, a comparative study on the three translator’s horizon of expectations, their interpretation of the source text and the way they employ to fuse their horizon of expectations with the source text is made. Then, this thesis examines the translators’reader-ship which is mainly refers to translators’consideration of readers’acceptance level and their horizon of expectations. Specifically, how they reproduce the esthetic features of lantern riddles, and at the same time remain the indeterminacies that the original text has so that their translated version can stimulate the readers to actively participate in reconstructing the value of the text. Finally, the thesis draws a conclusion:Hawkes fuses his horizon of expectations with the source text and reproduces the esthetic features of lantern riddles successfully on the basis of taking the target readers’horizon of expectation into his account; the Yangs succeed in the first fusion course but failed partly to reproduce the sound, form and meaning beauties because of their over-emphasis on faithfulness to the original text; Bonsall doesn’t fully fuse his horizon of expectation with the source text due to his lack of communication with other scholars in this field and lack of first-hand materials. Additionally, he employs absolute fidelity and loyalty to the source text and takes no consideration of the target language readers’horizon. As a result, his translation of the lantern riddles is hardly easy for readers to accept and appreciate. From the perspective of reception theory, the comparative study of the English translation of lantern riddles is helpful in enriching and extending the research field of reception theory, is beneficial to tell the distinctive characteristics of the three complete English versions of Hongloumeng and may be helpful in contributing to the diverse and deep study of Hongloumeng.