On Pun Translation From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

Pun is a popular rhetoric device both in English and Chinese literatures. On onehand, apt use of puns will lend implicitness and mildness, liveliness and vividness aswell as humorous and witty effects to literary texts, so that readers will taste thehumor, the sarcasm and diversion of the original text; on the other hand, it isbeneficial for writers to reveal character, to promote storyline and to build atmospherethrough reasonable use of pun. However, it is a tough task to translate pun because ofthe multi-layer of pun meanings as well as many differences between the Chinese andEnglish languages and cultures. Therefore, the issue of pun translation is always a bigheadache for literature translators.Many scholars have studied pun translation from various perspectives such asSocial Semiotics, Functional Translation Theory, Pragmatics and so on. But few ofthem have discussed this topic from the perspective of Reception Aesthetics, which isa theory of literary criticism stressing reader’s dynamic roles and will be alsobeneficial to translation studies. In accordance with this theory, the author believesthat literary translation is a process of “translating—translated works—reception”which is composed of “the original works, translator, translated works and targetreaders”. Additionally, readers’ reception is both the beginning and the end of thetranslation process. As the reader of the original work, the translator should firstabsorb the text and then makes efforts to produce translation. The ultimate aim is tomake target readers better understand the original work and obtain the equivalentreceiving effect as original readers. Therefore, the gist of pun translation is not onlyon language transformation but also on how to entertain target readers and optimizethe receiving effects. Thus it’s feasible and of academic value to integrate this theoryinto the study of pun translation.The thesis tries to analyze the translator’s triple roles from the angle of ReceptionAesthetics, with the aim of going beyond traditional text-centered translation theoryand providing a new translator-centered perspective for the study of pun translation.Meanwhile, it attempts to construct the theoretical frame of this thesis by applying thethree key concepts of Reception Aesthetics including “Horizon of Expectations”, “Indeterminacy and Vacancy of the Text” and “Aesthetic Experience”, withclassical puns of some English literary works and their translations as its researchobjects, and proves that it is feasible and important to apply the theory to puntranslation. Thus the author finally arrives at the conclusion that the translator shouldconsider target readers’ horizon of expectations, construct appealing structure of thetarget text, and keep comfortable aesthetic distance when translating pus. Finally,translation techniques are introduced to explore effective ways to solve the problemsof pun translation.In conclusion, this thesis will be a good attempt at researching pun translationunder the perspective of Reception Aesthetics, aiming at providing some directionsand advice for the study in this field. The thesis is also expected to attract valuableopinions and attention, and to stimulate more discussions over the issue.