On The English Translation Of Shenesi Pilao From The Perspective Of Hermeneutic Motion Theory

Hermeneutics is a discipline on the understanding and interpretation, it considerstranslation as the process of understanding and interpretation, during which thetranslator will, on the basis of thorough understanding, interpret the original textthrough various approaches. In the light of philosophical hermeneutics, Steiner putsforward the most famous hermeneutic motion theory. On account of this theory,translation process could be subdivided into four stages: trust, aggression, incorporationand compensation, and the translation will be imperfect without any one step. Mo Yangot the2012Nobel Prize in Literature, which was the landmark event in the history ofChinese literature. The English version of Shengsi Pilao has played considerablysignificant role on the award-winning, thus the study of the specific process ofgenerating the English version is of great significance.In the light of the theoretical framework of Steiner’s hermeneutic motion theory,this thesis chooses the translated version of Shengsi Pilao as the object of research.Through the combination of theoretical statement and case analysis, this paper analyzeshow Goldblatt’s efforts in each step influence the English version during the translationprocess of Shengsi Pilao. Trust refers to the process of selecting the original work. As tothis point, Goldblatt proposes several principles, namely: the achievements of the author,the value of the original work, and his personal preference for the author or work.Besides, Goldblatt conducts deep study and actual investigation on the original work to establish the initial trust to the original work. Aggression refers to the process ofunderstanding of the original work. As the unique products of each nation, differentcultures and linguistic factors will pose great difficulty for translator’s understanding,thus the translator shall deeply explore the original work and get the accurateinformation conveyed. After understanding of the original work, the translator shallconvey what he has understood through the target language, and this is the process ofincorporation. Different strategies adopted by the translator to incorporate the form andmeaning of the original work will greatly influence the acceptability and readability ofthe translated version. During the process of trust, aggression and incorporation,something in the original work may loss because of the translator’s subjective or theobjective factors, thus compensation becomes an essential step. To achieve the balancebetween the original work and the translated one, i.e. to convey the essence of theoriginal work and to take into account of the target readers, compensation at thelinguistic and aesthetic level is very important.To make the Chinese literature to step onto the world platform, translationbecomes one of the important factors. Each step plays a vital role to the successfulspreading of the translated version, i.e. the process from the selection of the source textto the translator’s understanding, incorporation and compensation of the source text. The hermeneutic translation motion theory elaborates the intact process of translationand provides theoretical guidance for translation studies. This thesis, under thetheoretical framework of hermeneutic translation motion theory, analyzes the successfuloperation of Goldblatt during the translation of Shengsi Pilao, so as to provide practicalguidance for more translators and make greater contribution to the Chinese literaryspreading.