A Comparison Of Two Chinese Versions Of De Profundis From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

Reception changes the traditional translation from being writer-centered to beingreader-centered, which provides a new perspective for translation studies.“Horizon ofexpectation” and “fusion of horizons” provide a certain theoretical support for literarytranslators in the process of translation. The thesis adopts the method of comparison analysisto contrast two Chinese versions of Oscar Wilde’s De Profundis. The author analyzes thedifferences between two versions from the diction, sentence structure and rhetoric deviceswith some detailed case studies from the perspective of readers’ horizon of expectations andfusion of horizons. It can be found that Reception Aesthetics lays emphasis on the function ofreaders in the process of reading. Readers with their own “horizon of expectations” exchangeswith translated versions, and then they have a understanding and reception to the text and thenrealize the “fusion of horizons”. Readers constantly renew their fixed horizon of expectationsin the process of reading and attain the pleasure of literary enjoyment. For two Chineseversions of De Profundis, it can be seen that the version of Professor Zhu Chunshen issuperior to the version of Professor Sun Yixue. In the aspect of diction, Professor Zhu paysmore attention to convey the nature of the original text from the perspective of readers’ needs,making the unity of form and content. He employs succinct language to deliver the essenceand the beauty of the original text. His version gives Chinese readers’ fresh aestheticexperience by using the concise and refined language. In the aspect of wording and phrasing,Professor Zhu’s quadrisyllabic idioms can be more suitable for target readers’ horizon ofexpectations. A conclusion can be drawn after the analysis: the analysis of different translatedversions to the same work can give readers a clear picture on the work’s research revalue andsocial meaning from the perspective of readers’ horizon of expectations and fusion ofhorizons. Reception Aesthetics can also provide literary translators a theoretical support forthe choice of translation skills and strategies during the literary translation. Besides, in theprocess of translation, translators should give full play to their subjectivities, taking variousreaders’ needs into consideration from different angles. They should satisfy readers’ horizonof expectations to the maximum according to the characteristic of the text, achieving thefusion of horizons and making the translation accepted by readers.