A Comparative Study On Three Versions Of David Copperfield Under The Guidance Of Translation Aesthetics

Charles Dickens is one of the greatest writers in British literature. His works aregreatly loved by Chinese readers and almost all his novels have been translated intoChinese. As the favorite work of the author, David Copperfield takes a significantposition in his literature creation and he invests enormous efforts into it. Generation aftergeneration, translators have strained their heart and mind to translate the excellent work,and new translated versions are created consecutively. Serving as the transferring mediaof aesthetics, different versions are dealt with different judgments. Accordingly, it isnecessary to analyze versions of different times and value the advantages anddisadvantages in the process of aesthetic representation by the way ofcomparison.In the process of translation, the theoretical framework is indispensible. The culturalturn in translation assigns a new perspective to translation theoretical research. As one ofthe important theories, translation aesthetics combines translation and aesthetics andconcerns three elements: aesthetic object, aesthetic subject and aesthetic process.Aesthetic subject exerts his subjective initiative to analyze the aesthetic object to makethe aesthetic value represented in the translated version. To manage this, translators mustbe faithful to the original text on the one hand, and be creative on the other. The originalidiomatic language should be expressed in idiomatic language in translated version.Translated versions of Lin Shu, Zhang Guruo and Zhuang Yichuan are comparedand the similarities and differences in the process of aesthetic representation are analyzedfrom the aspect of sound, form and meaning. During comparative study, the step isanalyzing the original aesthetics then comparing the Chinese versions, thus the objectiveconclusion can be reached. To a certain degree, Lin Shu simplifies aesthetics. ZhangGuruo and Zhuang Yichuan transfer the aesthetics in equal influence and power andsometimes Zhang Guruo creates aesthetics. Meanwhile translator’s cultural backgrounds,knowledge constituents and aesthetic standards to a large extent influence aestheticrepresentation in the translated versions.