A Study Of The Translation Of Religious Words In HONG LOU MENG From The Perspective Of Deconstructionism

Hong Lou Meng is the treasure of Chinese classical literature which has been widely studied since it was published. There are various versions of translations on Hong Lon Meng, among which the two kinds of versions translated respectively by the English translator Hawks and by Chinese translator Yang Xianyi and his wife, are most renowned and also granted more attention.On the basis of deconstructionism, combined with the approach to literature research, this thesis aims to discuss the problem of translation of religious words in Hong Lou Meng from the perspective of Deconstructionism. The following findings are discovered: first, Yang’s version adopts the strategy of "foreignization" more, which is also one of the main ideas of Deconstructionism, while Hawks’ version inclines the strategy of "domestication". However, their inclinations are not absolutely on the opposite, just from different focuses. Second, Yang’s version was greatly influenced by the Chinese politics and Chinese culture, so he emphasized more on "fidelity"; on the contrary, Hawks’ translation motivation originated from his interest, thus he cared more about the readers. Third, Yang and Hawks, though from different cultures, with different educational background and motivations, demonstrated their similar great talents on translations of some sentences. This research is theoretically significant in the study of Deconstructionism and the translation of religious words in Hong Lou Meng and practically valuable in guiding translation with the idea of Deconstructionism.