A Contrastive Study Of The Chinese Versions Of Walden-from The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

Walden is Henry David Thoreau’s masterpiece. This book embodies his life philosophy and literary talent. Ecological thoughts, harmonious relationship between nature and human being represented in Walden become the spiritual home of many people in an environmentally deteriorating world. The deep interpretations of Walden must have aroused people’s awareness of environmental protection. In recent years, scholars at home and abroad pay more and more attention to Walden. However, most of the studies are about the theme and social influence of this work. Few studies have been done on translated versions of Walden from the view of reception aesthetics.Reception Aesthetics shifts text-centered and author-centered paradigm to reader-centered paradigm. Whether readers can accept the translated version or not is the chief parameter of evaluation. Translators are first and foremost readers. Every translator has his own horizon of expectation, interpretations, and considerations of implied readers’ horizons of expectation. Thus different translated versions come into being. One translated version can not satisfy readers’horizon of expectations at all ages. Readers at different ages may have higher expectation and requirements. Only after many times excavation and interpretation can we constantly come close to the essence of the literary work, and then, inherit its great spirit. In this thesis, the author chooses two Chinese translated versions with different translators at different ages, uses the two terms of reception aesthetics——"horizon of expectations" and "indeterminacies" as theoretical basis, and, compares and analyzes the two versions from linguistic and ecological view. Through the comparison of the two translated versions from the perspective of reception aesthetics, the author helps would-be translators to understand and grasp the meaning of Walden better, and guides them with their translation practicing in a more effective way, for the purpose of creating a better translation more suitable for the readers.After the comparison, the author points out that at linguistic level, Xu Chi’s version is mainly literal translation and some expressions are no longer in use today. On the contrast, Pan Qingling’s version is free translation expressing in a way that is conformity with the customs of modern Chinese. At ecological level, Pan pays more attention conveying ecological implication, which better meets modern readers’ horizons of expectation.