A Contrastive Study Of Two Versions Of The Analects By Ku Hung-ming And James Legge

The Analects is a book recording the sayings of Confucius and his disciples. Thebook consists of twenty chapters, which involve politics, culture, ethics, education,religion and many other aspects, reflecting Confucius wisdom. It is regarded as thereliable material to study the philosophy of Confucius and Confucianism. We can alsolearn some moral principles from it, for example, the quality of “morality”,“rites”,“filial piety”,“virtue”,“trustworthiness” and “Jun Zi”. Such moral principlesrepresent the spirit of Chinese people, exerting an important influence in Chinesehistory. People in China and other countries can be inspired to learn more knowledgeas the book is full of life wisdom.As the symbol of traditional Chinese culture, the Analects has been translatedinto many different versions, among which Legge’s and Ku’s are of great popularityand authority. James Legge, the Scottish missionary and sinologist, devoted his life tostudy Chinese literature and translate the Chinese Classics, and his object was to bringChristianity to China. Ku Hung-ming, the defender of traditional Chinese culture,tried to translate the Analects to change Westerners’ incorrect attitudes toward Chinaand Chinese people, and help them get a better understanding of Chinese culture.Reception aesthetics is adopted as the theoretical basis of the thesis. Based on thetheory of hermeneutics and phenomenology, reception aesthetics focuses on theimportance of the reader in the reception of literary text. The representatives are HansRobert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser from the Constance School. In1980s, some Chinesescholars began to apply this theory into translation studies. The process of translationis the process of literature recreating. The translator interprets the source textaccording to his own experience, and in the process of translation he tends to takethese factors into consideration, such as reader’s aesthetic experience, literacy, andtheir life experiences. After interpreting the source text, the translator seeks for bettertranslation strategy to satisfy reader’s “horizon of expectations”.The thesis tends to make a contrastive study of the two versions of the Analects by James Legge and Ku Hung-ming through the analysis of key concepts and someculture-loaded words. James Legge mainly adopts word-for-word translation strategyand provides detailed notes. Ku Hung-ming’s translation is to introduce Confuciusphilosophy by expressing the meaning generally. By analyzing the two translators’consideration for the reader’s “horizon of expectations”, the thesis focuses on the twoversion’s features and the translation strategy, which may shed light on bettertranslation strategy for the Analects.