The Study On Xu Yuanchong's Translation Of 300 Tang Poems From The Perspective Of Intertextuality

Tang poems are a gem of Chinese classical culture.The number of Tang poems is considerable,of which the most popular ones are those collected by Qing scholar Sun Zhu in 300 Tang Poems.In recent years,with the policy of Chinese culture "going out",the translation of Tang poems has drew attention of translators.The theory of intertextuality firstly put forth by French translation theorist Christeva and derived from the dialogism of Russian scholar Bakhtin is in essence about the dialogue between texts.It highlights the relation between texts,holding that each text is a transformation and absorption of other texts.According to intertextuality theory,intertextual references can be divided into three types:intratextuality,extratextuality and contratextuality.It is universally accepted that the translated version and the original version,the translated version and the pre-texts is an intertextual relation.Therefore,this thesis conducts a study of Xu Yuanchong's English version of 300 Tang Poems from the perspective of intertextuality.This thesis,grounded on the theory of intertextuality,specifically studies three questions in Xu's translation of 300 Tang Poems.First,in the level of sound,the thesis studies if the translation of rhyme in Xu's English version of Tang poems has intertextuality with the rhymes of English poetry from the three aspects of alliteration,internal rhyme and end rhyme and how the intertextual effect is.Second,in the level of form,the thesis studies if the syntactic form of Xu's English version of Tang poems has intertextuality with the syntactic form of English poetry and how the intertextual effect is.Third,in the level of sense,the thesis studies if the translation of images in Xu's English version of Tang poems has intertextuality with the images of English poetry and how the intertextual effect is.It is found that first professor Xu's English version of 300 Tang Poems has a great number of intertextual references with English poetry in rhyme.It has a widespread use of such rhyming techniques as alliteration,internal rhyme and end rhyme.Of the 370 poems in total,there are 347 poems using alliteration,56 using internal rhyme and 364 using end rhyme.What's more,it strictly obeys the rhyme scheme of English poetry.Of the 225 four-line poems,there are 98 poems adopting the rhyme scheme of "abab",119 poems adopting the rhyme scheme of"aabb" and 4 poems adopting the rhyme scheme of "aaaa".These rhyming techniques of Xu's versions form intertextual references with the rhyming techniques of English poetry.Second,it is revealed that Xu's English version of 300 Tang Poems borrows such linguistic form that are frequently used in English poetry as the four syntactical structures of "A and B" "n.+adj." "n.+prep.+n."and"v.+not" of which the structure of "A and B" appears for 44 times,the structure of "n.+adj." appears for 54 times,the structure of "n.+prep.+n."appears for 31 times and the structure of "v.+not" appears for 7 times.Therefore,Xu's English version of 300 Tang Poems form intertextual references with English poetry in syntax.Third,it is concluded that professor Xu's image translation of 300 Tang Poems has intertextual references with the images in English poetry;meanwhile,Xu adopts both free translation and literal translation in translating the selected images and prefers free translation.Xu' English version of 300 Tang Poems has extratextuality with English poetry in all the three aspects of sound,form and sense.The intertextual translation can inspire the rich intertextual association in target readers,reduces the barriers to reading posed by cultural differences and helps to establish a multi-side dialogue among author,literary work,translator and target readers.Accordingly,it is a beneficial attempt.