A Study On The English Versions Of Li Qingzhao’s Ci-poetry From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

Li Qingzhao,a famous poetess in Chinese literary history,was known as the most outstanding poetess of all in the history of Chinese Ci-poetry.The litterateur Yang Shen in the Ming Dynasty said in his famous Criticism of Ci-poetry that Li Qingzhao was not only the best poetess,but also could compete for hegemony with Qin Guan and Huang Tingjian.In recent decades,the research on Li Qingzhao’s Ci-poetry has gradually developed to be one of the hotspots in classical Chinese literary field.Meanwhile,the translation of her Ci poems is also under steady progress.However,the research on the translation of Li’s Ci-poetry has not gained enough attention from the public yet,let alone focus on the systematical translation theories and monographs.This thesis,based on the theoretical framework of the modern philosophical hermeneutics and after researching on the previous studies of the translation of Li Qingzhao’s Ci-poetry,and by taking some English versions of Li’s Ci poems,attempts to interpret the reasons resulting in the various translation phenomena in the process of her Ci-poetry translation.Through analyzing the translation phenomena such as misinterpretation,retranslation and the translator’s subjectivity from the perspective of hermeneutics,the thesis tries to offer readers a new angle to understand the essence of poetry translation.To be specific,this thesis explains the reasons of various versions and misinterpretations in Li’s Ci poems translation practice,pointing out that prejudice has a significant influence on the multi-versions of Li’s Ci-poetry.Besides,the thesis claims that retranslation in Li’s Ci-poetry rendering process is due to the dynamic features of effective history and fusion of horizons.In addition,the first move "trust" in Steiner ’s fourfold hermeneutic motion,to a large extent,decides the outcome of a translation.The last move "compensation" in Steiner’s fourfold hermeneutic motion makes translation process complete,which guarantees readers a more comprehensive interpretation.What is more,regarding the relationship between Gadamer’s hermenetuics and Steiner’s hermeneutic translation theory,prejudice works when the interpreter chooses what to "trust";and the second move"aggression" and the third move "incorporation" actually are the process of fusion of horizons;and "compensation" is the move that completes the new horizon forming based on the first three steps.The thesis develops in six segments.The author firstly introduces the research background and purpose briefly;then it classifies the studies on the translation of Li’s Ci-poetry at home and abroad in details.The third chapter mainly focuses on the research object,namely the English versions of Li’s Ci poems.In the fourth part,the thesis introduces the theoretical basis of the study namely modern philosophical hermeneutics including several concepts and principles about it.To be specific,pre-structure of understanding and prejudice,effective history and fusion of horizons,Steiner’s fourfold hermeneutic motion are respectively presented in this section.Then comes the body of this thesis,the author attempts to put forward some reasons for various translation phenomena combining with the hermeneutics principles after the comparative analysis of different English versions of Li’s works.In the end,the thesis provides a conclusion of the major findings and significance of this study,asserting that the hermeneutics perspective provides readers with another possibility to avoid the embarrassment caused by the binary opposition of the traditional translation theories.What is more,the author hopes the new angle will make a contribution on promoting the spreading out of classical Chinese culture.