On The Translation Of Children’s Literature From The Perspective Of Expectation Horizon

This thesis aims to explore how expectation horizon theory can be used to guide the translation of children’s literature.The Eye of the Falcon,a historical fantasy,is chosen as the source text because it not only possesses the general features of children’s literature,but also presents great challenges in the translation of terms and uncommon languages,which are unique to its genre.The thesis is divided into three parts to report how expectation theory is used to guide the translation process.To start with,the thesis gives a brief introduction to the theoretical development of children’s literature translation,redefines the concept of "children" in the context of children’s literature translation and,based on children’s unique linguistic ability and cognitive structure,proposes a few basic rules by which translators should abide.Since the reader,or the receptor,is at the theoretical core of this research,the thesis then introduces Jauss,expectation horizon theory and explains why it is a feasible solution to the difficulties and dilemmas that occur in the translation of The Eye of the Falcon.Afterwards,this thesis will,drawing references from the former theoretical discussions,display and explain the translation process of The Eye of the Falcon on such aspects as names,uncommon languages as well as rhyme and rhythm.Finally,it is concluded that translators of children’s literature should first respect children’s expectation horizon instead of simply hanging the label of naivety on it.Moreover,they need to build a friendly and trustworthy relationship with children in order to better understand their linguistic and cognitive system.Last but not least,they should pay close attention to the evolution of children’s general expectation horizon and make efforts to evolve with it,so as to maintain a proper and even ideal aesthetic distance in their translations.