Aesthetic Representation In Gladys Yang's English Version Of Bian Cheng

China is currently facing a new situation of cultural development.With the great attention paid by the state to the policy “going global”,the study of literary translation has gradually emerged to be among the research hotspots in the field of translation studies,presenting a booming trend.As a powerful means of cultural exchange,the literary translation is constantly promoting Chinese culture to the world.Bian Cheng,the masterpiece of Shen Congwen,as well as a magnificent treasure in Chinese local literature.Shen's pastoral style of writing makes the novel has a high aesthetic research value.After its publication,Gladys' s version has attracted the greatest concern.There have been sufficient researches at home and abroad addressing Bian Cheng primarily in the light of the theme,stylistic features,characterization,female consciousness,but few researches on its English versions and few from the perspective of translation aesthetics.Therefore,based on Liu Miqing's translation aesthetics theory,this thesis will analyze Gladys' s version by methods of literature review,description and comparison,focusing on the two subsystems of aesthetic object,in order to explore translation strategies and methods that can enrich the aesthetic experience of the target readers.The study focuses on three issues:(1)What aesthetic information does Shen present in Bian Cheng?(2)What are the strengths and weakness of Gladys Yang's version in transferring aesthetic information from the source text?(3)What methods does she select in translation practice?The research draws the following conclusions:(1)This thesis summarizes the aesthetic information presented by Shen in the Bian Cheng from five levels,namely,the phonetic,the lexical and the syntactic levels of the formal system,and the image and the artistic conception levels of the non-formal system.From the perspective of phonetics,the author finds that Shen uses much onomatopoeia,reduplication and rhythm in writing process,which have both visual and audio aesthetic effects,as well as depicting the images of characters and shaping the specific environments and reflecting the local folk customs.From the perspective of lexis,the wording with the brand of a specific region and era reflects the beauty of local town's culture and customs.The rhetoric of simile,personification and metaphor,which appear repeatedly,presenting the unique natural features of the town.As the saying goes,“a side water and soil,raises a party person”,the creation of environmental beauty also paves the way for the later characterization of the characters' image and psychology.From the perspective of syntax,the contrast,parallelism and sentence distribution involved can bring readers the experience of form beauty.Neat sentence structure not only brings a sense of harmony,but also increases readability,to a certain extent,strengthens readers' impression of the whole content.Besides,much information of non-formal system is related to the theme of “love and death”,which runs through the whole story.Although the aesthetic information seems simple and common,the combination of them not only enriches the readers' aesthetic experience from multiple senses,but also delicately sets off the psychological state of the characters and promotes the development of the story.(2)Based on the analysis of the Chinese and English versions of Bian Cheng,it can be seen that Gladys' s version enriches the readers' aesthetic experience in dealing with sound,lexis and ideorealm,but the rest parts need improving.Especially for the processing of onomatopoeia in the phonetic level,the translator is committed to reproducing the aesthetic information of the original with the precise wording and pronunciation characteristics of lexis,presenting a thought-provoking meaning.Rhythm is also one of the highlights of Gladys' s version.Although Gladys has appropriately adjusted the word order and structure according to the habit and cultural background of the target language readers,she still reproduces the rhyming rules of the original work in the form of alliteration and end rhyme.The local folk songs are rhythmic.Her vivid treatment of folk songs shows the danger of the local people when they ferry,and also reflects the courage of the local people to overcome any difficulties.For the processing of lexis,Gladys is consistent with the original text as much as possible whatever in sound,form or meaning,and also takes the implications into account.Different expressions of the same word in different occasions make readers enjoy multiple senses.Some cultural-specific words lose their local characteristics through free translation,but this can be seen as a kind of uncertainty left by the translator,waiting for readers to concretize.From the perspective of rhetoric,due to the complexity of rhetorical sentences in the original work,Gladys flexibly uses the methods of amplification,annotations,literal translation,conversion,inversion,and ellipsis.From the perspective of syntax,Gladys' s version is as close to the original as possible in the form and structure as well as the number of words,but the translation is not faithful enough and the aesthetic feeling between the lines is missing.The lack of annotation in image level makes it difficult for the target readers to figure out the implied meaning.As far as possible,the translator tries to blend the real scene with the imaginary scene of the ideorealm level.(3)The author finds that both domestication and foreignization are involved in Gladys' s version.On the one hand,she tries to convey a real image of Chinese culture to the world,as well as the vivid joys and sorrows of Chinese people.Secondly,when facing cultural differences,she tends to adopt the domestication strategy,using free translation,amplification,ellipsis and inversion that are accessible to the target readers.Due to the author's initial involvement in this field and the insufficient previous studies on literary translation from the perspective of aesthetics,the literature available for learning is not detailed enough.Therefore,the author sincerely seeks the opinions of scholars to improve this thesis.