On The Translation Of Traditional Chinese Discourseon Literary Theory

Traditional Chinese literary theory is a significant representative of Chinese culture and contains abundant theoretical discourses.The translation and translation studies of it should receive more prominence under the background of Chinese culture “going out” as well as constructing Chinese academic discourse.In the field of Chinese literary theory,researchers have long been anxious about the “aphasia”,but do not pay much attention to the way of international communication—translation.In such context,this dissertation centers on the classic of traditional Chinese literary theory—Wen Xin Diao Long,and chooses three full translations(translated by Vincent Yu-chung Shih,Siu-kit Wong etc,and Yang Guobin)and an abridged one(translated by Stephen Owen)as research data.It examines the variation of three categories “Dao”,“Qi”,“Wei” which conclude discourses on three important issues in literary research: literary ontology,literary creation and literary appreciation.Then the influencing factors are explored.Accordingly,the research proposes the following questions:(1)What are the common variations in the four translated texts compared with the original?(2)What are the differences between the four translations?(3)What causes the above similarities and differences? Because categories and concepts are basic components of theoretical discourse,the research first makes a classification of different concepts in “Dao”,“Qi” and “Wei”.Next,it makes comparisons between the original and translated texts,and between the four translations.The major findings are:(1)Compared with the original text,four translations,to some extent,are assimilated and simplified.Assimilation refers to the same translation of some discourse bearing different meanings.Simplification means that the meaning of the translation is simpler and less comprehensive than the original concept.(2)As to different characteristics of each translation,Shih translated certain group of concepts in one category into the same word.It indicates that Shih has differentiated some aspects of the same category.Owen’s translation of each category is highly consistent,no matter concepts of the same category are different or not.Wong’s translation is characterized by westernization which means to choose terms of western religion and philosophy as well as utterance in daily life.In addition,mistranslation exists.Yang’s prominent character is irregularity and great diversity.(3)Influencing factors can be concluded as external and internal ones.The former includes the status of Chinese literary theory in the West,and the researches on Chinese literary theory and philosophy done by the West;the latter concludes the translator’s own knowledge on literary theory,religious foundations,the target readers etc.This study sums up experience which will inform future translation of traditional Chinese literary theory,and thus underpins the construction of Chinese discourse on literary theory.Meanwhile,it presents the care of Translation Studies for other disciplines,and justifies the value of the discipline.