A Comparative Study On Visual Representations Of Peach Blossom Fan's English Versions From The Perspective Of Appraisal System

Peach Blossom Fan is written by Kong Shangren in the Qing Dynasty.As Chinese famous Kunqu Opera,it reveals the vicissitudes of the dynasty through depicting the romantic story between Hou Fangyu and Li Xiangjun.Previous studies on translation of Peach Blossom Fan are scarce with research angles ranging from reception aesthetics,traditional cultural factors to character's personality.Investigation of visual and attitudinal meanings in scenery description is still on the initial stage.All scenery description is the description of feelings.Thus,under the frameworks of visual grammar and appraisal system,this thesis conducts a comparative text analysis between Josh Stenberg's translation and Xu Yuanchong&Xu Ming's translation to investigate the different representations of attitudinal and visual meanings of scenery description.In terms of visual representations,the implications of scenery description are clarified in Stenberg's translation and interpreted with Xu&Xu's own understanding.Both translations strengthen the involvement of the audience(reader)by adding rhetoric questions.Different representations of color contrast and cultural factors lead to variations in the original image's salience of these two translations.Visual representations are closely connected to attitudinal meanings.With clarifying the connoted meaning in the image,Stenberg retains the indirect feelings of the original text.Although Xu&Xu implant their understanding,they overlook the indirect feelings.Stenberg omits lots of color words,but the ones he omits are connoted in the objects they modify,and he chooses vivid expression for the object with particular colors.Xu&Xu retain and add color words in translation.In terms of unique Chinese allusions and images featured by indirect attitudinal meanings,Stenberg contextualizes them in English expression with explanation and imagination and replicates original attitudinal meanings,whereas Xu&Xu convey the literal meaning.In respect of the representations of graduation meanings,Stenberg tends to repeat short clauses to intensify attitudinal meanings,while Xu&Xu add opposite meaning and rhetoric questions to build a sharp contrast.This study explains these different visual and attitudinal representations from the perspective of the translator's stance.The objective of Xu&Xu's translation is promoting the unique feature of traditional Chinese literature.Nevertheless,their translation is deeply influenced by Xu Yuanchong's translation thoughts,leading to inconsistent translation behavior.In contrast,Stenberg's translation is dominated by the creation principle of the Theater he serves.Accordingly,his translation emphasizes grasping the writer's intention and catering to the target audience's preference.At last,this study analyzes the reception of these two translations.