English Translations of Poetry in the Sanguo Zhi Yanyi
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Lingnan University Digital Commons @ Lingnan University Theses & Dissertations Department of Translation 9-2003 Interpretation and re-creation : English translations of poetry in the Sanguo Zhi Yanyi Pui Shan TAI Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.ln.edu.hk/tran_etd Part of the Translation Studies Commons Recommended Citation Tai, P. S. (2003). Interpretation and re-creation: English translations of poetry in the Sanguo Zhi Yanyi (Master's thesis, Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.14793/tran_etd.11 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Translation at Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Lingnan University. Terms of Use The copyright of this thesis is owned by its author. Any reproduction, adaptation, distribution or dissemination of this thesis without express authorization is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved. INTERPRETATION AND RE-CREATION: ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF POETRY IN THE TAI PUI SHAN MPHIL LINGNAN UNIVERSITY SEPTEMBER 2003 INTERPRETATION AND RE-CREATION: ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF POETRY IN THE by TAI Pui Shan A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Philosophy Lingnan University September 2003 ABSTRACT Interpretation and Re-creation: English Translations of Poetry in the .. by TAI Pui Shan Master of Philosophy This thesis is a textual and contextual study of English renditions of poetry in Luo Guanzhongs .., in terms of their artistic approach and their bearing on the artistic functions which poetry fulfills in the novel. There are several English renditions of the .. in full or in part, including two full translations by Charles H. Brewit-Taylor and Moss Roberts. While the two full translations form the focus of the study, Robertss abridged version is also included. Published fifteen years before the full rendition by the same translator, the abridged version serves every now and then as a reference point showing how an individuals interpretive perception may change over time and bear on choices made in a literary translation. Insertion of poetry in a novel is basically unique to Chinese fiction, often contributing to its overall artistic effects as an organic element. A Western reader coming from a different cultural background may employ different standards in evaluating the artistic role and appeal of poetry in a Chinese classical novel. In an attempt to be as flexible and open-minded as possible, this thesis does not adopt any particular theoretical perspective, but makes use of literary concepts to facilitate the analysis as appropriate. To assess the literary translations, concrete analysis of selected original poems in semantic, syntactic, auditory, imagistic, symbolic and stylistic terms is made before the strategies adopted by the translated versions, along with their merits and limitations, are discussed. Detailed discussions of textual features and contextual elements offer an evidence-based appraisal of the renditions artistic approaches, which are significant in shedding light on the translators attempts to re-create and revitalize the artistic appeal of the source text within the multidimensional context of the target language and culture. It is also hoped that the thesis help shed light on some general as well as language- and culture-specific issues in the translation of classical Chinese poetry. I declare that this thesis Interpretation and Re-creation: English Translations of Poetry in the . is the product of my own research and has not been published in any other publications. ____________________ (TAI Pui Shan) September, 2003 CERTIFICATE OF APPROVAL OF THESIS INTERPRETATION AND RE-CREATION: ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS OF POETRY IN THE By TAI Pui Shan Master of Philosophy Panel of Examiners: _________________________ (Chairman) Dr CHAN Tak Hung Leo _________________________ (External Member) Dr TUNG Yuan Fang _________________________ (Internal Member) Dr LI Dong Hui _________________________ (Internal Member) Dr KWONG Yim Tze Charles Chief Supervisor: Dr KWONG Yim Tze Charles Approved for the Senate: ______________________________________________ (Prof. Mee-kau Nyaw) Chairman, Research and Postgraduate Studies Committee ______________________________________________ Date I. Conceptual Frame of Reference 1 II. Textual and Translation History of the .. 7 III. Poetry in the Chinese Novel: A Double Challenge for Translation 11 . . I. Issues of Lexical Sense, Cultural Resonance, Imagery and Ambience 16 II. Poetic Music and Prosody 25 . . I. Poems about Kongming 31 II. Poem about Cao Cao . I. Poem on Zhao Yun II. Poem on Battle between Lü Bu and the Sworn Brothers . I. The Renditions Strategies in Translating Poetry II. Evaluation of Poetry Translation in the Context of the Novel . i I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Dr. Charles Kwong, for his guidance, patience and support during my past two years of study. Other teachers and fellow graduate students in the Translation Department have also been encouraging, and I thank them as well. My deep appreciation also goes to my family, who have shown their full support of my resumption of schooling. ii The concern of whether to stay close to the original piece of work has long been central to the practice of translation, and is still a hot topic of discussion from diversified perspectives. In his . , published more than two centuries ago, Alexander Tytler gives an account of three general laws of translation leading to a good translation, in which the merit of the original work is so completely transfused into another language, as to be as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly felt by the target readers as it is by the native readers.1 A translation is expected to retain the style and manner of the original writing. The essence of this idea can be seen in some contemporary translation theories. In Nidas view, while taking the readers response into consideration, translating consists in reproducing in the receptor language the closest natural equivalent of the source-language message, first in terms of meaning and secondly in terms of style.2 Emphasizing the intrinsic values of the source text, theorists like Nida rely a lot on close analysis of the original in the process of translation. During the past three decades, scholars with different angles of interest in translation have been advocating the importance and autonomy of literary translation. In the process, they have been criticizing what they consider to be an old-fashioned 1 The general laws are: I) The translation should give a complete transcript of the ideas of the original work. II) The style and manner of writing should be of the same character with that of the original. III) The translation should have all the ease of original composition. See Alexander Tytler, . (1790) (London: J. M. Dent, 1907), 8-9. 2 Eugene A. Nida and Charles R. Taber, . (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1969), 12. 1 idea of the primacy of the source text. For example, polysystem theorists like Even-Zohar emphasize the importance of translation as a shaping force in literary history and the development of national cultures. Treating translated literature as a particular literary system, Even-Zohar observes that the translated literature is itself stratified, with some works acquiring a central and others a peripheral position. Moreover, translation activity is dependent on the relations within a certain cultural system. When the translated literature assumes a central position, it has more ability to violate the home conventions, leading the translation closer to the original through reproducing the dominant textual relations in the original. 3 Translation does not occupy a static position, and in ideological terms is not essentially secondary to the original. On the other hand, feminist perspectives have objected to a cultural complicity between the issues of fidelity in translation and in marriage,4 seeing both in terms of gender subservience. The role of a translator is emphasized because as Sherry Simon points out, language does not simply mirror reality but intervenes actively in the creation of meaning; a translator, therefore, can use language as cultural interventionin this case to assert female autonomy. 5 Meanwhile, post-colonial theorists are interested in the dialectical relationship between hegemonic master systems and indigenous subversions of them, arguing for a review of the role and significance of translation. Through transforming the 3 See Itama Evan-Zohar, The Position of Translated Literature within the Literary Polysystem, in , ed. Gideon Toury (New Delhi: Bahri Publications, 1987), 107-15 (quotations from pp. 107-8, 112-113). 4 Lori Chamberlain, Gender and the Metaphorics of Translation, in , ed. Lawrence Venuti (London: Rouledge, 1992), 57-74 (quotation from p. 58). 5 Sherry Simon, . (London and New York: Routledge, 1996), 9. 2 colonial original for the target society, a translator can re-create an autonomous and legitimate identity for the latter. As Octavio Paz points out, a translator is dismantling the elements of the text, freeing the signs into circulation, then returning them to languagethe language of the colonial oppressed. 6 In this light, translation has its functional worth. For post-structuralists, translation