DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Rewriting to reproduce beauty A comparative case study of Hong Lou Meng Xu, Binglu Award date: 2020 Awarding institution: Queen's University Belfast Link to publication Terms of use All those accessing thesis content in Queen’s University Belfast Research Portal are subject to the following terms and conditions of use • Copyright is subject to the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988, or as modified by any successor legislation • Copyright and moral rights for thesis content are retained by the author and/or other copyright owners • A copy of a thesis may be downloaded for personal non-commercial research/study without the need for permission or charge • Distribution or reproduction of thesis content in any format is not permitted without the permission of the copyright holder • When citing this work, full bibliographic details should be supplied, including the author, title, awarding institution and date of thesis Take down policy A thesis can be removed from the Research Portal if there has been a breach of copyright, or a similarly robust reason. 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Sep. 2021 Rewriting to Reproduce Beauty: A Comparative Case Study of Hong Lou Meng By Binglu Xu Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Arts, English and Languages Queen’s University Belfast October 2019 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ IV LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................... VI LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... VII ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................. VIII INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 1 CHAPTER ONE .................................................................................................................. 16 CULTURAL DIFFERENCES IN TRANSLATION ......................................................... 16 1.1. TRANSLATION AND CULTURE ...................................................................................... 16 1.2. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN CHINESE AND THE WEST ..................................... 22 1.3. HONG LOU MENG ........................................................................................................ 31 1.4. TRANSLATION AS REWRITING ...................................................................................... 37 CHAPTER TWO ................................................................................................................. 50 BEAUTY OF SOUND ......................................................................................................... 50 2.1. SOUND IN CHINESE CLASSICAL LITERATURE ............................................................... 50 2.2. SOUND IN CHINESE AND ANGLOPHONE LITERATURE ................................................... 52 2.2.1. Tones and metre ................................................................................................. 53 2.2.2. Rhyme schemes in Chinese and English literature ............................................ 65 2.3. SOUND AND MEANING IN TRANSLATION ...................................................................... 71 i 2.4. HOMOPHONE ............................................................................................................... 81 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................. 95 BEAUTY OF FORM ........................................................................................................... 95 3.1. FORM AND MEANING .................................................................................................. 95 3.2. THE CHINESE WRITING SYSTEM ................................................................................ 100 3.3. FOUR-CHARACTER STRUCTURES ............................................................................... 111 3.4. PARALLELISM ............................................................................................................ 122 3.4.1. Couplet ............................................................................................................. 128 3.4.2. Parallelism in poetry ........................................................................................ 134 3.4.3. Parallelism in prose .......................................................................................... 140 CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................. 150 THE POWER OF MEANING .......................................................................................... 150 4.1. FROM HIGH-CONTEXT CULTURE TO LOW-CONTEXT CULTURE .................................... 150 4.1.1. Allusion ............................................................................................................ 157 4.1.2. Sexual descripotion .......................................................................................... 169 4.1.3. Humour ............................................................................................................ 150 4.2. ARTISTIC CONCEPTION .............................................................................................. 187 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................. 204 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 213 SOURCE TEXTS ................................................................................................................ 213 ii ENGLISH REFERENCE ....................................................................................................... 214 CHINESE REFERENCE ....................................................................................................... 222 iii Abstract Chinese classical literature is marked by aesthetic features that have often no direct equivalent in Anglophone literature. Delivering the beauty of a Chinese text to English readers is therefore challenging. This thesis uses the Chinese classical fiction Hong Lou Meng and its two translations – The Story of the Stone translated by David Hawkes, and A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi – to discuss aesthetics in Chinese and Anglophone literature. It asks how we can overcome aesthetic differences in translation between these two languages and cultural systems, and to what extent rewriting might be a feasible strategy when translating Chinese classical literature such as Hong Lou Meng into English. Aesthetic as well as significant cultural differences between Chinese and Anglophone literature impact upon the translation of Chinese classical literature: while Chinese culture seeks harmony, and implicated language and images are used to express emotions, English focuses, in the main, on reason, truthfulness, and logic. To translate Hong Lou Meng, the translator must address these differences. This thesis will show that the two translators of Hong Lou Meng under discussion here use different translation strategies to solve this problem. Where Yang’s translation is mainly literal, Hawkes rewrites. By analysing the two translations, we find that, compared to literal translation, rewriting makes the target text more readable and comprehensive. I suggest that translation through rewriting allows the translator to manipulate words and concepts so to adapt them to the target text culture. By rewriting, translation thus iv breaks free from differences on the linguistic level but turns to the levels of meaning and emotions instead. As a consequence, Chinese classical literature may become easier to understand and more acceptable when read in English translation, so that it can begin to find acceptance in the Anglophone literary and cultural system. v List of Tables Table 1: Translation Studies about Hong Lou Meng from 1980 – 2016 ………… 9 Table 2: Translations of “” …………………………………………….. 45 Table 3: Homophones of Names …………………………………………………. 84 Table 4: Translations of “”………………………………………………….. 170 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Iceberg Model …………………………………………………………17 Figure 2: He Bao …………………………………………………………………20 Figure 3: Tai Ji ……………………………………………………………………25 Figure 4: The Laundress ………………………………………………………… 28 Figure 5: Immortal ………………………………………………………………. 28 vii Acknowledgement , Thanks to my parents, They are the firmest refuge of mine. Prof. David Johnston, Thanks to my supervisor, Prof. David Johnston, ? He is the sign on my