A Contrastive Study of Poetry Translation in The Story of The Stone and A Dream of Red Mansions
Abstract: Hong Lou Meng, one of the four great classical works in China, represents the peak of the development of Chinese classical novels. The myriad poems in it not only play an indispensable part in the plot development and character shaping, but also contribute to its ideological and artistic values. This thesis is a contrastive study of the poetry translations in two English versions of the Hong Lou Meng – The Story of the Stone and A Dream of Red Mansions. It seeks to account for the different approaches adopted by Hawkes and the Yangs in handling the poems by exploring the subjectivity, poetics and other cultural factors which the translators subject to.
Keywords: Hong Lou Meng, poetry translation, translation strategies
Contents
Introduction 2
1 A Brief Introduction to HLM and Its Influence 3
1.1 A Brief introduction to HLM 3
1.2 A General Introduction to the Influence of HLM 4
2 Features of Poetry and An Introduction to Poems in HLM 5
2.1 Features of Poetry 5
2.2 Poems in HLM 6
2.2.1 Various Poetic Forms and Rhetorical Devices 6
2.2.2 An Indispensable Part in the Plot 7
2. 3 The Challenge of Translating the Poems in HLM 8
3 A Comparative Study of the Two Versions of HLM in Poetry Translation 10
3.1 Two Translation Versions of HLM 10
3.2 A Comparative Study of Poem Translations in the Two Versions 10
3.2.1 From the Aspect of Proficiency of Language 11
3.2.2 From the Aspect of Translators’ Different Cultural Background 12
3.2.3 From the Aspect of Different Skills Adopted by the Translators 15
3.2.4 From the Aspect of Different Cultural Orientation 17
3.2.5 From the Aspect of Different Translation Purposes 18
4 Different Translation Strategies 21
Conclusion 22
Bibliography 23
