Beauty In Sense

来源 :校园英语·教研版 | 被引量 : 0次 | 上传用户:airising
下载到本地 , 更方便阅读
声明 : 本文档内容版权归属内容提供方 , 如果您对本文有版权争议 , 可与客服联系进行内容授权或下架
论文部分内容阅读
  Abstract:By elaborating the artistic imagery and literary style of Chinese poems,debating the theory of “beauty in sense” in poetry translation,and criticizing some typical poetry translation in contrast,this paper reveals several common kinds of poetry images,trying to change abstraction into concreteness and exchange ways of poetry translation,more importantly,highlighting the critical role played by the artistic imagery in staging the original literary style.
  Key words:artistic imagery beauty in sense literary style
  I Introduction:
  China has long been known as a famous civilized nation with more than 5000 years of brilliant history.Among the innumerous cultural heritage the great country leaves to the world,the Chinese Classical Poetries could be one of the cherished gem,highlighting the traditional Chinese Culture.As the society advances to the new epoch of globalization,the frequent use of an international language—English,is gaining popularity with each passing day.And China,is trying to introduce and promote her splendid culture to the rest of the world with the policy of reform and open up to the outside.As a result,the translation,generally deemed as the communicative tool,plays an important role in the process of culture spreading and promotion.
  As for the definition of translation,it is generally acknowledged that translation is a kind of language activity of using one language to re-express completely and accurately the ideological content contained in another language;or it is a rendering from one language into another.Throughout the history,there were different schools of translation theories:translation is a science,translation is an art,translation is an operation and so on.
  Among those mentioned above,I will mainly focus on the second one which represents the important school—the school of art.It advocates recreating the literary works by using expressions of another language and emphasizes the effect of translation.In my opinion,poetry translation is perhaps one of the best ways to bring out the spirit of translation as an art,showing of beauty in sense,sound and form,which was proposed firstly by the great translator Xu Yuanzhong.American poet Frost once pointed out,“Poetry is what’s lost in translation.” Poetry writing calls for beauty in sense,sound and form,with sense as core,the same is true of poetry translation.An excellent translator should not be content with merely conveying the ideas in the original,but must try to reproduce the original beauty.Instead,the specific and practical “rule” is to capture the rich artistic imageries in poetries rather than “follow one’s own will without trespassing the rule” (“从心所欲不逾矩”).According to Ezra Pound,“an image is an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time”.Thus the meaning is tied to “a feeling” as a consequence of an event.As one of the most important Internals of poetry,Image is often valued as the key to the success of the poetry together with the Subject Matters and Themes.
  In fact,dating back to Southern Dynasty(420AD—589AD),the Chinese critic Liu Xie(刘勰) had already put forward the concept of image in his famous works “WenXin—DiaoLong”(文心雕龙),“使玄解亡宰,寻声律而定墨,独照之匠,窥意象而运斤”,advocating conveying author’s mind through dedicate images.And in the history after that period,the Chinese poets have always been attaching much significance to the images while producing the classical poetries.And the exquisite images ever since had been one of the charm that appeal to quite a lot of western writers,i.e,Ezra Pound,Amy Lowell,and the very two created a literary movement known as “imagism”,which exerted much influence upon the modern western poetries.
  For the reasons mentioned above,it’s our task to promote our brilliant culture to the rest of the world,and the due attention should be paid to the classical poetries.To some extent,it represents the achievements of the past,and we shall make new progress on the basis of the past accomplishments.
  II The artistic image elaborated in the classical poetries translation
  My paper is going to do some research on the artistic imagery and the close relations between the artistic imagery and literary style in the process of translation.
  Image hosition(意象叠加) is one of the important forms.The essential principle for this form is that “ two visual images form what we call visual chord”(二个视觉意象形成我们称之为“视觉和弦”的东西)which was firstly proposed by Hermo.However,it is said that the Image hosition was originated from the Ancient China,and some foreigners even name it “The Chinese Dragon”.Image hosition is mainly characterized by the large scope of overlapping and advancing through the conciseness and briefness,every sentence seems to be free of connection and explanation.Art Montage(蒙太奇艺术) also adopts the same technique in Movie Production.If we pay due attention to this technique in the poetry translation,it is more likely to have the readers echo with the author even if they were from different culture background.
  The masterpiece of Image hosition in the literature should be Ezra Pound’s “ In a station of the metro”:The apparition of these faces in the crowd;Petals on a wet,black bough (熙熙攘攘的人群中这脸庞的骤现,润湿着乌黑树枝上的花瓣).Actually,the artistic imagery in this small poem is quite varied and changeable,reflecting the fast pace of life in modern society.The setting of the picture was the huddled and crowded people,together with the image of damp and rotted branches,bringing readers the impression of darkness,chaos,gloom and bleakness.Then all of a sudden,as if there were some thunderbolt in the clear sky,a compound artistic imagery of beautiful faces and charming petals turned up,refreshing everybody,“seeming to be flowers,seeming to be mists”,giving him enough room to exercise the imagination.
  In the course of poetry translation,similar association plays an important role during the whole process.As the Chinese and English readers are from the different cultural background,both the view of the world and the way of thinking diverged in different directions.While as all human beings are endowed with natural associations which function practically the same way,so here similar association acts the role of bridge,linking both ends and enhancing the mutual understandings of each other.As the old Chinese saying goes,“Poetries demonstrate one’s ambition.” It is therefore quite important to take advantage of similar association while doing poetry translation,or else the artistic imagery may not be elaborated,and the total translation could be ended up with a failure.
  Apart from the above two factors,vagueness also plays a significant role in expressing the image during the poetry translation.As a rule,the exact beauty is difficult to depict,it can only be presented in a vague way.Almost all the great writers are convinced that the beauty of vagueness is one of the best means to express the best image.康德(Immanuel Kant,1724-1804)once pointed out that,“vagueness is better than clearness in terms of expressive force...beauty is something that can’t be perceived through words.” Classical Chinese poetries are mostly featured by vague beauty,it leaves the readers more imaginary space to judge and appreciate the internal beauty themselves.
  Vagueness,as a matter of fact,extends to a wide range of varieties.And those we often encounter are as follows:
  1.About time or space,extending time or space to a certain large of degree.“千古风流人物”( The great people through such a long time) here “such a long time” is a term on vagueness,which prolongs the time limit;“但愿人长久,千里共婵娟”( If only we could live to a green old age,sharing her beauty together,through far,far apart) here “Far,far apart” also shows that the space is enlarged rather than definite.
  2.On certain specific object,making it a universal or general one.“今宵酒醒何处?杨柳岸,晓风残月.”(When the wine finally leaves me sober,where will I be? Along a river bank lined with willows—in a morning breeze—under a sinking moon) and “谁家今夜扁舟子,何处相思明月楼.”(Tonight whose boat is drifting? Where is the Moon Attic that brings my love?).In both poems,the vagueness exerted on characters,time and space makes them the concrete symbol.
  In addition,vagueness was almost employed by every poet who devoted himself to the study of artistic imagery throughout the history.“长安一片月,万户捣衣声”( Chang’an under a new moon,and I in the evening listen to the sound of many women beating clothes by the water) and “暖暖远人村,依依墟里烟”( In the dim dusk you can see far-off villages.Smoke from cooking fires curl high in the air),these two stanzas succeed in achieving the vague artistic imagery,using the strategy of exaggeration and reiterative locution respectively.And vagueness is often closely related to the Free translation.Li Shangyin’s “The Gorgeous Zither”(锦瑟):沧海月明珠有泪,蓝田日暖玉生烟 were fairly impressive,but it’s also pretty hard to get it across to foreigners.Dr.Weng Xianliang had an excellent version:“Dark green sea,tears,pearls,moonlight streaming;/ Sunny blue jade field,warm haze shimmering”.All the subjects and objects were mixed up here,the sense of vague beauty was successfully achieved.
  Last but not least,cultural background’s influence in the translation of image or imagery.Some translator cannot do satisfying job largely duo to the lack of cultural background,in particular those foreign translators.As they have not the enough background knowledge of the source language,it’s more likely that they would lead to certain jokes.Arthur Cooper once translated “伯乐” to “Uncle Happy”.The Chinese Classical Poetries often attach great importance to the unique images and the special literary styles.Hence the translations of poetries demand high command of knowledge in every aspect from the source language to the target language,otherwise the fruits of translation would not be of high quality,neither would they be so satisfactory.
  Although there are great gaps between the two nations in terms of geographical location,cultural background,way of thinking,aesthetic values,and the two languages belong to different phylum,some of the artistic cultural imageries are based on the common experience or practice derived from the struggle of lives.As a result,the two nations have the same descriptions for those artistic imageries that share almost the same traits of human beings.Let’s take the oath of love for example,the Classical Chinese poetry has “to the tune of PuSaMan”—“枕前发尽千般怨,要体且待青山烂。水面上秤锤浮,直待黄河彻底枯”,here “The Yellow River dries up to the bed”(直待黄河彻底哭) reflects the ancient Chinese people’s loyalty to the love.While not come singly but in pairs,the celebrated Scottish poet Robert Burns(1759—1796) also expressed his passion for love in “A Red,Red Rose”:
  And I will love thee still,my dear,
  Till the seas gone dry,
  Till the seas gone dry,my dear,
  And the rocks melt wi’the sun!
  For the phenomenon of “The Yellow River would never dry up and the rocks would never rot”,all nations in the world would have the same feelings and understandings.For those cultural images that both nations will appreciate in the same way,we can adopt the strategy of “literal translation”,keeping the Chinese cultural image,introducing the unique and brilliant Oriental culture to the rest of the world.
  III The close links between the artistic imageries and literary styles
   Literary style,to some extent,is one of the important elements in the poetry translation.And the close link between artistic imagery and literary style should be paid enough attention.
  Every writer possesses his own literary style which is quite distinctive from others.The literary style is not something that can’t be felt or perceived;on the contrary,it could be easily recognized from the languages,the forms,or the artistic imageries,etc.The style,to some extent,represents the writer himself,and the research on literary style is now touching upon the personality and the appreciation of the writer,not only confining to the pure artistic analysis.Yan Yu once commented,“子美不能为太白之飘逸,太白不能为子美之沉郁”,which indicts that Du Fu was not able to achieve Li Bai’s heroism and elegance,while Li Bai could not reach Du Fu’s melancholy and concerns,either.It is a truth universally acknowledged,that literary style is the symbol of maturity in arts.All those masterpieces that passed down from generation to generation were noted for their distinct styles.
  
  Translation is not an easy job,poetry translation should be even harder,while undoubtedly the translation of literary styles is the most difficult nut to crack.Mr.Qian Zhongshu pointed out in one of his famous reviews:“ The highest stage of literary translation is ‘Conversion’...someone compares it to ‘the transmigration of souls’... Put it in another way,the translation should be faithful to the original version,as if it is not the translated one...” Mr.Qian’s “ faithful to the original version” stressed the importance of literary style,which was the most significant precondition of “Conversion”.Literary style is the artistic embodiment,and what we shall do is to grasp the style from the very beginning.Literary style is closely related to the artistic conception,which in turn connects with artistic imagery,and artistic imagery is based on the language.The language of poetry will always be further removed from ordinary language than the most elaborate prose,and the poetic use of language deviates in a number of ways from common use.Poetry represents writing in its most compact,condensed and heightened form,in which the language is predominately connotational rather than denotational and in which content and form are inseparably linked.The artistic imagery is fairly varied as well as flexible,which accounts for the prosperity of Chinese classical poetries,especially Tang Dynasty.To sum up,the characters and specialties discussed above on artistic imageries demonstrate that images are vital to the literary styles.And it is a must to attach grave importance to the original artistic imageries if one wishes to keep the poetry’s authentic flavor and style.
  IV Conclusion
  All in all,the image is an indispensable part of the poetry,and can’t be separated or alienated from the whole.Apart from the image,there are many other elements that we will have to handle with care while analyzing the Chinese Classical Poetries.The previous studies mainly concentrated on the types or functions of the images in the poetry translations,and the close relation between literary style and artistic image seems to be ignored.As a matter of fact,links between the two can be one of the core problems in the course of poetry translations.
  The world is changing with each passing day,and the whole society is advancing beyond belief.At present,the cultural boundary has gradually dissolved,and all the culture has emerged together,becoming the “melting pot”.If one nation wants to dominate or compete or survive in the changing world,it is a must that they will have to introduce and promote their unique culture.Classical poetry as one of our Chinese quintessence,should be well preserved and promoted,I hope in the near future,the world will adopt a new perspective of admiration.
  Bibliography
  
  1.Peter Newmark.Approaches to Translation \.上海:上海外语教育出版社,2001
  2.Eugene.A.Nida.Language Culture and Translating\.内蒙古:内蒙古大学出版社,1998
  3.刘宓庆.翻译教学:实务与理论\.北京:中国对外翻译出版社,2003
  4.冯庆华.实用翻译教程\.上海:上海外语教育出版社,1997
  5.许渊冲.中诗英韵探胜\.北京:北京大学出版社,1992
  6.吕叔湘,许渊冲.中诗英译比录(增订本)\.香港:三联书店,1988
  7.李海燕.Beauty in sense,sound and form in poetry translation-translations of Tang Poems from Chinese to English\.内蒙古:内蒙古大学出版社,2000
  8.习华林.意象在英汉诗歌翻译中的地位\.西安:陕西师范大学出版社,2001
  9.辛献云.诗歌翻译中意象的改变\.洛阳:解放军外语学院,2001
  10.周建新.从模糊审美看诗意的传达\.开封:河南大学外语学院,2002
  11.罗平.古诗意象与古诗英译风格再现\.外语文化与研究:上海外语教育出版社,2002
  12.翁显良.古诗英译\.北京:北京出版社,1985
  13.钱钟书.文学翻译的最高标准\.北京:中国对外翻译出版公司,1983
  14.王佐良.Two early translators reconsidered\.北京:外语教学与研究,1987
其他文献
笔者至今工作十年多,其中五年是中途接班。大家都知道,一般说来,接的班教学效果在同类班级中比较差,学生对学科的偏见和对科任教师的偏见较强。因此,每次接班,笔者都会考虑如何上好交接班的第一堂课,以期少许改变学生原有的偏见。根据经验,良好的第一印象会给整个英语教学的转机带来决定性的作用。笔者比较关注以下几个方面:  一、注意自己的着装打扮和精神风貌,赢得印象分  每次暑假开学,天气都比较炎热,女教师都会
期刊
摘要:中国有句古话叫“授人以鱼不如授人以渔”,说的是传授给人既有的知识,不如传授给人学习知识的方法,这说明了传授学生学习方法的重要性。因此养成学生良好的预习习惯,是培养学生自学英语能力的新起点。另外,合理的制定习题也是必要的手段。  关键词:自主学习 培养习惯 掌握方法 制定习题 检查反馈  所谓课前预习,就是教师在讲授新课之前,学生预先自主学习。课前预习在学生的学习过程中起着承上启下的作用。它不
期刊
阅读理解主要是测试学生对英语语篇理解的能力,分值比例相当大,因此,在高三的复习中对学生阅读理解能力的培养可以说是举足轻重的。   08年我省根据《普通高中课程标准教学要求》制定了2008年普通高等学校招生全国统一考试(江苏卷)英语科考试内容和要求。这一考纲的制定把握了新《英语课程标准》,加强了对高考英语学科信息的收集和分析,随着英语教改的深入,高考也在不断改进。这就使得学生懂得英语的学习不仅仅是背
期刊
在传统英语教学活动中,只注重对学生语言知识的记忆和掌握,而不关注对学生在教学中进行情感激励和沟通,这种非以人为本的教学模式是传统教学的一大缺陷。孔子说过:知之者莫如好之者,好之者莫如乐之者。情感作为人类生存的必要条件,是学生精神生活的主宰,是学生学好英语的催化剂。英语课堂教学中应充分利用情感,努力调动学生的非智力因素,提高课堂学习效率。同时应注重学生的情商培养,以及其在人生长远发展中的作用。心理学
期刊
Abstract:In the second language learning,some people only put their focus on grammar,words,sentence etc.The paper aims to tell the people not forget the culture acquisition plays a very important role
期刊
随着时代的发展与人类交流的不断增加,作为人际交流工具的外国语的重要性正在日益突现。初中英语教学如何适应时代的发展,为学生的进一步学习打下基础,是每一位初中英语教师必须直面与应对的问题。初中英语教学正是体现了这样一个“以学生为本”,“以发展为本”的理念。  一、重视单词教学,夯实学习基础  一位学生放弃英语学习,其实最初是从放弃开口朗读开始的。而拒绝开口朗读英语的最主要原因是不会读。当一位学生不会念
期刊
摘 要:本文旨在讨论专业实训教材编写的新思路——完全的实训教材。作者对现有的实训教材编写思路作了归纳,分析了其局限性;对于新思路及其“完全”的含义作了解释,对于新思路在实训教材中的具体体现作了分析和说明,对于新思路与专业实训目标的结合度作出展望。   关键词:实训教材,编写,新思路   当前,随着用人单位对大学生技能要求的提高,国家加大了高校教育的实训投入,高校实训基地建设
期刊
Abstract:As more and more attention has been paid to learner autonomy,many institutions of higher learning have established English self-access center with an aim to provide students with an exception
期刊
摘 要:课堂教学是一个整体,而 “课堂导入”是整体教学的“序幕”,起着集中注意力、带入情境和铺垫的作用。新课程标准要求英语课堂以学生为主体,以教师为主导。教师应该扮演好“导演”这一角色,充分设计每一节课的导入,这样才能使学生产生浓厚的兴趣,加强学习英语的信心,也使你的英语教学事半功倍。  关键词:英语课堂 导入 兴趣 方法  著名特级教师于漪曾说过:“课的第一锤要敲在学生的心灵上,激发起他们思维
期刊
随着社会的发展和改革开放,英语在社会生活中发挥着越来越重要的作用,对高等职业英语教育也提出了更高的要求。职业英语教育因其直接面向工作实用的特点,就决定着职业英语教育必须联系生活,突出“实用性”。然而在实际职业英语课堂教学中,仍然是教师“一眼堂”,以教师为中心,将课本知识塞给学生,老师与学生之间主要是灌输与被灌输的关系,缺乏学生自主探究与思维的激活创新,从而造成学生对英语学习的积极性不高,大量的学生
期刊