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【Abstract】The paper,with the Three Beauties Principle as its theoretical foundation,discusses and analyzes the two English translations of Caisangzi-Chongyang from two Chinese translators,Xu Yuanchong and Gu Hongming.By making a comparison between the two versions,the paper verifies the feasibility of the Three Beauties Principle in traditional Chinese poetry translation,and concludes that it is hard to keep three beauties together in one translated poem.
【Key words】Caisangzi-Chongyang; Gu Hongming; Three Beauties Principle; Xu Yuanchong
Ⅰ.Introduction
Caisangzi-Chongyang was written on September 9th to the lunar calendar in 1929,when Mao Zedong was taking rest to regain his health in the Chinese Civil War.During the war in Fujian,Mao had no time to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival,but facing beautiful flowers,though in sickness,he could not stop expressing his optimistic attitude.The two translations are from Xu Yuanchong and Gu Hongming.They apply different translation strategies to keep three beauties in the poem.The paper raises concerns about the differences between the two versions and then compares which one works better in conveying the beauty of sense,sound,and form.
Ⅱ.Theoretical Framework
The Three Beauties Principle was put forward by the prestigious translator Xu Yuanchong in 1980s out of his translations for ages.In the article Third Study on “Message Beauty,Prosodic Beauty,Image Beauty”,Xu discussed it in detail.Three Beauties are beauty in sense,sound,and form.Beauty in sense emphasizes that the profound meanings hidden in poems are the kernels of poems,and the major job of translators is to translate the sense,which will be of great importance for target readers to understand poems.Beauty in sound indicates that poems,usually traditional poems rather than modern free verse,are in rhyme,assonance,alliteration,and the heroic couplet and so on.So when doing translations,translators are required to keep the rhyme as stringently as possible.Beauty in form keeps a watchful eye on poems that are written in some forms,like traditional Chinese seven-character octaves that there are only seven characters in each line,and the poem covers 4-8 lines.Xu(1983)holds the opinion that beauty in sense ranks first,beauty in sound second,and beauty in form last.If there is a conflict among them,translators are expected to put beauty in sense first,and then try to keep beauty in sound; if translators succeed in maintaining the beauty in sense and sound,they will do their utmost to keep beauty in form; also they need to make great efforts to keep the three beauties in one poem (Xu,1983).Beauty in sense is the essence of poems.However,in pragmatic translations,Xu finds it is really hard to maintain three beauties in a translated poem without losing anything,but a poem that makes the least sacrifice to three beauties could be seen as a well-translated text (Xu,1983). Ⅳ.Conclusions
The American poet Robert Frost said that “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.” Through discussing and analyzing the two English versions of Caisangzi-Chongyang,it is clear that the two versions keep beauty of sense effectively,though some words are not felicitous enough sometimes.For beauty of sound and form,Xu’s translation strictly follows the source rhyme; but for target readers,Gu’s translation is like Western poems with more domestication strategies.In summary,both translations offer Occidentals a good opportunity to read traditional Chinese poems and get in touch with Chinese culture,but perhaps it is prudent to recommend Xu Yuanchong to Western readers that are reading it for the first time.
References:
[1]Xiao,L.M.English-Chinese Comparative Studies and Translation[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2010.
[2]Xu,Y.C.Second Study on Message Beauty,Prosodic Beauty,Image Beauty[J].Foreign Language Research.1983(8):68-75.
[3]Xu,Y.C.Third Study on Message Beauty,Prosodic Beauty,Image Beauty[J].Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities
【Key words】Caisangzi-Chongyang; Gu Hongming; Three Beauties Principle; Xu Yuanchong
Ⅰ.Introduction
Caisangzi-Chongyang was written on September 9th to the lunar calendar in 1929,when Mao Zedong was taking rest to regain his health in the Chinese Civil War.During the war in Fujian,Mao had no time to celebrate the Double Ninth Festival,but facing beautiful flowers,though in sickness,he could not stop expressing his optimistic attitude.The two translations are from Xu Yuanchong and Gu Hongming.They apply different translation strategies to keep three beauties in the poem.The paper raises concerns about the differences between the two versions and then compares which one works better in conveying the beauty of sense,sound,and form.
Ⅱ.Theoretical Framework
The Three Beauties Principle was put forward by the prestigious translator Xu Yuanchong in 1980s out of his translations for ages.In the article Third Study on “Message Beauty,Prosodic Beauty,Image Beauty”,Xu discussed it in detail.Three Beauties are beauty in sense,sound,and form.Beauty in sense emphasizes that the profound meanings hidden in poems are the kernels of poems,and the major job of translators is to translate the sense,which will be of great importance for target readers to understand poems.Beauty in sound indicates that poems,usually traditional poems rather than modern free verse,are in rhyme,assonance,alliteration,and the heroic couplet and so on.So when doing translations,translators are required to keep the rhyme as stringently as possible.Beauty in form keeps a watchful eye on poems that are written in some forms,like traditional Chinese seven-character octaves that there are only seven characters in each line,and the poem covers 4-8 lines.Xu(1983)holds the opinion that beauty in sense ranks first,beauty in sound second,and beauty in form last.If there is a conflict among them,translators are expected to put beauty in sense first,and then try to keep beauty in sound; if translators succeed in maintaining the beauty in sense and sound,they will do their utmost to keep beauty in form; also they need to make great efforts to keep the three beauties in one poem (Xu,1983).Beauty in sense is the essence of poems.However,in pragmatic translations,Xu finds it is really hard to maintain three beauties in a translated poem without losing anything,but a poem that makes the least sacrifice to three beauties could be seen as a well-translated text (Xu,1983). Ⅳ.Conclusions
The American poet Robert Frost said that “Poetry is what gets lost in translation.” Through discussing and analyzing the two English versions of Caisangzi-Chongyang,it is clear that the two versions keep beauty of sense effectively,though some words are not felicitous enough sometimes.For beauty of sound and form,Xu’s translation strictly follows the source rhyme; but for target readers,Gu’s translation is like Western poems with more domestication strategies.In summary,both translations offer Occidentals a good opportunity to read traditional Chinese poems and get in touch with Chinese culture,but perhaps it is prudent to recommend Xu Yuanchong to Western readers that are reading it for the first time.
References:
[1]Xiao,L.M.English-Chinese Comparative Studies and Translation[M].Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2010.
[2]Xu,Y.C.Second Study on Message Beauty,Prosodic Beauty,Image Beauty[J].Foreign Language Research.1983(8):68-75.
[3]Xu,Y.C.Third Study on Message Beauty,Prosodic Beauty,Image Beauty[J].Journal of Shenzhen University (Humanities