TITLE

The Strategies and Style of Translating Poetry in Three Chinese Translations of The Pilgrim's Progress

AUTHOR(S)

Lai, John T. P.

PUB. DATE

March 2011

SOURCE

Compilation & Translation Review;Mar2011, Vol. 4 Issue 1, p73

SOURCE TYPE

Academic Journal

DOC. TYPE

Article

ABSTRACT

By performing important artistic and moral functions, the poems in The Pilgrim's Progress add the touch that brings the allegorical novel to life. In the long history of its Chinese translation dated back to the mid-nineteenth century, different translators attempt many and varied strategies and style of translating the poems in the literary classic. Through a critical examination of three representative translations, this article analyzes the special phenomena of poetry translation, especially the choice of poetic forms, rhyming patterns and so forth. According to James Holmes, a leading translation theorist, there are four major forms of poetry translation: mimetic form, analogical form, organic form, and deviant or extraneous form. Based on Holmes' theory, I propose that William C. Burns' translation in the 1850s mainly adopts the analogical form by taking into full consideration of the poetic traditions of the target culture. Meanwhile, Xie Songgao's translation in the 1930s integrates the analogical and organic forms, which reflects the pluralistic landscape during the transition period of the Chinese poetic circles in the early twentieth century. Principally employing the mimetic form, Xi Hai's translation in the 1980s makes efforts to reproduce the forms and poetics of the original texts. By investigating the evolution of the strategies and style as shown in these three translations, the current case study displays the major trends of development of poetic forms, and more importantly, substantiates our understanding of the history of poetry translation in modern China.

ACCESSION #

67659276

Tags: TRANSLATING & interpreting;  POETRY (Literary form) -- Translating;  PILGRIM'S Progress, The (Poem);  HOLMES, James;  CASE studies

 

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