接受美学视角下《围城》中幽默语翻译方法研究

1、接受美学视角下围城中幽默语翻译方法的研究摘 要围城作为钱钟书先生所著的经典小说，在我国现代文学史上一直被人们所关注。幽默诙谐是围城的语言风格，幽默不仅深化了小说的主题，而且营造了喜剧气氛，是小说不朽艺术魅力的源泉所在。然而，语言和文化的差异给幽默的翻译设置了重重障碍，这就要求译者考虑诸多因素，采用不同的翻译方法以尽可能保留幽默效果。本文尝试从接受美学角度研究幽默语的翻译，分析围城英译本所用幽默语翻译方法在传递幽默效果中的得失。通过分析和研究，发现接受美学对幽默语的翻译有一定的指导作用。本文内容主要分为五个部分。引言简单介绍了研究围城中幽默语翻译方法的原因和意义。其次是理论部分,介绍接受美学的概

2、念和幽默的内涵以及接受美学视角下幽默的可行性。接下来，通过对围城英译本的分析研究，体会译者如何将围城中的幽默成分通过翻译让目标读者最大限度地接收。在第四部分，本文尝试着研究其译本中所采用的幽默语翻译方法，在回顾接受美学和幽默概念的基础上，对围城译作中的翻译方法进行了研究，将其分为语言幽默翻译法和文化幽默翻译法。最后，对所研究的内容进行整合和总结。本篇论文主要从接受美学视角探讨围城中幽默用语的翻译方法。翻译幽默要求译作能让读者最大限度的接受到与原文读者相似的幽默效果。接受美学肯定了读者在文学中的主体地位，使读者摆脱了过去被动、从属的地位。译者在翻译围城中的幽默用语时，扮演着原文读者和译文读者的双

3、重角色，以原文读者和译文读者的身份充分发挥其主体性作用，使他们的期待视野与文本视野不断交流，尽可能实现视野融合，赋予一部作品以魅力，让读者以一种轻松愉快的方式回味作品所蕴含的深层含义。使文学艺术性得到最大保留和传达，是翻译成功的表现。关键词：接受美学理论；幽默语翻译方法；期待视野；文本视野.IntroductionIn a general way, language is the carrier and a part of culture. The translation of literary works does not mean transformation between differ

4、ent languages. In some way, it means an intercultural communication between different cultures. As a Chinese literary masterpiece, Fortress Besieged written by Qian Zhongshu, has abundant humor words about Chinese traditional culture. Fortress Besieged written by Qian Zhongshu, a remarkable works of

5、 critical realism, is deemed to a mirror of particular cultural background at that time. Because the novel with humorous language and profound connotations. By now, Fortress Besieged has been translated into many languages, such as English, Russian, French, Japanese, German, Korean and so on. Its En

6、glish version was translated by Jeanne Kelly, an American writer and translator, as well as Nathan K. Mao, a Chinese-American scholar. The English version of it was published in 1979. And it draws extensive attention of readership in western countries. What's more, literary translation is not on

7、ly the conversion between two languages, but also needs to achieve a higher level, that is, to achieve the aesthetic reproduction of literary works.Reception aesthetics, as a literary criticism theory, brings a new analytical perspective to literary translation. It pays attention to the reader's

8、 acceptance, stresses the relationship between the reader and the text. Different language systems and different cultural backgrounds lead to different readers form different "Horizon of expectations", which demands the translator to finish the target reader's horizon fusion as far as

9、possible in the translation process. In Fortress Besieged, the author Qian Zhongshu has used a lot of humor words with profound cultural connotations in related with Chinese traditional culture. Humor is a form of language expression, implicit and concise; it can make a literary work have lasting at

10、traction. It is a challenge for the translator to maximize the target audience through the translation of humor. The humor words play an essential role in linguistic and social culture, so the translation quality of these words will have an immediate influence on the target readers to comprehend of

11、the original literary. Therefore, the translator should choose the appropriate translation strategies for the readers. However, due to the differences of language and culture, there are great difficulties in the translation of humor.Now, many scholars have done researches on the English version of F

12、ortress Besieged from perspectives of Relevance Theory, Skopos Theory, translation compensation strategies and so on. Few achievements are based on aesthetics of reception theory to research on the English version of Fortress Besieged. Therefore this thesis intends to analyze the translation methods

13、 of humor in the English version of Fortress Besieged translated by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao from the perspective of aesthetics of reception theory. Based on aesthetics of reception theory, combining with the degree of fusion of horizons, and trying to take readers horizon of expectation as th

14、e direction to the analysis the humor items in translation. The ultimate aim is to help translators with translating humor, for the sake of achieving higher degree of fusion of readers horizon and the horizon of the translated literary work. Theoretical FrameworkIn this part, it introduces a theoret

15、ical framework of Reception Aesthetics and humor, and discusses practicability of Reception Aesthetics to humor translation. To understand these basic factors fully and clearly, in order to provide methodologies for research.2.1 The Aesthetics of Reception TheoryReception Aesthetics has come out abo

16、ut half a century. Aesthetics of reception theory, also named reception theory, is a literary criticism and aesthetic theory and reader-oriented theory with focus on readers participation in literary works and readers reception of the text. Aesthetics of reception theory is a literary theory which w

17、as presented by scholars of Constance School for the evaluation of literary work. In comparison with most literary theories, aesthetics of reception focuses on the readers. The theory stresses the close relationship of the literary works and the readers, and it also attaches importance to the meanin

18、g construction of the literary work on the role of readers.The aesthetics of reception theory is different from traditional translation theories; it makes a big transform from translator-centered to reader-oriented, which pays attention to the readers response of literary text. Readers are the direc

19、tion of Reception theory, interpreting the meanings of a text is based on their life experience and personal cultural background. As a matter of fact, a text's meaning is not inherent within the text itself. However, to produce and create the interactive relationship of the text and the reader d

20、epends on translation theory. Therefore, if readers want to accept what is easy to understand in a particular text, they should share the reading experience and the same cultural background. In this way the purpose of literature translation can be come true. Of course, if readers share the vari

21、ous reading experience and different cultural background, they will not be able to accept perfectly the meanings of translators intended and they understand the text differently. Because they are brought up in various language systems and cultural background, so they have formed different horizon of

22、 expectations. At a word, reception theory as a kind of literary criticism theory provides a totally new view of translation.In brief, Reception aesthetics theory not only can help translators to expand the literature research space, but also it brings a deeply profound revolution of literature tran

23、slation, having a big shift to the traditional concept of translation. Meanwhile, it provides a new theoretical perspective and new translation methods.2.2 General Introduction to HumorHumor originates from Latin, and its meaning is associated with moist. But now its usage is related to fun or laugh

24、. Humor appears every corner of our daily lives, and this is a kind of special language ability in the communication.Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines it as follows:“(1)the quality in something that makes it funny;(2) the way that a particular person or group find certain things amu

25、sing; (3) the ability to understand and enjoy amusing situations or to laugh at things” (1997:698).Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary defines humor as follows:“(1)quality of being amusing or comic;(2) ability to appreciate things, situations or people that are comic; ability to be a

26、mused;(3)persons state of humor; (4)any of the four liquids (blood, phlegm, choler, melancholy)in the body that were once thought to determine a persons mental and physical qualities”(2002:726).From the contents above, we can know the two definitions express the same meaning, even they use different

27、 expressions. Humor is relating to anthropology, psychology, philosophy and linguistics, it is a complicate thing. Humor distinguishes from jokes. Humor can let people think as well as laugh but jokes only can make people laugh. Humor is everywhere.From the angle of carriers, it can be divided into

28、language humor, behavior humor and graphical humor; from the perspective of purposes, humor is used for philosophy, for psychology, and for sarcasm; from various contents, it includes workplace, family, religious and political humor; and from the colors, it can be black ,gray and red humor. Humor ca

29、n present in daily communication, in newspapers, in TVs, in literatures and so on, it is a common linguistic phenomenon around peoples life. Humor gets more and more attention from scholars because it is the symbol of wisdom and charm. People will choose the proper meaning they need for various aims

30、. This thesis will mainly discuss humor's functions in literary works. It has different functions in all kinds of contents, we mainly research the functions of information and recreation in this paper.Fortress Besieged, a great works written by a Chinese scholar Qian Zhongshu. The novel is known

31、 for its humor and wit. Humor creates a comic atmosphere and exposes the brutal truth of life.2.3 Practicability of Reception Aesthetics to Humor TranslationAs a literary theory, the concepts of Reception Aesthetics can provide a new perspective to humor translation. For the following reasons: First

32、 of all, different cultural background people need to communicate with each other so that translation appears. Every translated works has its own readers; humor translation must make readers understand the connotation of some knowledge in their mind. Humor translation's value depends on the read

33、ers' reception degree, only when the acceptors are aware of the humorous energy, then the translation can be regarded as a successful one. Therefore, translators must attach importance to the status of readers in the process of humor translation. In other words, translators should adequately thi

34、nk of readers, considering all kinds of factors to satisfy the readers. This requirement conforms to reader-centered main concept of Reception Aesthetics. Next, regardless of the humor translation is used for recreation or sarcasm, readers' understanding is influenced by their own thoughts.Diffe

35、rent people have a variety of comprehensions of the same humor in different eras. In other words, the comprehension is dynamic. In our life, we can feel some people will give a quicker reflection to humor, while someone will get the point after others explain the humorous place. Why does the di

36、fference exist? The main reason is that their horizon of expectation is multifarious. If the humor translation achieves readers' horizon of expectation, they can resonance with author in a very short time when they come into contact with the humor. Nevertheless, if there are gaps between readers

37、 and translators, readers have to search for the points of the humor, and then their horizon of expectation are broadened. Therefore, the translators must try their best to make full use of horizon of expectation to guide the translation. That means the translators should create proper distances wit

38、h the readers on the basis of perfectly satisfying readers horizon of expectation, for the sake of promoting the value of literary works. In fact, a really excellent translation is not present all the views or details of source works. The translators will leave appropriate spaces for the reader

39、s to explore. The readers are attracted by those hidden points, and then the value of the works translation is to be achieved.Humor usually is used to express readers' life and their imagination world people, also to imply thoughts and emotions of characters. At the same time, humor contains man

40、y aspects, like language, culture, the structures of value, and knowledge etc. Therefore there are a lot of indeterminacies and blanks of meaning in humorous works, which are also regarded as the essential conditions for the readers' reception and the effects of production. As a result, the inde

41、terminacies and blanks consist of the response inviting structure of Iser. It refers to the text structure used to attract readers to fill up the blanks, renew horizon and connect indeterminacy. Hence, the readers should use their imagination to finish understanding process. The response inviting st

42、ructure requests the translators should adequately connect the readers own experience. Making full use of response inviting structure is a good choice during humor translation. From the above, using the concepts of Reception Aesthetics for the humor translation is practicable. Related Investigations

43、 of Fortress BesiegedFortress Besieged is considered as one of the masterpieces of 20th century Chinese literature. It is a sarcastic and humorous novel about Chinese middle class society in 1940s, which is one of the most famous modern Chinese novels in China and remains the best of Qian Zhongshu&#

44、39;s works now. This part will introduce some investigations of Fortress Besieged and its English version Fortress Besieged in a large context and attempts to utilize aesthetics of reception theory to research the translation methods of the novel.3.1 Introduction to Fortress BesiegedQian Zhongshu is

45、 regarded as one of the greatest scholars in 20th century in China, with researching many culture fields, including aesthetics, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, rhetoric, religion, linguistics, poetics, history and so on. Nevertheless, the novel Fortress Besieged remains his most famous works t

46、ill now. The translators of Fortress Besieged, Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao claim Qian Zhongshu to be one of the "foremost twentieth century Chinese novelists".Qian Zhongshu was born in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province on November 10, 1910. He was admitted into Tsinghua University when he was nine

47、teen years old in 1929. Although his Chinese and English were the first level, but his Math was fifteen. In Tsinghua University, he not only learned much knowledge, but also met his future wife-Yang Jiang. He was engaged to Yang Jiang in 1933. As a famous writer and literary researcher in modern Chi

48、na, Qian Zhongshu is forthright, sincere, optimistic, and indifferent to fame and wealth. In general, some of his works are purely academic, while his proses and novels indicate he is good at satire and humor. His novel Fortress Besieged can be a excellent example about exposing brutal reality. His

49、achievement on literary research and literary creation makes great contribution to Chinese modern literature.Jeanne Kelly is the master of Chinese Language and Literature from University of Wisconsin, has translated many Chinese short stories and scholarly articles. Nathan K. Mao is a professor of E

50、nglish in College. They translated the novel Fortress Besieged together. They play three roles during the translating process, which including the readers, the writers and the translators. Dr. Ma Aiying is an overseas Chinese scholar doing research in Australia. She summarized in her work that a tra

51、nslator, in the translating process, translators should prepare with necessary background knowledge about cultures and languages, is in a better situation to accomplish his task in rendering from the source culture in the receptor culture because the translators relatively high understanding level o

52、f the original text and great familiarity with its macro-context as a native can ensure a profounder conveyance and understanding of culturally related insights and problems about the receptor culture (Ma, 2006:64). In short, the English version of Fortress Besieged gained great success after it was

53、 published. At the same time, it was awarded "one of the most outstanding academic works" from 1980 to 1981 by The American Books Association. Jonathan Spence, professor from Yale University, declared that Fortress Besieged will change Americans thoughts of modern Chinese literature on Apr

54、il 17th, 1980.Fortress Besieged describes a humorous and sarcastic story for readers. This novel not only let readers laugh by using humor language, but also give them a feeling of bitterness. This novel is filled with humor language. Especially in the first two parts, it has many comic situations,

55、descriptions and conversations. In this novel, there are many various sectors, containing lower- class people, such as, the waiter on the ship, the so-called French policeman, the bus driver, the fat woman, the prostitute, the innkeeper, country folks and so on; middle-class people like returned stu

56、dents from different countries, squires and journalists and the emerging middle-class people, for example, bankers, compradors, owners of factories, Japanese traitors and so on. Everyone has their features and characters, which are lively and humorously shown before readers by Qian Zhongshu. From th

57、e excellent descriptions, readers can see greedy, selfish, superstitious, empty, vulgar and all kinds of people who always produce funny or unacceptable words and behaviors. All kinds of humorous segments attract readers to read and to think. In all, Fortress Besieged is filled with humorous items.

58、This novel just like a kaleidoscope, showing peoples evils and kindness in different classes. Under the cover of the humor, it profoundly exposes the love affairs, work and marriages of the intellectuals' choices in those years.3.2 Classifications of Humorous Items in Fortress BesiegedFortress B

59、esieged has many humorous items. If we want to plan to analyze the translation methods to humorous items in this novel as comprehensively as we can, so wed better firstly have a clear classification of those humorous items.3.2.1 Humorous Items on LinguisticsLinguistic humor is mainly produced by different kinds of lexical factors and rhetorical devices in Fortress Besieged. Therefore, the author will study linguistically humorous items from the lexical aspect and rhetorical aspect which contains humorous metaphor, hyperbole, and personification.(1) Lexical