《红楼梦》两英译本对宗教文化的处理【毕业论文】.doc

1、 I （ 20_ _届） 本科毕业 设计 英语 红楼梦两英译本对宗教文化的处理 II 摘要 红楼梦是国内外文坛的一朵奇葩，享有很高的文学和艺术价值。随着中西文化的交流，红楼梦目前已有九个英译本，其中最成功的是由杨宪益、戴乃迭翻译的 A Dream of Red Mansions和霍克斯、闵福德翻译的 The Story of the Stone。红楼梦蕴含了丰富的宗教文化，中国传统的佛、道思想在该著作中有很多体现，信奉基督教的西方读者在阅读时难免遇到宗教方面的文化壁垒，对译者而言如何 处理这种文化壁垒尤为重要。杨宪益、戴乃迭的译本主要采用了异化翻译法；霍克斯、闵福德的译本则使用了归化法。本文对

2、比了杨、霍译本在翻译过程中处理宗教意象、宗教思想、死亡诠释的方法，总结了两个译本的翻译策略，分析了影响译者选取各自翻译方法和策略的因素：译者的意图，目标读者和历史政治背景 。 关键词： 红楼梦；宗教文化；异化法；归化法 III Abstract Hong Long Meng is a masterpiece at home and abroad, enjoying high literature and art value. With the increasing culture exchanges between China and English-speaking countries, n

3、ine English versions appeared. Among them, the most successful and influential are A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang and The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes and John Minford. Hong Long Meng contains rich religious cultures, embodying Chinese traditional Buddhism an

4、d Taoism ideology in many places. It is no doubt that the western readers who believe in Christianity will encounter culture barriers, since it is very important for translators to deal with those barriers appropriately. On religious element translation, the Yangs mainly adopted domestication and Ha

5、wkes used foreignization mostly. This paper makes a comparison between two versions translation for religious images, religious ideology and interpretations on death to conclude translation strategies. Finally, it analyzes the factors influencing translators to choose translation principles. Those f

6、actors are translators purpose, target readers and historical and political backgrounds. Key words: Hong Long Meng; religious cultures; domestication; foreignization IV Contents Introduction. 1 1 A Brief Introduction to Hong Lou Meng . .1 2 The Relationship between Culture and Translation .2 2.1 The

7、 Religious Culture Value of Hong Lou Meng 2 2.2 Religious Culture and Translation .3 3 A Comparative Study on the Translation of Religious Cultures in Two Versions . .4 3.1 Religion Comparison between China and English-speaking Countries 4 3.2 Translation Principles in Translating Hong Long Meng . 4

8、 3.3 Religious Elements Translation .5 3.3.1 Religious Image Translation . 5 3.3.2 Religious Ideology Translation .6 3.3.3 Interpretations on Death .7 4 Factors Influencing the Translation . 8 4.1 Translators Purpose . . 9 4.2 Target Readers .10 4.3 Historical and Political Backgrounds . .10 Conclus

9、ion . . .11 Bibliography . . .13 Acknowledgement .14 1 Introduction Before the emergence of “culture turn”, translation has been seen as a tool merely transferring one language to another. But since “culture turn”, translation has shifted its focus on from language level to culture level. That is to

10、 say, the mastery of foreign languages is not enough for translators. They should put an emphasis on cultural differences to achieve cultural exchanges. Hong Lou Meng, an encyclopedia of Chinese culture, has been enjoying high reputation at home and abroad. Its most successful and influential Englis

11、h versions, A Dream of Red Mansions by the Yangs and The Story of the Stone by Hawkes and Minford, also won many good remarks of critics and had great influence on studies of translation theory. It is very significant to study the translation of the cultural factors in this great novel based on its

12、high artistic and cultural values. Among them, one important part is Religious culture, which dominates peoples thinking patterns, value and ideology. In China, the main religions are Buddhism and Taoism, the doctrines of which penetrate every aspect of peoples life, while the majority of Westerns b

13、elieve in Christianity. Thus, different religious beliefs lead to the difficulty in reading Hong Lou Meng. By comparing how to handle religious culture factors translation, we can find the Yangs and Hawkes adopted different translation principles and the former is SL oriented and the latter TL orien

14、ted. For the reason, the thesis makes an exploration from three different aspects. 1 A Brief Introduction to Hong Lou Meng and Its English Versions Hong Lou Meng is a great work in the history of China even the world literature field. It was published in 1792, including 120 chapters; the first 80 ch

15、apters were written by Cao Xueqin and the rest by Gao E. Born in a declining family, Cao Xueqin was very familiar with the lifestyle and customs of the feudal aristocracy. The decline of his family and bad conditions of his later years helped him to see the corruption and decadence of the nobles. Wi

16、th this experience and understanding he was able to paint a most varied and truthful picture of the society of his day. In the novel, he depicted hundreds of figures and each one had vivid characters. When appreciating it, you must be shocked by the authors exquisite writing skills. Taking as its ma

17、in theme the tragic love between Jia Baoyu and Lin Daiyu, he described the decline of Family Jia, the well-known feudal aristocratic household. As a highly artistic and cultural book, Hong Lou Meng was famous at home and abroad. Many scholars are devoted to studying it. Even the foreign scholars end

18、eavor to introduce it to their cultures. With increasing cultural exchanges, it has been rendered into many languages and 2 spread into many countries. From 1830 to 1986, not more than 160 years, there were altogether nine English versions, being unprecedented in translation history. Among those ver

19、sions, the most popular and influential ones are A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi and his British wife Gladys Yang, and The Story of the Stone translated by David Hawkes and his son-in-law John Minford. The two versions are very successful and are highly praised by the translators a

20、nd translation theorists, most importantly, by the readers at home and abroad. Professor Zhou Jueliang made his comment on the two versions as follows: “Despite different styles presented in these two versions, both of them achieved the goals set by their translators. The version by David Hawkes is

21、famous for its elegance, while Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yangs is remarkable for accuracyIf reading them together, those who are unable to read the original will acquire the real and complete picture about this novel as they do read.”(Zhou, 1994:350). Why could the two versions be so successful and win

22、 so many high remarks? One reason is that they are the only completed translations of the whole book, while the other seven are only part of the original book. In addition, the Yangs and Hawkes made great efforts to make it perfect in translation. They applied many achievements of contemporary studi

23、es of Redology for reference, which was ignored by the former translators. To span the culture gap, Hawkes and the Yangs adopted some special approaches. Hawkes wrote a lengthy introduction and used appendices to provide general and necessary cultural information to the readers. In order to make the

24、 version read smoothly, he did not adopt footnotes. On the contrary, a great number of footnotes appeared in Yangs translation as an important compensation. The notes in Yangs version mainly introduced characters, historic figures and myths, etc. appearing in the novel and explained words which were

25、 rich in Chinese cultural connotations. 2 The Relationship between Culture and Translation Wang Zuoliang once remarked “The greatest difficulty in translation lies in the differences between two cultures. What is self-evident in one culture has to be painstakingly explained in another culture.” He a

26、lso pointed out that “a translator must be a cultural ambassador. What he deals with are words. What he faces are cultures.”(Wang Zuoliang， 1990:19). These show the important role culture plays in translation. Culture influences the translation principles, translation ideology, and the choice of tra

27、nslation strategy. 2.1 The Religious Culture Value of Hong Lou Meng 3 Hong Lou Meng describes Chinese cultural heritages in a very vivid way for its readers, depicting and reflecting almost every aspect of Chinese culture. Religious culture penetrates the whole novel and plays an important role in i

28、t. We can see many religious factors while reading. In the first chapter, the appearance of a monk and a Taoist priest has revealed the religious ideology obviously. They are the clue figures and the representatives of Buddhism and Taoism in some sense. Whats more, the destiny of many characters fin

29、ally is linked to Buddhism and Taoism: Jia Baoyu, Xichun and Liu Xianglian, all of them become Buddhism converts. Also, there are some plots depicting Miaoyu, a Taoist. It is conspicuous to see words containing rich religious color. As literature is the reflection of social life, we can see peoples

30、ideology of that time through Hong Lou Meng. The representation of religion shows people in feudal society have a strong belief in Buddhism and Tao, dating back to thousands of years ago. “阿弥陀佛” ，“菩萨” and “神仙” , the typical religious words , appeared frequently, showing peoples piety and awe. The Bu

31、ddhist Cause and Effect cycle and Taoist immortal are revealed in Hong Lou Meng. Marx once said that religion was the reflection of sufferings in real life. Confronted with sufferings, people usually turn to religion to seek solutions. Religious beliefs are their spirit support .The destiny of many

32、characters in the novel also proves it. 2.2 Religious Culture and Translation Many famous Chinese and foreign literature works involve religious cultures. Because of different religious beliefs readers must be acquainted with religious differences to know completely the works. Religious beliefs infl

33、uence every aspect of peoples life in its unique way and form communication obstacles for different cultures, so the translation on religious cultures is a tough and difficult task for translators. Tytler points out that if a translated work cannot take on the original works information and culture;

34、 this translation is a complete failure. He thinks that the difficulties during the translation are mainly caused by culture. “For truly successful translating, biculturalism is even more important than bilingualism, since words only have meanings in terms of the cultures in which they function” (Ni

35、da, 2001:82). Considering so many religious elements included in Hong Lou Meng, its a must for translators to be acquainted with religious differences between China and the English-speaking countries and handle it appropriately. Thus, they can deliver the information correctly in 4 translating to ma

36、ke readers have a good understanding. 3 A Comparative Study on the Translation of Religious Cultures in Two Versions Because of different politics, history and other reasons, people have different religious beliefs. Next, we will have a look at the religious differences between China and English-spe

37、aking countries. 3.1 Religion Comparison between China and English-speaking Countries Religion is a major constituent of culture and ideology, including the nations religious beliefs and consciousness. It dominates peoples thinking patterns, ethics, values and ideology. China, a large country consis

38、ting of 56 nations, owns many kinds of religious beliefs. The main religions most Chinese people believe in are Buddhism and Taoism. Buddhism, one of the three biggest religions in the world, was introduced into China in Eastern Han Dynasty. It has been the ruling religious belief for Chinese people

39、 for more than a thousand years. And Taoism, the Chinese native religion, also influences Chinese people profoundly. We can hear people uttering religious expressions commonly , such as “阿弥陀佛”、“菩萨保佑”、“神仙保佑”and so on. Whats more, the ideology arising from Buddhism and Taoism makes great influence on

40、peoples living style and attitudes, such as Buddhist“因果循环论” and Taoist“功名虚 无论 . But the majority of English-speaking countries believe in Christianity, which has governed the Western for more than two thousand years and formed the unique culture. For Christians, God is kind and powerful, who can res

41、cue them from sufferings. They pray Gods forgiveness when they make mistakes or commit criminals in churches which are built everywhere. God also is the one for people to confide. The Bible, the holy book of the Christians, is not only a religious classic, but also an important pillar of Western cul

42、ture. It provides Western people not only with spiritual consolation, but also with abundant literary figures and stories. Hong Lou Meng covers a wide range of expressions about religious beliefs. In view of different religious culture, how did translators deal with them? 3.2 Translation Principles

43、in Translating Hong Long Meng 5 In 1955, Laurence Venuti, an American structuralism translation theorist ,put forward two principles on cultural elements translation in his book The Translators Invisibilityforeignization and domestication, which put translation on the backgrounds of social culture,

44、politics, ideology and history to consider. Domestication and foreignization are two different but complementary techniques used in the translation of cultural factors. The former is target-language culture oriented, emphasizing the idiomatic expressions of the target language and against using thos

45、e of the source language. But the latter is just the opposite, reserving the language form and culture content of the original text. From the previous researchers studies, we can know that the Yangs and Hawkes adopted different principles on translating of the religious elements. The Yangs described

46、 Chinese religious culture faithfully and originally. They retained the form and used equivalent words due to the consideration of faithfully conveying Chinese culture to the Westerners. On the contrary, Hawkes transplanted Christianity concepts to his version. He abandoned the images and used parap

47、hrase because there were not completely identical sayings in English. His version was comprehensible and acceptable for Western readers. 3.3 Religious Elements Translation Many translators support either of domestication or foreignization by stating their viewpoints from different angles. No matter

48、in the West or in China, the debate between domestication and foreignization both underwent a long history. Guo Jianzhong has pointed out that either domestication or foreignization has its own value in usage. So this part the thesis will not comment on the strategies but only compare and analyze the translation of these two versions based on the following three aspects. 3.3.