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A Study of the English Versions of Mao Zedong Poetry from the "Three Beauties" Theory

Author: YanYunXia
Tutor: LiZhengShuan
School: Hebei Normal
Course: Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Keywords: Mao Zedong Poems “Three Beauties” theory reproduction
CLC: H315.9
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2013
Downloads: 17
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Abstract

Mao Zedong’s poems are treasures of Chinese contemporary literature and a shiningpearl of the world culture. It is an epic recording Chinese democratic revolution and theconstruction of the new China, the poet’s aspirations being filled between the lines.Humboldt, a famous German linguist, posed the famous statement: National language is thenational spirit, and the national spirit is the national language. The essence of translation isspreading culture and communication. Mao Zedong’s poems occupy an important positionin the history of Chinese poetry, and there are up to now more than twenty English versions.Early in the1940s, Mao Zedong’s poems have been translated into many foreign languagesand are spread to the world.The translation of Mao Zedong’s poem is a very difficult and challenging job. Thetranslation should have the nature of poetic language, from the external arrangement oflines to the phonological use, to the usage of words to be translated, all should possess thenature of poetry, rather than prose. The translation standard of Mao Zedong’s poems isdifferent. Xu Zhimo once mentioned that the translation of poetry is more difficult than anyother translations. One has to put the spirit into the form. If one wants to translate a Chinesepoem, he must care about beauty of sense, beauty of form and beauty of sound. These threeaspects should be rendered roughly the same with the original poems.Because of the characteristics of “Three Beauties” of Mao Zedong’s poems, XuYuanchong applies “Three Beauties” theory to translate his poems to reproduce theconnotation and momentum of the original poetry as much as possible. This thesis is tostudy the translation of Mao Zedong’s poems by Professor Xu Yuanchong from the theoryof “Three Beauties”. Through the study, the guiding role of the “Three Beauties” upontranslators’ translation practice has been highly emphasized. Through a comprehensivestudy, it aims to provide some reference for the translation of classical Chinese poetry andto promote classics translation career effectively a healthy development.This paper is divided into three parts: the introduction, the body and the conclusion.The introduction begins with the introduction of Mao Zedong’s poems, including its English versions at home and abroad, and it also introduces some translation theories andworks among contemporary studies, and the theories put forward by Professor XuYuanchong. The main body consists of three parts, and each part introduces respectivelyMao Zedong’s poems translated by Xu Yuanchong from the aspect of “Three Beauties”.The conclusion is a brief summary of the main ideas of the thesis and reclaims the mainidea of the author, and it analyzes the feasibility of the “Three Beauties” theory in thereproduction of the beauty of sense, beauty of sound and beauty of form of the originalpoetry during the process of translation. Combined with Xu Yuanchong’s translatingexperiences, it summarizes that “Three Beauties” theory has its feasibility in classicalChinese poetry translation, meanwhile, it has its own limitations, therefore, we should treatit dialectically and apply it reasonably.

A Study of the English Versions of Mao Zedong Poetry from the "Three Beauties" Theory

Abstract

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