ReadershipinShapingFuDonghuasTranslationofGonewit.docx

ReadershipinShapingFuDonghuasTranslationofGonewit.docx

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ReadershipinShapingFuDonghuasTranslationofGonewit

sTranslationofGonewith

ReadershipinShapingFuDonghuatheWind

Received4November2014；accepted10January2015

Publishedonline26February2015

Abstract

ThisthesisintendstointroduceafewkeyconceptsofthereceptiontheorylikeJauss's“horizonofexpectations”andIser's“theimpliedreader”andapplythemtojustify，intermsofthetranslationstrategies，thefirstChinesetranslationofthenovelGonewiththeWindbyFuDonghua，whichwasoncepopularamongreadersatthattimebutlateronreceivedbittercriticismfromscholarsinthetranslationdomain.

Keywords：

Horizonofexpectations；Theimpliedreader；Reader；Translationstrategy

INTRODUCTION

Theconventionalstudyoftranslationhasmainlyconcentratedonthepursuitoftheanswertotheseeminglysimplequestion“whatconstitutesagoodorsuccessfultranslation？

”

SincetranslatorYanFuproposedtheprincipleof

“faithfulness，expressivenessandelegance”ahundredyearsago，manyscholarsengagedintranslationstudieshavepresentedalargenumberofpapersforthediscussionofthecriteriainevaluatingatranslation.Itisconsideredforedoomedandself-evidentfortranslatorstobefaithfultoboththeoriginalauthorandtheoriginalwork.Theso-called“oneservantwithtwomasters”isavividexpressiofnthoerelationshipamongtheoriginalauthor，thetranslatorandthereader.Theopinion，featuredbytheemphasisonthetranslator'sfaithfulnesstotheoriginal，hasexercisedfar-reachinginfluenceontranslationtheoryandpractice.

Inrecentyears，theissueofthetranslator'srolehasbecomeacommontopicwhichinterestboththeoristsandtranslators.Withathoroughstudyofthetranslator'scharactersinthem，thesubjectivityofthetranslatorhasbeenmorerecognizedandhighlighted.Asaresult，thetranslatorisliberatedfromthestatusasaservantbutisidentifiedasadynamicsubjectwhichaffectsothercomponentsintranslationpractice.Sometheoristshavegonesofarastoproposethatthetranslatorisendowedwiththeprivilegeofrewritingandmanipulatingtheoriginal.

Itisaregretthatduringthediscussionsoneimportantelementissomehowexcludedoratleastisignored.Ofcourse，mainlyduetotheinfluenceofsomeforeigntheoriessuchasEugeneNida's“dynamicequivalence”theory，thereareindeedmanyscholarswhoholdthatthetranslatorsshouldbeaccountabletoreadersingeneralandthepositionofreadersshouldbehighlighted.However，comparedwiththemainstreamstudyoftheroleoftheoriginalandthetranslator，theresearchonreadershipappearstobesomehowmarginalizedintranslationstudies.Sincetheprocessoftranslationgenerallyconsistsofthreebasicelements：

theoriginaltext，thetranslatorandthereader（ofthetranslation），itseemsneitherreasonablenorpracticaltoattachtheonlyimportancetothefirsttwoelementswhileoverlookingthelastone.Inthisthesis，thewriterwouldliketoconductastudyontheaboveissuebydrawingonsomeessentialnotionsofsometheories，representedbyreceptiontheory.Certainly，therehavebeenafewarticleswrittenonthetranslationstudybyappealingtoreceptiontheoryafteritwasintroducedintoChinaintheearly1980s.Forinstance，intheChineseTranslatorsJournal，thefirstarticlerelatedtoreceptionaesthetics（namelyreceptiontheory）waspublishedinthesixthissueof1989withatitleof“ThoughtsafterTranslating‘TheSkyIsGray'”.JustlikethefunctionalistSkopostheoriewhichisoncemisunderstoodasunsuitableforliterarytranslation，thecasesofapplyingreceptiontheoryintoliterarytranslationarefairlyrareandinfrequent.Thepresentthesisintends，inatentativeway，tointerpretofthefirstChineseversionoftheAmericannovelGonewiththeWindprimarilyfromahistoricalview，bydrawingonsomeessentialconceptionsofreceptiontheory.Naturally，itisnotintheleasttothewriter'spurposetoputforwardaso-calledreader-centeredtranslationprinciple，butitisjustanattemptofprobingintoatypicalcaseofliterarytranslationtojustifytherecognitionofreadershipintranslation.

1.ANOVERVIEWOFRECEPTIONTHEORY

Likemanyothertheories，readerreceptiontheoryisnotsuddenlyestablishedovernight.Infact，longbeforeitsappearancesomethoughtsandconceptsconcerningreadershipwerealreadyrecordedinothernames.Butreadercriticismbecamerecognizedasadistinctcriticalmovementandanintegratedtheoreticalframeworkonlyinthe1960sinGermanyrepresentedbyHansRobertJaussandWolfgangIser.Withamoreaccurateterm“ReceptionAesthetics”（RezeptionsasthetikinGerman），theprimaryfocusofthereaderreceptionapproachfallsonthereaderandthereadingactratherthantheauthororthetextastraditionallypracticedbypreviouscriticaltheorieslikestructuralismandformalism.

Receptiontheoryhighlightsthestatusandroleofthereaderduringtheprocessofreadingandinterpretingthetextinthevalueconcretizationofliterature.Accordingtoreceptiontheory，theliterarytextisendowedwithnofixedandfinalmeaningorvalue；thereisnoonemeaningthatstandsrightforever.Eachtextarousesdifferentresponsesindifferentreaders.Sinceareader'sknowledgeandpresumptionsaboutthetextingeneralarechallenged，affirmedandtransformedduringtheinteractionofthereaderwiththetext，differentreadersareexpectedtomakeresponsesoftheirownwhenfacedwiththesametext.Receptiontheoryisroughlydividedintotwo

directions，representedbyJaussandIserrespectively.

Jaussisdedicatedtothestudyofreadershipwithafocusonthereader'shorizonofexpectationsandaestheticexperience.InthetheoreticalworksofJauss，headoptstheconceptof“horizonofexpectations”inventedbyMannheimandPopper.Theterm“horizonofexpectations”，hasnotbeenpreciselydefinedsincethedayofitscreation.Generallyspeaking，itindicatesthesetofexpectationsagainstwhichreadersperceivethetext.Itgenerallyreferstoanintegrateddemandandlevelforliteraryappreciationwhichareexpressedasapotentialaestheticexpectationinthespecificreadingactivity.Severalfactors，rangingfromtheoutlookoftheworldandlife，thegeneralliteratehorizon，theliterateandartisticattainment，totheliterarycompetence，takeeffectinshapingareader'shorizonofexpectations.

AccordingtoJauss，sometraitsaredisplayedwithregardtotext，reader，andthehorizonofexpectations.First，anewtextcanbeapproachedbytheveryreaderwithacertainknowledgeframework.Withoutthepre-understanding，thereader'scomprehensionofthetextisdoomedtofailurefromtheoutset.Second，thenewtextisconstantlysituatedinahistoricalsettingwiththeexistenceofbothtextsandreceptors.Aninformalreceptionwilloccuronconditionthattheinformationandstyleofthetextarereleasedinsomewaytothereaderinadvance.Withtheformermemoryrecalledandawakenedinthisway，thereaderispreparedforaprospectivereceptionwiththenewtext.Third，thehorizonofexpectationsisinanever-changingprocess.Theprevioushorizonofexpectationswillbetransformedandenhanced，andhencenewhorizonofexpectationswillbegeneratedinthecommunicationbetweennewtextsfortheformerones.

UnlikeJausswhoapplieshimselftothestudyofcollectivereceptionandvastsocialbackground，WolfgangIserdedicateshimselftothestudyofthespecificreadingactivity.Hisprimarycontributionslieintheexpositionandextensionofthetermimpliedreader”andintheresearchontheindeterminaciesandgapsofmeaningwithinthetext.

AccordingtoIser，theimpliedreaderreferstothepossiblereaderwhoissubjecttothestructureofatextandexistsinsidetheauthor，participatinginandaffectinghiswriting.Tobeexact，theimpliedreaderistheoneexpectedtoreadthefutureworkbyacertainauthor.Abstractasitis，theimpliedreaderisbynomeansanentitycreatedpurelyonthebasisoftheimaginationoftheauthor，butisgeneralizedfromagreatdealofinformationbasedonthereadingpracticeoftheactualreader.Therefore，theimpliedreaderisrootedintheactualreaderandboundtochangethelatter.AccordingtoIser，itisin

thereadingprocessthatthetextistransformedintoaliteraryworkinthetruesense.Withouttheparticipationofthereader，thepotentialmeaningwillfailtoberealized.

Accordingtotheabovemainnotionsofreceptiontheory，wecangainsomeinspirationsinthestudyofliterarytranslationinthefollowing.

Firstly，itisconceivablyafactthatthetranslatorwouldbearinmindthetargetofhiswritingandmakeasoundjudgmentofthehorizonoftheexpectationsoftheimpliedreaderinordertobettersatisfyandmeettheneedsofthefuturereaderofthewriting.

Secondly，thehorizonofexpectationsofthereaderissubjecttochangeatthetimeandcircumstanceconcerningthesocialethosandculturalenvironmentischanged.

Thirdly，onconditionthattheimpliedreader'shorizonofexpectationsdisagreesorevenconflictswiththatofthetranslator，differenthorizonscallforanamalgamationinasuccessfulreadingactivity，inthewayeitherthetranslatororthereadercompromises.

Henceitisnotincidentalthatnumerousliteraryworkshadbeenshapeddifferentlyinanotherlanguagebydifferenttranslatorsindifferenteras.Ifweprobeintothesecases，wemayfindreadershipplayedadramaticroleintheprocess，suchasthetranslationoftheGermanplayMotherCourage'sCucumbersintoEnglishandtheEnglishnovelGonewiththeWindintoChinese