顺应论视角下《西厢记》两个英译本的比较研究

Introduction 

1. Research Background 
Xi Xiang Ji, created by Wang Shifu of the Yuan Dynasty, is one of the most popular classical  Chinese  dramas.  It’s  about  the  love  story  between  a  young  scholar  Zhang Sheng and Cui Yingying. It has attracted a great many readers both at home and abroad. Having been translated into different English versions, many scholars have been doing researches  on  them.  However,  few  comprehensive  and  systematic  studies  have  been made  on  the  translation  of  Xi  Xiang  Ji  from  the  perspective  of  the  adaptation  theory. This thesis tries to make investigations on the integration of the adaptation theory and English rendition of Xi Xiang Ji.  Xi Xiang Ji has eight different English renditions. S. I. Hsiung is the first Chinese scholar who translated Xi Xiang Ji into English version with the title of The Romance of the Western Chamber published in 1935 through the Methuen .Ltd in London. In 1936, Henry H. Hart, an American sinologist, translated Xi Xiang Ji into The West Chamber, a medieval dream published by Stanford University Press. Henry W. Wells is a Columbia University  professor  and  he  translated  Xi  Xiang  Ji  into  The  West  Chamber  in  Four Classical  Asian  Plays  in  1972.  In  1973,  T.  C.  Lai,  together  with  Ed  Gamarekian translated the works into English named The Romance of the Western Chamber and had it published by Hong Kong Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. In 1984, Dolby William, an English sinologist, translated all the acts with the title of West Wing and published it through  Cale-donian  Publishing  Company.  In  1991,  University  of  California  Press issued The Moon and the Zither: Wang Shifu’s Story of the Western Wing translated by Stephen H. West and Wilt L. Idema. In 1995, this rendition was republished as The Story of the Western Wing. Stephen H. West and Wilt L.Idema gave this full-length version a 110-page  introduction.  In  1992,  Xu  Yuanchong  did  the  translation  of  this  play  and published  it  by  the  Foreign  Languages  Press  with  the  first  four  acts.  Till  1998,  he finished all the acts and issued his second version as Romance of the Western Bower by Hunan People’s Publishing House.  Among  all  the  versions,  the  author  chooses  Xu  
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2. The Significance of the Thesis
The  studies  on  English  translation  of  Xi  Xiang  Ji  are  numerous.  Researches  are done  from  a  variety  of  perspectives  such  as  the  translator’s  subjectivity,  aesthetics, functional equivalence, intertextuality, etc. However, the nature of the language and the translation hasn’t attracted enough attention. Language is dynamic rather than static and the translation is a process of using language. During the last decade, there is only one researcher who has connected the adaptation theory with the analysis translation of Xi Xiang Ji based on CNKI. This thesis is the first to make a detailed comparative study of two  English  versions  of  Xi  Xiang  Ji  from  the  perspective  of  the  adaptation  theory  by utilizing qualitative and quantitative analysis methods. It draws on AntConc 3.2.1 and ICTCLAS  to  (1)  show  how  each  translator  from  different  cultural  backgrounds  with different  goals  makes  choices  and  adjustments  at  different  levels  under  the  adaptation theory  framework  and  (2)  testify  the  feasibility  and  great  application  value  of  the adaptation theory in analyzing translation of classical Chinese drama. 
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Chapter 1 Literature Review

1.1 Previous Studies on English Translation of Classical Chinese Drama 
Classical Chinese drama is of great value in the history of Chinese cultures. With its profound cultural connotations and unique artistic form, it has attracted scholars and translators to be devoted to the study of classical Chinese drama. Based on CNKI, when the author puts “drama” and “translation” as key words, all the  research  results  can  be  classified  into  three  categories:  (1)  researches  on  drama translators;  (2)  studies  of  the  translation  of  dramas;  (3)  investigations  of  drama translation strategies. As  for  the  first  category,  Ren  Xiaofei  (任晓霏,  2009)  carries  out  a  systemic research  into  Ying  Ruocheng’s  drama  translation  and  points  out:  (1)  the  concept  of overall system is an effective and scientific guideline to the study of drama translation; (2) Ying Ruocheng’s achievements of drama translation depend on his adaptive capacity to the soundings, insights into requirements of the times, his good tastes for art in the source  text  and  the  perception  of  different  cultures;  (3)  he has  made  lasting  historical contributions to the process of Chinese culture modernization and Chinese and western drama  communication.  Duan  Meiting  (段美婷,  2011)  in  Zhu  Shenghao  and  His Translation of Shakespeare’s Play gives an introduction of Zhu, emphasizing his good capability of mastering Chinese and English, shows us his backgrounds and hard work of translating Shakespeare’s play, and finally speaks highly of his immense influences on our successors, especially his theory of poetic charm.  
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1.2 Previous Studies on English Translation of Xi Xiang Ji 
Xi Xiang Ji has been regarded as one of the most famous dramas for many years since its debut in the 30th century. Such a wonderful masterpiece is it that Xi Xiang Ji has  won  the  admiration  of  the  people  all  over  the  world.  A  number  of  scholars  from home and abroad have been doing researches on it from various perspectives.      The  author  intends  to  summarize  the  whole  coverage  of  studies  related  to  the English translations of Xi Xiang Ji in the most resent ten years (2005-2014). This thesis utilizes  China  National  Knowledge  Infrastructure  (CNKI).  According  to  CNKI  in 2005-2014,  most  of  the  articles  are  dealing  with  the  text  of  Xi  Xiang  Ji  while  the minority  of  them  focus  on  the  English  translations  of  Xi  Xiang  Ji.  A  total  of  8,528 articles  are  about  Xi  Xiang  Ji,  among  which  only  29  of  these  are  related  to  the researches  of  English  translations  of  Xi  Xiang  Ji.  These  researches  on  the  English translations  of  Xi  Xiang  Ji  consist  of  14  journals,  12  masters’  theses,  1  doctoral dissertion and 2 proceedings of conference in China.      The  CNKI  research  displays  that  in  recent  years,  the  English  translation  of  Xi Xiang  Ji  has  aroused  researchers’  increasing  interest  and  has  been  investigated  from different  perspectives.  Here  the  author  divides  all  of  the  previous  studies  into  two categories:  one  is  the  analysis  of  one  English  rendition  only;  the  other  is  comparative study on two ormore English versions of Xi Xiang Ji.  
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Chapter 3 A Comparative Study of the Two English Versions of Xi Xiang ..... 25 
3.1 Adaptation to Communicative Context ..... 25 
3.2 Adaptation to Structural Objects ......... 33 
3.3 Dynamic Adaptation ...... 45 
3.4 Salience of the Adaptation Process ..... 48 

Chapter 3 A Comparative Study of the Two English Versions of Xi Xiang Ji in Light of Adaptation Theory 

This chapter will study the two English versions of Xi Xiang Ji in detail using the adaptation theory from four perspectives of context, structure, dynamics and salience to demonstrate  how  adaptations  are  made  at  various  levels  and  explore  what  translation strategies  are  employed  so  as  to  achieve  the  translation  purpose.  A  possible misunderstanding  probably  need  dispelling  is  that  the  four  angles  of  research  don’t construct separate topics of study but are tied to each other and simultaneously exist in language use.

3.1 Adaptation to Communicative Context
According  to  the  adaptation  theory,  “context”,  the  linguistic  communication environment,  refers  to  all  the  elements  that  mutually  adapt  to  the  discourse  and influence processing  of  the discourse.  As  mentioned  above,  context  comprises communicative  context  and  linguistic  context,  and  here  we  choose  the  former  for  the research. Communicative context mainly includes the physical world, the social world and  the  mental  world.  In  the  following,  we  will  investigate  adaptation  to  the communicative context from these three aspects to assess which English version is more adaptive to the source text in terms of the communicative context. 
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Conclusion

This thesis is not intended to merely judge the quality of each version, or to simply assert  which  is  better  than  the  other,  but  to  show  how  each  translator  from  different cultural  background  with  different  aims  makes  choices  and  adjustments  at  different levels under the adaptation theory framework. Based on a comparative study of the two English versions of Xi Xiang Ji from the perspective of the adaptation theory, conclusions can be drawn: Firstly, Xu Yuanchong seems to adopt domestication to a great extent. It is much easier  for  foreign  readers  to  comprehend  and  accept  Xu’s  version.  However,  some cultural contents of the source text, which are difficult for target readers to understand, are omitted for the purpose of presenting a fluent, easy-to-follow version with phonetic beauty.  Secondly,  West  and  Idema,  aiming  to  offer  a  translated  version  as  faithful  as possible to the source text, mainly choose foreignization strategy. They try their best to maintain  the  features  of  traditional  Chinese  culture  and  to  keep  the  images  of  the original  work  by  sticking  to  faithfulness  in  the  content  and  the  form  with  heavy footnotes. What’s more, due to their limited knowledge of Chinese culture background, sometimes they can’t fully comprehend the source text, leading to some unique Chinese culture  elements  being  ignored.  Generally  speaking,  the  readability  of  their  version  is less satisfying. 
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The reference (omitted)