Changes in Beauty (On the Chinese Translation of Imagery in Shakespeare's Drama Texts)

Author: Qiu Bei Ling
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: This book examines the transmission of imagery in Shakespeare's dramatic texts across the three most widely read Chinese translations of his plays in China (i.e., the Zhu Shenghao translation, the Liang Shiqiu translation, and the Fang Ping translation). The analytical approach treats each translation as a starting point for research, using the Chinese translation of Shakespearean imagery to explore the historical phenomenon of classic literary works being translated again. It interprets the changes in the aesthetic psychology and cultural mindset of the translators, as well as the "rebirth" of the artistic beauty of Shakespeare's plays in the three Chinese translations. The book defines imagery from cultural, aesthetic, and semiotic perspectives, aiming to provide a clear connotation and extension of the "imagery" examined in the Shakespearean texts studied. The author shifts the focus of imagery translation research from the cultural object factors that scholars in previous studies placed greater emphasis on and commonly focused on, to the translating subject in a specific cultural environment, moving from static to dynamic. A diachronic examination of the Chinese translation of imagery in the three Shakespearean translations is conducted.