《紅樓夢(mèng)》兩英譯本對(duì)宗教文化的處理【畢業(yè)論文】

1、<p><b>　?。?0_ _屆）</b></p><p><b>　　本科畢業(yè)設(shè)計(jì)</b></p><p><b>　　英語(yǔ)</b></p><p>　　《紅樓夢(mèng)》兩英譯本對(duì)宗教文化的處理</p><p><b>　　摘要</b></p

2、><p>　　《紅樓夢(mèng)》是國(guó)內(nèi)外文壇的一朵奇葩，享有很高的文學(xué)和藝術(shù)價(jià)值。隨著中西文化的交流，《紅樓夢(mèng)》目前已有九個(gè)英譯本，其中最成功的是由楊憲益、戴乃迭翻譯的A Dream of Red Mansions和霍克斯、閔福德翻譯的The Story of the Stone。《紅樓夢(mèng)》蘊(yùn)含了豐富的宗教文化，中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)的佛、道思想在該著作中有很多體現(xiàn)，信奉基督教的西方讀者在閱讀時(shí)難免遇到宗教方面的文化壁壘，對(duì)譯者而言如何處

3、理這種文化壁壘尤為重要。楊憲益、戴乃迭的譯本主要采用了異化翻譯法；霍克斯、閔福德的譯本則使用了歸化法。本文對(duì)比了楊、霍譯本在翻譯過(guò)程中處理宗教意象、宗教思想、死亡詮釋的方法，總結(jié)了兩個(gè)譯本的翻譯策略，分析了影響譯者選取各自翻譯方法和策略的因素：譯者的意圖，目標(biāo)讀者和歷史政治背景。</p><p>　　關(guān)鍵詞：《紅樓夢(mèng)》；宗教文化；異化法；歸化法 </p><p><b>　　Ab

4、stract</b></p><p>　　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, nine

5、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

6、 contains rich religious cultures, embodying Chinese traditional Buddhism and Taoism ideology in ma</p><p>　　Key words: Hong Long Meng; religious cultures; domestication; foreignization</p><p>&

7、lt;b>　　Contents</b></p><p>　　Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….1</p><p>　　1 A Brief Introduction to Hong Lou Meng……………………………………………….…...1</p><p>　　2 The Relation

8、ship between Culture and Translation……………………………………….2</p><p>　　2.1 The Religious Culture Value of Hong Lou Meng…………………………………………2</p><p>　　2.2 Religious Culture and Translation…………………………………………………

9、……...3</p><p>　　3 A Comparative Study on the Translation of Religious Cultures in Two Versions…….….4</p><p>　　3.1 Religion Comparison between China and English-speaking Countries……………………4</p&

10、gt;<p>　　3.2 Translation Principles in Translating Hong Long Meng ……………………………...……4</p><p>　　3.3 Religious Elements Translation………………………………………………………….....5</p><p>　　3.3.1 Religious Image

11、Translation…………………………………………………….……5</p><p>　　3.3.2 Religious Ideology Translation…………………………………………………….....6</p><p>　　3.3.3 Interpretations on Death……………………………………………………………....7</p><p&g

12、t;　　4 Factors Influencing the Translation……………………………………………………….…8</p><p>　　4.1 Translators’ Purpose………….………………………………………………………….…9</p><p>　　4.2 Target Readers………………………………………………………................

13、.................10</p><p>　　4.3 Historical and Political Backgrounds………………………………………………...…...10</p><p>　　Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………..……..…..11</p><p>　　Bibliography…………

14、………………………………………………………………..…...….13</p><p>　　Acknowledgement…………………………………………………………………………….14</p><p>　　Introduction </p><p>　　Before the emergence of “culture turn”, translation has b

15、een 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 say, the mastery of foreign languages is not

16、 enough for translators. They should put an emphasis on cultural differences to achieve cultural exchanges.</p><p>　　Hong Lou Meng, an encyclopedia of Chinese culture, has been enjoying high reputation at ho

17、me and abroad. Its most successful and influential English 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

18、 studies of translation theory. It is very significant to study the translation of the cultural factors in this great novel based on its high artistic and cultural values. Among them, one im</p><p>　　1 A Bri

19、ef Introduction to Hong Lou Meng and Its English Versions</p><p>　　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

20、 first 80 chapters 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 co

21、nditions of his later years helped him to see the corruption and decadence of the nobles. With this experience and understanding he was able</p><p>　　As a highly artistic and cultural book, Hong Lou Meng was

22、 famous at home and abroad. Many scholars are devoted to studying it. Even the foreign scholars endeavor to introduce it to their cultures. With increasing cultural exchanges, it has been rendered into many languages and

23、 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 versions, the most popular and influential one

24、s a</p><p>　　“Despite different styles presented in these two versions, both of them achieved the goals set by their translators. The version by David Hawkes is famous for its elegance, while Yang Xianyi and

25、 Gladys Yang’s is remarkable for accuracy…If 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). </p><

26、;p>　　Why could the two versions be so successful and win 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. I

27、n addition, the Yangs and Hawkes made great efforts to make it perfect in translation. They applied many achievements of contemporary studies of Redology for reference, which was ignored by the former translators. To spa

28、n the culture gap, Hawkes and the Yangs adopted some special approac</p><p>　　The Relationship between Culture and Translation</p><p>　　Wang Zuoliang once remarked “The greatest difficulty in tr

29、anslation lies in the differences between two cultures. What is self-evident in one culture has to be painstakingly explained in another culture.” He also pointed out that “a translator must be a‘cultural ambassador’. Wh

30、at 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 ch

31、oi</p><p>　　The Religious Culture Value of Hong Lou Meng</p><p>　　Hong Lou Meng describes Chinese cultural heritages in a very vivid way for its readers, depicting and reflecting almost every as

32、pect of Chinese culture. </p><p>　　Religious culture penetrates the whole novel and plays an important role in it. We can see many religious factors while reading. In the first chapter, the appearance of a m

33、onk 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. What’s more, the destiny of many characters finally is linked

34、 to Buddhism and Taoism: Jia Baoyu, Xichun and Liu Xianglian, all of them become Buddhism converts. Also, th</p><p>　　As literature is the reflection of social life, we can see people’s ideology of that time

35、 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. “阿彌陀佛” ，“菩薩” and “神仙”, the typical religious words ,

36、appeared frequently, showing people’s piety and awe. The Buddhist Cause and Effect cycle and Taoist immortal are revealed in Hong Lou Meng. Marx once said that religion was the reflection of </p><p>　　2.2 Re

37、ligious Culture and Translation</p><p>　　Many famous Chinese and foreign literature works involve religious cultures. Because of different religious beliefs readers must be acquainted with religious differen

38、ces to know completely the works. Religious beliefs influence every aspect of people’s life in its unique way and form communication obstacles for different cultures, so the translation on religious cultures is a tough a

39、nd difficult task for translators. </p><p>　　Tytler points out that if a translated work cannot take on the original work’s information and culture; this translation is a complete failure. He thinks that the

40、 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 whi

41、ch they function” (Nida, 2001:82). </p><p>　　Considering so many religious elements included in Hong Lou Meng, it’s a must for translators to be acquainted with religious differences between China and the En

42、glish-speaking countries and handle it appropriately. Thus, they can deliver the information correctly in translating to make readers have a good understanding. </p><p>　　3 A Comparative Study on the Transla

43、tion of Religious Cultures in Two Versions</p><p>　　Because of different politics, history and other reasons, people have different religious beliefs. Next, we will have a look at the religious differences b

44、etween China and English-speaking countries. </p><p>　　3.1 Religion Comparison between China and English-speaking Countries</p><p>　　Religion is a major constituent of culture and ideology, incl

45、uding the nation’s religious beliefs and consciousness. It dominates people’s thinking patterns, ethics, values and ideology.</p><p>　　China, a large country consisting of 56 nations, owns many kinds of reli

46、gious 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 rulin

47、g religious belief for Chinese people for more than a thousand years. And Taoism, the Chinese native religion, also influences Chinese people profoundly. We can hear people uttering religious expressions comm</p>

48、<p>　　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,

49、who can rescue them from sufferings. They pray God’s 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

50、the Christians, is not only a religious classic, but also an important </p><p>　　Hong Lou Meng covers a wide range of expressions about religious beliefs. In view of different religious culture, how did tran

51、slators deal with them? </p><p>　　3.2 Translation Principles in Translating Hong Long Meng </p><p>　　In 1955, Laurence Venuti, an American structuralism translation theorist ,put forward two pri

52、nciples on cultural elements’ translation in his book The Translator’s Invisibility－foreignization and domestication, which put translation on the backgrounds of social culture, politics, ideology and history to consider

53、. </p><p>　　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 idioma

54、tic expressions of the target language and against using those 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 research

55、ers’ studies, we can know that the Yangs and Hawkes adopted different principles on t</p><p>　　3.3 Religious Elements Translation</p><p>　　Many translators support either of domestication or for

56、eignization by stating their viewpoints from different angles. No matter in the West or in China, the debate between domestication and foreignization both underwent a long history. Guo Jianzhong has pointed out that eith

57、er 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 as

58、pects</p><p>　　3.3.1 Religious Image Translation</p><p>　　In Hong Lou Meng, “佛”、“菩薩” and“神仙” are respectively the typical terms of Buddhism and Taoism. For people, “佛”and“菩薩”are omnipotent. When

59、 they are confronted with difficulties in daily life, they would unconsciously turn to Buddha for help with uttering “Gracious Buddha” or “Amida Buddha” which nearly becomes tags. When people congratulate themselves for

60、avoiding the unfortunate or they wish something comes true, they can’t help saying that.</p><p>　　(1)寶玉滿面淚痕泣道：“家里姐姐妹妹都沒(méi)有，單我有，我說(shuō)沒(méi)趣；如今來(lái)了這么一個(gè)神仙似的妹妹也沒(méi)有，可知這不是個(gè)好東西?！?(《紅樓夢(mèng)》第三回)</p><p>　　His face stain

61、ed with tears, Pao-yu sobbed, “None of the girls here has one, only me. What’s the fun of that? Even this newly arrived cousin who’s lovely as a fairy hasn't got one either. That shows it's no good.</p>&l

62、t;p>　　(The Yangs, Vol. I, p49)</p><p>　　“None of the girls has got one,” said Bao-yu, his face streaming with tears and sobbing hysterically: “Only I have got one, it always upsets me. And now this new co

63、usin comes here who is as beautiful as an angel and she hasn’t got one either, so I know it can’t be any good.”</p><p>　　(Hawkes, Vol. I, p 104)</p><p>　　(2) 謀事在人，成事在天。（《紅樓夢(mèng)》第六回）</p><

64、p>　　Man proposes, Heaven disposes. (The Yangs, Vol.1:p90)</p><p>　　Man proposes, God disposes. (Hawkes, Vol.1:p152)</p><p>　　(3)“阿彌陀佛!全仗嫂子方便了?！?(《紅樓夢(mèng)》第六回)</p><p>　　“Buddha be r

65、aised! I'm most grateful for your help, sister.”</p><p>　　(The Yangs, Vol. I, p93)</p><p>　　“Bless you, my dear, for being such a help!”</p><p>　　(Hawkes, Vol. I, p156)</p>

66、;<p>　　We can see the Yangs preserved the original meanings of“阿彌陀佛”and “神仙” by rendering them literally into “Buddha be raised” and “fairy”. While Hawkes translated them into “bless you” and “angle” which are not

67、ions related to Christianity. Obviously,“佛”and “神仙”,the two images belonging to different religions in China were classified into the same－Christianity. In Chinese culture Heaven is seen to be the master who governs the

68、world. But in the Bible, it is God who plays the same role as Heaven does.</p><p>　　3.3.2 Religious Ideology Translation</p><p>　　In Hong Lou Meng, we can appreciate abundant poem phrases. One o

69、f the most famous is《好了歌》, which not only represents graceful rhythm, but also embodies typically Taoist ideology. Taoism pursues a natural and harmonious society of “doing nothing to govern the world” in which everythin

70、g returns to its primary state: things show their original appearance and people keep their unaffected nature. Taoism despises narrow-minded utilitarian, opposes social authority and unfair class and criticizes the s<

71、/p><p>　　(1) 世人都曉神仙好，唯有功名忘不了；</p><p>　　古今將相在何方？荒冢一堆草沒(méi)了。(《紅樓夢(mèng)》第一回《好了歌》)</p><p>　　All men long to be immortals</p><p>　　Yet to riches and rank each aspires;</p><p

72、>　　The great ones of old, where are they now?</p><p>　　Their graves are a mass of briars.</p><p>　　(The Yangs, Vol. I, p 16)</p><p>　　Men all know that salvation should be won<

73、;/p><p>　　But with ambition won’t have done, have done.</p><p>　　Where are the famous ones of days gone by?</p><p>　　In grassy graves they lie now, every one.</p><p>　　(Ha

74、wkes, Vol. I, p 63)</p><p>　　From the above example, we can find the Yangs attempted to recreate the precise flavor and tone of the original by faithfully rendering the religious concept into the target lang

75、uage. But Hawkes replaced the culture factor“神仙”in Taoism with the word ‘salvation’ which is specific to Christianity, that is to say, transferring the foreign elements in source language to the target culture. ‘Immortal

76、’ is an image from Taoism and ‘salvation’ a state of being saved in Christianity. To become an immorta</p><p>　　3.3.3 Interpretations on Death</p><p>　　Death is unavoidable for everyone in the w

77、orld. It is a natural phenomenon that cannot be controlled by man. People often don’t say it directly to relieve sadness. For different religions, they have their own terms on death. Buddhism usually express it “圓寂”，whil

78、e “羽化” is the euphemism in Taoism. </p><p>　　(1)難道將來(lái)只有寶兄弟頂了你老人家上五臺(tái)山不成？（《紅樓夢(mèng)》 第二十二回）</p><p>　　Is Pao-yu the only one who’ll carry you as immortal on his head to Mount Wutai (a holy Buddhist mount

79、ain)? </p><p>　　(The Yangs, Vol.1: p312)</p><p>　　When you go to heaven young Bao-yu won’t be the only one who’ll walk ahead of the hearse. </p><p>　　(Hawkes, Vol.1:p4

80、33)</p><p>　　(2)一個(gè)是閬苑仙葩，一個(gè)是美玉無(wú)瑕。（《紅樓夢(mèng)》第五回）</p><p>　　One is an immortal flower of fairyland. The other fair flawless jade.</p><p>　　(The Yangs, Vol. I, p 101)</p><p>　　O

81、ne was a flower from paradise, one a pure jade without spot or stain.</p><p>　　(Hawkes, Vol. I, p 140)</p><p>　　(3)水溶道:“逝者已登仙界，非碌碌你我塵寰之人也?！?（《紅樓夢(mèng)》第十五回）</p><p>　　But he demurred: “Th

82、e deceased has become an immortal and left our dusty world.”</p><p>　　(The Yangs, Vol. I, p 272)</p><p>　　“The Departed is now in paradise,” said the Prince.</p><p>　　(Hawkes, Vol.

83、I, p 290)</p><p>　　Literally, “上五臺(tái)山” means go to the holy place of Buddhism. But actually, it is a religious euphemism for ‘die’. In above examples, The Yangs’faithfully rendered “上五臺(tái)山” into Mount Wutai and

84、added annotation to help readers understand, which preserved the culture color of source language. But for people who were not Buddhists, they may not understand clearly this saying. Hawkes was target-culture-oriented, e

85、mphasizing the idiomatic expressions of the target language by translating it into “go to he</p><p>　　“閬苑”、“仙界” are all the Taoist fairylands according to Chinese myths. In order to reflect Chinese religious

86、 culture in their version and convey the spiritual essence of Chinese religious to the English readers, the Yangs translated them literally to preserve the cultural connotations. In Taoism, “immortal” refers to a person

87、who has huge vital energy or who transcends worldly cares and anguish. Being immortals is the highest pursuit for those mortals in the dusty world. A person with good deeds ma</p><p>　　4 Factors Influencing

88、the Translation</p><p>　　After the comparison on two versions of Hong Lou Meng, readers may come to a conclusion that the Yang’s version is relatively more faithful than Hawkes’, and the translation strategy

89、 he adopts in most cases is foreignization and While in Hawkes’ translation, domestication is always preferred and the whole novel embodies the translator’s creativity. By comparing above, we can conclude that both of th

90、e two strategies have their merits and demerits. For Yangs’ translation, it is helpful to communic</p><p>　　4.1 Translators’ Purpose</p><p>　　We know that Yang has translated a series of Chinese

91、 ancient and modern works. His purpose was to introduce Chinese famous culture to the world. He paid much attention to the source text and tried to display the glorious culture of China to the world. In order to keep the

92、 language and cultural flavor, Yang, in his translation, seldom added his own explanation or composition. For Yang, he would rather lose something than add more from outside original text. He said in an interview, “I don

93、’t think</p><p>　　On the contrary, David Hawkes’s purpose of translating Hong Lou Meng is much simpler and more natural than Yangs’. For the translation purpose of David Hawkes in his translational action, h

94、e said in a 1998 interview: “I’d thought that what I'd like to do was a translation where I didn't have to think about academic considerations, scholarly considerations. I'd just think about how to present th

95、is book-this was Penguins, after all-in such a way that I did the whole of it but at the same time it w</p><p>　　Based on their different purposes, Yang and Hawkes had some differences in their translating t

96、endency. </p><p>　　4.2 Target Readers</p><p>　　It is obvious that every translation is produced for certain readers. Before the translation work, translators often have the knowledge of their ce

97、rtain group of readers. Whether readers get messages translators expect to deliver is decisive on translation’s success. Therefore, translators have to take into consideration the expectations of their intended readers w

98、hen they decide on translation strategy. </p><p>　　The Yangs were entrusted to translate Hong Lou Meng by the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing. Since the main task of the Foreign Languages Press was to int

99、roduce Chinese literary works to foreign readers, the purpose of translating Hong Lou Meng was to present a faithful picture of Chinese culture to foreign readers. This conformed to the Yangs’ general principle of transl

100、ation. The Yangs’ target readership is generally believed to be people in the English world who are interested in Chinese cu</p><p>　　For Hawkes, his target readers were the Westerns who knew little about Ch

101、inese culture. His purpose of translation was to share with them the pleasure in reading this outstanding Chinese book. His version is to conduct target text receivers to appreciation and enthusiasm for Hong Lou Meng. Du