名家名篇赏析作业

题目：

班级：

学号：姓名

A Brief Introduction of Xu Yuanchong and His Three Beauties Theories The Abstract:

Xu Yuanchong has translated large numbers of classical Chinese poems into English and France, contributing a lot to spreading Chinese culture to other parts of the world and promotes Chinese literature in the world literature. And he also has great success in translation practice and theories. However, there are different attitudes towards Xu’s translation theories in the circle of Chinese translation studies, both positive and negative .In the text, I will tell all these. Besides, I will give a brief introduction to the three beauties of Xu Yuanchong.

Keywords: Xu Yuanchong three beauties practice

The Introduction:

1. A Brief Introduction of Xu Yuanchong

Xu Yuanhong is a remarkable translator in contemporary Chinese .Professor Xu’s literary translation theories carry forward the predecessor’s idea and add his own thought based on his understanding. Under the guidance of this system of theories, Xu produces innumerable translations. Xu is known as a very talented translator with strong character in the academic. He has a special calling card ,in it there are two phrases ”over sixty books published in China and aboard, the one and only person translated series of Classical Chinese poetry into English and French.” He has another calling card, which reads without the title of academician, but he excels an academician “translated over one thousand Classical Chinese poem to Europe and America”.

Though the above the statement, Xu’s self-confidence and expensiveness is fully unfolded. No doubt the newspaper report describes him as heroic and aggressive. People have different responses to Xu’s theories and translations, some applaud, while some set their face against them, each has his likes and dislikes. The great master of art ,Professor Qian Zhongshu calls Xu “wizard in the realm of translation” and says:”translating two forms of literature -poetry and lyrics into two languages-English and French just like the warrior with two guns working alone two lines).After reading Xu’s translation of Mao Zedong’s poems ,Professor Qian wrote Xu a letter, in which he writes” Many thanks for showing me your highly accomplished translation. I have just finished reading it and marvel at the supple ease with you dance in the clogs and fetters of rhyme and meter …Your view on verse translation are very pertinent.”The celebrated Nobel Prize Winner for physics, Xu’s former classmate in Southwest Associated University Professor Yang Zhenning praises Xu in the prologue of Vanished Spiting” Xu is a prolific author. In his books he made great efforts to translate into English many of the famous poems in the long literary history of China. He especially endeavored to endow the translated lines with rich metrical and rhythmic qualities. That this is intrinsically an almost impossible task did not deter him. How hard he must have labored.” Xu’s translation theories also receive recognitions from other scholars who are against. The disputes are mainly on the problem of content and form, in other words, the principle of fidelity. Professor Wang Zuoliang is one of the translators who have heated debated with Xu upon metrical translation. Wang said in his book collection of papers on English stylistics” Waley

abandons rhyme and slick diction of the original and uses free verse and uncluttered writing, put emphasis on the migration of imagery, artistic conception and ambience…nowadays most of the good English versions of classical Chinese poetry are unrhymed.”Xu rebuts in the preface of A Comparative Study on English Translators of Old Gems: Whether a translator should abandons rhyme and slick diction of the original poem cannot be migrated in any case.

Being confident for himself, Xu takes other’s praise as a matter of course. Someone may regard it as his conceit, but he deems it is a responsibility not decline to shoulder. Apropos of the criticisms on his translation theories and translation practice, he would study them carefully and write another article to restate his viewpoints and use examples to disprove of the objector in a tit-for-tat way. It consequentially brings about the strong argument of the person concerned and result in ceaseless go-around. A scholar once said:”Chinese translation circles would have some quietude and lose some animation without Xu Yuanchong.”

2. Three Aspects of Beauty and Their Features

In summarizing and analyzing the thoughts of the previous the otists, Xu developed his own translation theories into one phrase:”art, creation of the best as in rivalry. (美化之艺术，创优似竞赛)”Among these theories,” three aspects of beauty” is inspired from Lu Xun’ s viewpoint of “three aspects of beauty” in philology and Lin Yutang ’ s “beauty as a standard of translated texts”.

The theory of “three aspects of beauty” is the first translation theory Xu

proposed, which plays a core and vital role in the series of Xu’s translation theories. The “three aspects of beauty” refers to the beauty of the translated verse in the three aspects of meaning, sound and form. It is a viewpoint borrowed from Lu Xun in his article” From Character To Article” ,What Lu Xun said is “When learning Chinese characters, we should use our ears to hear the pronunciation, use our eyes to watch the font and use our minds to learn its meaning. Therefore, a good article is combined with every properly used character. And the properly used character must be an entity, which has beauty in sense, form and pronunciation.”(许渊冲，1996；62)That is to say, when we write articles, we should take these three aspects into consideration : try to move the readers by beautiful meaning, to suffice reader’s ears by beautiful sound, and to appeal to reader’s eyes by beautiful form.

Xu utilizes this view in verse rendering. The translated poetry should not only express the original poetry’s beautiful meaning, but also relay its beautiful rhyme and form. Chairman Mao Zedong, who was also a poet, once said that new berse should be “succinct, regular and in rhyme”. Different approaches get equally satisfactory results.

Verse rending is different from prose translation. Form is the most important thing to be taken into consideration. If we translate verse into prose, it would be out of rhyme, hard to remember, and awkward to read .Beauty in sound and form of the original verse will get lost in translation. Drawing must have good-looking form to please the eye; music must have sweet sound to please the ear; writing must have touching meaning to move the hear. Literary translation, especially verse rending,

needs the conveyance of beauty in sense, sound and form. Therefore, it is a comprehensive art.

The famous English poet Coleridge said” Prose is word in the best order, poetry is the best words in the best order “. (许渊冲，2006；3)“Three aspects of beauty ”is the most appropriate translation rule for verse rending. As for poetry’s beauty in sound, Xu thinks it means lines in rhyme scheme and poetic components. Taken these away, the translation would be flat and insipid, it is no longer poetry.”He drew an analogy “A cup of Vodka cannot be exchanged with a glass of plain boilde Walter .At least if should be exchanged either a cup of Fenjiu or Mao tai (two famous brands of wine in China)”.Xu thinks Guo’s analogy shoots an arrow aiming at the target.”Verse rendering for verse is just like exchanging Brandy for Vodka. Although they are of different flavor, at any rate they are still wine. Whereas rendering verse into prosaic poem is just like exchanging the wine for the plain boiled water .Walter could satisfy people’s Christ but could not meet the high-level spiritual desire.”(许渊冲，1996；166)

In the respect that “syllabic rhyme is the only original aromatic tinge to relax and delight the frame of mind .It is even more important than euphuistical lines.”(黑格尔，1996；68) “ beauty in sound “ and “ resemblance in sound “are often in contradiction with each other when switching between two different languages .Thus whether the cadence of the verse should be translated or not is always a focus of contention. A group of scholars advocate rendering verse into verse. Another group of scholars think that there is no need to consider the rules and forms of the original verse; they think verse can be rendered into prosaic poem.

To achieve beauty in sound, many factors should be taken into consideration in verse rendering .The rule of rhyming in Chinese verse if the first factor to consider. Most Chinese classical verse are poems of eight or four lines, each having five or seven characters set down in accordance with a strict tonal pattern and rhyme scheme. At the mention of rhyming, Xu thinks that the rhyme used in the translated versions had better be similar to the original. Notwithstanding it is difficult to do so ,at least the feet should be kept.

With regard to beauty in form, it is easy to understand and do .That is mainly about the problem of length and symmetry. In Classical Chinese poetry, different form and length contain different emotion and signification. At whiles ,beauty in sense ,sound and form cannot be all achieved .Of the three aspects of beauty ,Xu thinks “beauty in sense “is of the great significance and should be placed in the first position;”beauty in sound “is of the great significance and should be placed in the first position;”beauty in sound “ is of the secondary importance and should be placed in the second place;”beauty in form “is of lesser weightiness and can be set in the third place. Xu also thinks we should try our best to convey the beauty in sound of the original test under the provision of faithful conveyance of the original beauty in sense and form; if it is hard to due consideration to all the three aspects, ”resemblance in form “can be ignored first.”Resemblance in sound “can also be neglected; nevertheless, in any case, we should exert ourselves to reproduce the original work’s beauty in sense. (许渊冲，2006；81)

3. The Practice of the Three Beauties

“The three Beauties” of the Xu were practiced in his translations, there we will give an example about the translations of the classical Chinese poetry.

Mao Zedong, who is famous for his revolutionary leadership, military strategies, sagacious philosophy, historical contributions and legendary life ,has irrefragable status in Chinese history as well as in Chinese literature realm. Poems are the important part of Mao Zedong’ works. Xu translated many of Mao Zedong ’ s poems during the Cultural Revolution when he was animadverted, but those cannot be published then due to political reasons .At Mao’s centennial anniversary in 1993,Xu published Selected Poems of Mao Zedong. Xu’s translations open a window to observe the innermost recesses of the prominent statesman’s poetic and ideological world. In Chinese, we say”诗言志“（poetry manifestly express the author’s inner intention）.As a statesman, Mao outpours his conception toward politics through his poems. The following poem vividly annotate Mao Zedong’s viewpoint of “the political effect of a work of art is of the utmost importance”.

为女民兵题照 Militia Women-Inscription on a Photo

毛泽东 Tr.-Xu Yuanchong 飒爽英姿五尺枪， So bright and brave, with rifles five feet long曙光初照演兵场。 At early dawn they shine on drilling place. 中华儿女多奇志， Most Chinese daughters have desire so strong, 不爱红装爱武装. To face the power and not to powder the face.

The original is a seven-syllabic quatrain (a Seven-character jueju) Mao

Zedong’s poems are the outcome of the time, which bear a strong witness to the particular history. This poem portrays a picture of mettlesome and high-spirited young militia women who yearn to devote themselves to the revolutionary course. This poem is a paean to militia; to reveal the fluctuated fluidity of music, Xu applies corresponding metrical means to represent the beauty in rhythm. Rhythm is realized with tonality and pause in each line .Generally speaking ,there are two pause in four-character verse(关关／雎鸠，在河/之洲),three pauses in five-character verse (床前/明月/光，疑是/地上/霜)and four pause in seven-character verse(少小/离家/老大/回，乡音/无改/鬓毛/衰).

This poem is a representative seven-character verse with four pauses. In Mao’s opinion, a regulated verse should follow the rule of the tonal pattern and the rhyme scheme otherwise it is not worthy of its name, Xu’s translated version has thoroughly conformed to his theory of “beauty in three aspects “and adequately testifies the principle in turn. In terms of “beauty in sound “one point we should discuss is rhythm “ang”,and even lines rhyme with /eis/to echo the similar high note of the original.

As far as “beauty in sense”is concerned ,Xu translates“飒爽英姿”into “So bright and brave”, which gives us an image of valiant heroine,“五尺枪”is translated into a phrase “with riffles five feet long”/With the adjective after the noun, its word order is different from that of the original. In the original poem ,the subject of the second line is “曙光”（dawn）,but in Xu’s translation he replaces it with “they” which refers to the militia women.”They shine on drilling place “has two meanings: One is that the militia women are aglow with health and full of young spirit, just like the Sun shining

brightly; the other can be thought as the first gleam of day irradiates on the militia women’s face and reflects.

Poets often use specific words and rhyme schemes to paint specific images. Readers perceive the atmosphere and are influenced or touched by it. This poem romances a scene of militia women training in full swing with strong patriotism. According to the poetic context and the common understanding,“中华儿女”in the original poem refers to Chinese young generation. Because the poem is to eulogize militia women, Xu translates it into”daughters”.With regard to “beauty in form”, the hinge words of the poem(诗眼)lie in the last line; but they have different meaning .The first“装”means “dress up “or “make up” ,the second“装”means arming. Xu uses two homonyms “face “and “power “is used as a moun,which means to be up against war unflinchingly. Nevertheless ,in “powder the face” ”powder” is used as a verb and “face” is used as a noun ,which means putting cosmetic powder on one’s face. The witty usage of “face ”is used as a noun ,which means putting cosmetic powder on one’s face. The witty usage of “face” and “ powder” forms a pattern of palindromes(回文)，which enhances the sound effect and artistic flavor of the translation. The palindromes, which give attention to “beauty in sound”, ”beauty in sense” and “beauty in form “ simultaneously, could be said as a scrumptious manifestation of Xu’s principle of “beauty in three aspects”.

The Conclusion:

Through detailed analysis of his theories, we may find that the theories are inherited from the previous theorists and developed by Xu different from other

theories, Xu’s theories lay much stress on the translator’s subjectivity and render’s response. Xu deserves an objectstive estimation and due position in translation circles, for his matchless translation achievements expressly prove the feasibility of his theories.

Xu’s theories are not so perfect, but the great contribution he has made to the development of China’s translatology and spreading Chinese culture cannot be overlooked. We still benefit a lot from learning and studying them.

Reference:

(1) Xu Yuanchong. On Chinese Verse in English Rhyme .Beijing. Peking University Press, 1992.

(2) 段敏。翻译家许渊冲研究。成都：四川大学2003

(3) 顾正阳，“三美”的展望-评许渊冲的古诗英译作品。上海大学学报，1998.5（6）

(4) 郭著章，翻译名家研究。武汉：湖北教育出版社，1999.