The Reappearance of Three Beauties of Zhang Peiji’s C-E Translation of Autumn in Peiping under the Guidance of Functional Equivalence Theory

Abstract

The translation of literary works is not only a process of language conversion, but also an important way to convey culture. This thesis takes the original text of Yu Dafu’s essay Autumn in Peiping and Zhang Peiji’s English translation as the research object, aiming to explore the essay translation from the perspective of the functional equivalence theory and the three beauties principle, and to make a feasibility analysis of the functional equivalence theory and the three beauties principle for essay translation. Nida’s functional equivalence theory is a popular translation theory, which provides powerful theoretical support for translation practice and research. Xu Yuanchong’s three beauties principle is the ontology of poetry translation, which plays an important role in guiding poetry translation. Yu Dafu’s Autumn in Peiping is one of the representatives of modern Chinese essays, with beautiful language, unique style, and sincere emotion, which has considerable space for research. At present, there are fewer research perspectives on the translation of Autumn in Peiping. This thesis will explore whether the translation can reappear the “three beauties” by analyzing the cases in the English translation of Autumn in Peiping under the guidance of the functional equivalence theory. This thesis compares the original text and the translation through the composite perspective of functional equivalence theory and the three beauties principle, and finds that the translation is able to reproduce the “three beauties” very well, and in some cases it can embody two to three beauties of the “three beauties”, i.e., it can embody the beauty in sense while also realizing the beauty in form, etc., showing a remarkable double breakthrough in the transmission of cultural imagery and the reconstruction of aesthetic meaning. This is a remarkable double breakthrough in the transmission of cultural imagery and the reconstruction of aesthetic meaning. This innovative application of cross-literature translation theory not only verifies the extension of the three-beauty theory in prose translation, but also builds up a two-axis coordinate system of “cultural translatability” and “aesthetic equivalence”, which provides a model for modern prose translation. In addition, it also proves the applicability of the theory of functional equivalence and the theory of three aesthetics to the translation of prose. As a result, the traditional research perspectives and limitations are broken through, so as to provide reference for the translation endeavor of Chinese prose, in order to promote the dissemination of Chinese culture.