本文是一篇语言学论文，本文从ICM的角度探讨了西里尔·伯奇翻译《牡丹亭》的特殊性。通过描述性研究，本文在理论应用和翻译效果评估方面取得了具体成果。对于ICM理论的解释能力，本文证明了它具有很高的实用价值，每个案例研究都证明了这一点。在其指导下，作者可以推断目标读者可能的认知活动，并以客观的方式对案例进行深入分析。
Chapter One Introduction
1.1 Research Purpose
Mu Dan Ting, a magnum opus in traditional Chinese dramas, is a brainchild of Tang Xianzu (1550 - 1616), a renowned playwright and writer during the end of the Ming Dynasty with courtesy name Yireng. Tang is branded as “Shakespeare in the East”. Together with Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes, he witnessed the quatercentenary of the death in 2016 in commemorations held by UNESCO. As a prolific writer, Tang has composed more than 2200 works, like dramas, shi (poems with a given number of characters), fu (rhapsodies or prose poetry), etc. Tang is a genius at plays, primarily renowned for four plays banded together as The Four Dreams of Linchuan, namely, Mu Dan Ting (the Peony Pavilion), Nankeji (Tale of the Southern Bough), Zichaiji (the Purple Hairpin), and Handanji (the Handan Tale).
In The Drama 100: A Ranking of the Greatest Plays of All Time, Daniel S. Burt (2008) lists The Peony Pavilion at 32 out of 100 while Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet at 43 and 47 receptively. Daniel (2008: 184) remarks in his review that “In a Western context The Peony Pavilion combines elements of Homer’s Odyssey, Virgil’s Aeneid, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Moreover, it is arguably the first great epic with a complex, believable woman protagonist. Despite its vast scope, The Peony Pavilion is anchored by a remarkable psychological depth and earthy realism.”
1.2 Research Significance
This thesis is a descriptive translation study on the specificity in Cyril Birch’s translation of Mu Dan Ting. Its main body will be dedicated to exploring the differences in the cognitive process generated in ST and TT respectively, and discussing why such differences exist, how they unfold, and what effects they yield. Through an in-depth, objective analysis of representative cases, the thesis strives to deduce and summarize feasible translation methods for classic Chinese dramas to expand the current repository of translation techniques.
On the one hand, the thesis selects various cases and classifies them into cultural, theatrical, and stylistic groups, intending to cover as many scenarios as possible. Translation methods derive from translation practice and go back to translation practice. Through its detailed analysis and deduction, the thesis hopes to provide some translation methods or skills to enrich the repertoire of translators, especially those translating traditional Chinese classics.
On the other hand, the thesis has chosen ICM within Cognitive Linguistics as its theoretical framework. The purpose is to see through the appearance and to perceive the essence of translation activities as a cognitive activity. By presenting the analysis of cases in a detailed and sometimes graphical way, the thesis aims to prove the feasibility and interpretative capacities of ICM in translation studies. Thus, the thesis can contribute a theoretical instrument for future translation study of Chinese classics, and provide insight for interdisciplinary translation research.
Chapter Two Literature Review and Theoretical Framework
2.1 Mu Dan Ting, its Translations, and its Translation Studies
Mu Dan Ting, adapted from promptbook Bridal Du Longing for Love Returns in Spirit Form, is a great dramatic romance in Chinese classics. It is also a literary genre called chuanqi (a form of traditional Chinese operatic drama with a cavalcade of scenes), which peaked during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Since its birth in 1597, the magnum opus has gained great currency from both common people and literati. For example, Lu Tiancheng, a renowned dramatist and dramatic critic in the Late Ming Dynasty, extols Mu Dan Ting was “for the future generation for its numerous wits and new inventions” (Wang Rongpei, 2000: 43).
