简析埃兹拉·庞德对于中国古代文学经典的误读

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摘要二十世纪二十年代, 埃兹拉·庞德开创了意象主义运动。他提出意象主义诗歌创作的三原则，并将许多中国古代文学经典翻译成英文。但是，由于受到西方传统语言哲学和文学传统的影响，庞德的翻译充满了误读。本文试图从一个新的角度，即美国文学传统的角度，对庞德的误读进行解读。首先，该文将庞德的误读划分成三类，分别是对汉字、文学作品和文化内涵的误读。然后，该文将讨论造成误读的原因，即西方语言哲学和美国文学传统造成的误读。接下来，该文讨论了庞德的误读对于美国现代文学的影响。最后，该文得出结论，庞德对于中国古代文学经典的误读只是美国文学传统之内的事情。在今后的研究中，应更多的关注误读在跨文化交际中的影响。49936

毕业论文关键词：误译；埃兹拉·庞德；中国古代文学经典

Abstract The 1920s, Ezra Pound initiated the Imagist Literature Movement. He put forward three principles of Imagist poetry creation and also translated many Chinese literary classics into English. But in fact, his translations were full of misreading, which was due to the influence of western traditional philosophy of language and the American literary traditions. This thesis tries to analyze the causes of Pound’s misunderstandings from a different viewpoint - American literary tradition. First and foremost, it classifies the misunderstandings into three types, that are misreading of Chinese characters, Chinese literary works as well as Chinese culture. Then, it discusses the reasons of misinterpretations: the influence of western philosophy of language and American literary tradition. Next, it introduces the impact of Pound’s misunderstandings on the American modern literature. And finally, this thesis draws the conclusion that Pound’s misreading is just following the tradition of American literature. So in the future research, more efforts can be focused on the influence of misreadings on cross-cultural communication.

Key words: misreading; Ezra Pound; the Chinese literary classics

On Ezra Pound’s Misreading of Chinese Literary Classics

Contents

摘要 i

Abstract ii

I. Introduction 1

Ⅱ. Pound, Imagism and His Poetry 3

2.1 An Introduction to Ezra Pound 3

2.2 Imagism and Pound’s Poetic Theory 3

Ⅲ. Pound’s Misreading of Chinese Literary Classics 5

3.1 Pound and Chinese Literary Classics 5

3.2 Misunderstandings of Chinese Characters 5

3.3 Misinterpretations of Chinese Literary Works 6

3.4 Mistranslations of Chinese Culture 8

Ⅳ.Reasons for Pound’s Misunderstandings of Chinese Literary Classics 9

4.1 Influences of Western Philosophy of Language 9

4.2 Influences of American Literary Tradition 10

Ⅴ.The Influence of Ezra Pound’s Misinterpretations on American Literature 11

Ⅵ. Conclusion 12

Bibliography 14

Acknowledgements 15

I. Introduction

The 1920s, a decade just after the end of the WWⅠ, had witnessed an earth-shattering change in American society. America earned a large amount of fortune in the war so there appeared an economic boom. Technology also made great strides in development. Movie and music, especially the Jazz music had been available to anybody. Women demanded the same social freedom as men enjoyed. The whole society presented a scene of prosperity and luxury, which American modernist writer Fitzgerald called “the Jazz Age”. But at the same time, the romantic notion of the war that it could bring democracy had been entirely destructed. The younger generation who once had the idealism towards the war was disenchanted and their lives were rubbed off meanings, so step by step they became increasingly radical. An overall reformation was deadly needed in this anarchic and fragmented modern society. In the field of art and literature, men of letters viewed that traditional forms of representation no longer met the need of modern reality and that a new way of expression was eagerly needed. They had conducted much experimentation, among which the Imagism was the most excellent. Ezra Pound was the leader of the Imagism who initiated the new poetry and considered it his mission to save the country’s civilization from a total wasteland. He lost trust in Christianity and Greek culture, thus he turned west and found remedy in Chinese characters and literary classics, especially in Confucius. He had translated a lot of Chinese literary classics into English. But in fact, Pound didn’t understand Chinese, and all his understanding of Chinese poetry and other literary classics came from the articles and manuscripts of Ernest Fenollosa, an American sinologist. Thus his translations were full of misunderstandings.