Abstract：Hongloumeng, a classic in China, enjoys a worldwide fame due to its rich and varied content，especially its verses. More and more researches showed concern to this novel when Hawkes’ and Yang Xianyi’s translated versions came about in the 1980s. Meanwhile multitudinous scholars did studies on two translated versions in light of numerous fields, including linguistics, translation, cross-culture communication, etc. However, few researchers paid considerable attention to the reader’s participation in the reading process. Accordingly, this paper mainly explores the difference of several poems from two translated versions and does a comparative study. Due to the length of the thesis, poems chosen are mainly from the first 80 chapters as data to be studied in this research. Reception Theory, including horizon of expectations, blanks and indeterminacy and fusion of horizons are applied in this essay. Different from those previous text-oriented theories, this essay chooses Reception Theory as the base to study two versions of Hongloumeng. Eventually, this essay comes to the conclusion that translated versions and foreign culture cannot be well understood by target readers without translators’ consideration of readers.

Key words: poetry translation; reception theory; Hongloumeng

CONTENTS

ABSTRACT

中文摘要

Chapter OneINTRODUCTION-1

Chapter TwoLITERATURE REVIEW-3

2.1 Researches of Hongloumeng at Home-3

2.2 Researches of Hongloumeng Abroad-4

Chapter ThreeRECEPTION THEORY-5

3.1 A Brief Introduction to Reception Theory-5

3.2 Main Concepts of Reception Theory-6

3.2.1 Horizon of Expectations-6

3.2.2 Blanks and Indeterminacy-8

3.2.3 Fusion of Horizons-8

3.3 Reception Theory and Poetry Translation-9

Chapter FourA COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE TWO ENGLISH VERSIONS OF HONGLOUMENG-11

4.1 A Brief Introduction toHongloumeng and the Two Versions-11

4.2 Horizon of Expectations in the Two Versions-12

4.3 Blanks and Indeterminacy in the Two Versions-14

4.4 Fusion of Expectations in the Two Versions-15

4.5 Summary-18

Chapter Five CONCLUSION-19

REFERENCES-22