Abstract: The Happy Prince is the most famous fairy tale of the English writer Oscar Wilde. Because of great changes in social fabric and the status of children’s literature, there are various Chinese versions of The Happy Prince since Zhou Zhuoren first introduced it into China in 1990. Gadamer’s three principles of “historicity of understanding”，“fusion of horizons”，“effective history” are effective in explaining the historicity of translated works.  This paper, based on Gadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics, compares three versions of The Happy Prince by Zhou Zuoren, Ba Jin and Su Fuzhong & Zhang Min from different perspectives and views the historicity of the three versions at both textual and lexical levels. The study proves the significance of retranslation of children’s literature and enriches the translation study of children’s literature.

Key words: Theory of Hermeneutics; The Happy Prince; Historicity; Children’s Literature

Contents

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction.1

1.1 Oscar Wilde and The Happy Prince1

  1.2 The Significance of the Study.1

2. Relevant Studies on The Happy Prince and Its Translations in China.2

2.1 The Perspective of Ideology.2

2.2 The Perspective of Rewriting Theory3-

2.3 The Perspective of Teleology3

3. Philosophical Hermeneutics as Theoretical Basis  .3

3.1 Historicity of Understanding.5

3.2 Fusion of Horizons.6

3.3 Effective History6

4. A Comparative Study of Three Versions from the Perspective of Hermeneutics.7

  4.1 The Three Chinese Versions.7

4.2 Comparison on Textual Level Based on Historicity of Understanding.7

4.3 Comparison on Lexical Level Based on Fusion of Horizons10

4.4 Comparison on Translation Purposes Based on Effective History17

5. Conclusion.18

References20