Abstract

“Guan Ju”, as the first poem of Shijing, has long been taken as a classic and been studied and translated by scholars both at home and abroad. The thesis will conduct an analysis over Pound’s translation of “Guan Ju” from deconstructionist perspective. His translation has aroused a fierce debate since it was published; some critics praise highly of the creativity of his translation; however, others blame him severely for the grammatical and language errors. They think that Pound adds too much of his understanding in translation, and that his translation is not faithful to the original one. On the one hand, Pound emphasizes the preservation of the poem’s essential meaning and poetic effect in the target culture. On the other hand, deconstruction theory promotes to break down the logocentrism in the traditional translation theory, and emphasizes the importance of translator’s subjectivity. The purpose of translation is to transmit the essence of poem to the target readers and contribute to the afterlife of poems in the target language. Therefore, the deconstructionist translation theory is similar to Pound’s translation theory to some extent. Based on the deconstructionist analysis on Pound’s translation of “Guan Ju”, this thesis comes to the conclusion that Pound’s version is not mistranslation. It proves the explanation and guidance of deconstructionist translation theory on literary translation; as a result, translators should break down the traditional monism and centrism in translation, emphasize the subjectivity of translator, and take the target culture into consideration. At the same time, it also provides a new research angle to the scholars of Pound and lovers of literature in our country.

Keywords: Ezra Pound; “Guan Ju”; deconstructionist translation theory; language; culture