A Study on the English Translation of Fond Memories of Peiping from the Perspective of Reception Aesthetics

Abstract

The prose Fond Memories of Peiping portrays the unique impression of Peijing of the Chinese writer Lao She, highlighting deep affection and attachment to his homeland, which is of high literary and aesthetic value. This paper discusses the application of reception aesthetics’ core concepts of “horizon of expectations”, “fusion of horizons” and “indeterminacy” in the translation of prose, which takes Mr. Zhang Peiji’s English translation of Fond Memories of Peiping as an example. It is found that Mr. Zhang Peiji’s employs amplification and free translation methods to deal with culture-loaded words and idioms to meet the readers’ expectations. Through the manipulation of rhetorical devices and the adaptation of sentence structures, the translated text is made more in line with the reading habits of the target language readers, thereby achieving “fusion of horizons”. Zhang Peiji demonstrates subjectivity in the translation process to deal with “indeterminacy” in the original text, which effectively preserves and conveys the aesthetic value of the original work.