Translation of Earthliness: An Exploration of Translation Dislocation of Folk Language in Chin P'ing Mei in Late Ming Dynasty within the Framework of Aesthetic Reception

Abstract

As the first full-lenght satiric novel, Jin Ping Mei (Chin P'ing Mei), written by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng at the end of the Ming Dynasty, elaborates the social and worldly affairs comprehensively through vivid language and skillful usage of literary devices. Due to the richness of the folk language for the language forms, and the differences and great colloquial and regional characteristics to the Western readers in the geographical and time facets, for the purpose of reception in the target culture, the translator gives adjustment or modification to folk languages forms like dialect, slang, idiom, and proverbs, etc., which engenders certain translation dislocation to some extent. Through qualitative and comparative analyses, this paper aims to offer a preliminary exploration of the basic paradigm, causes, and construction process of the translation dislocation of the folk language in those two English translation versions of Jin Ping Mei from the four dimensions of readers' expectation horizons, aesthetic distance, integration of horizons, and the construction of respond-inviting structures under the perspective of aesthetic reception theory, so as to provide an avenue for English readers to delve into the peculiar translation dislocation of the folk language in the translation of Chinese classical works.