Interpreting and Translation, Foreign Language School, Southwest Jiaotong University, China
Email: 130317711@qq.com
Manuscript received March 21, 2024; revised April 19, 2024; accepted May 6, 2024; published July 19, 2024
Abstract—James Legge, a famous British sinologist in the 19th century, translated
The She King three times in nine years, and he translated
The She King into English for the first time, making great contributions to the English translation of Chinese classics. The three versions of
The She King present different characteristics, so this study selects the 40 poems in Legge’s 1871 prose version, the 1876 rhymed version of The Odes in
The She King, and the 38 poems in the 1879 selected translations on religious themes as the main objects of study, analyzes the translation modifications at the macro and micro levels in the retranslation of
The She King to further explore the Legge’s translation. The reasons for Legge’s retranslation of
The She King mainly in terms of changes in identity, adjustments in one's own religious thoughts and poetic cognition, and the care for readers. This kind of revisions and retranslations facilitated the wide dissemination and process of classics.
Keywords—
The She King or
The Book of Poetry,
The Odes; retranslation, translation revision
[PDF]
Cite: Peishan Li, "A Study on the Translation Revision of The She King Retranslated by James Legge—Taking the English Translation of Ode as the Analysis Center," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 343-346, 2024.