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Odor Erin_MA Thesis_FINAL.pdf (981.13 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

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Re-versing the Eighth Genius: Invoking Partnerships and Poetics to Translate the Huajian ji

Odor, Erin M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417015192

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, East Asian Studies.
The Huajian ji (Story of the Flowery Notepaper, also known as Di ba caizi shu, the Eighth Book of Genius) is a Cantonese narrative poem of sixty chapters dating to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Belonging to the “scholar-beauty” romance genre, it chronicles the love between a young scholar and two talented maidens. This project--a translation of five chapters of the Huajian ji--aims to reproduce the poetry, visual descriptions, and sentimentality of the source text for a non-specialist, English-speaking audience. With translator Eugene Nida’s concept of “dynamic equivalence” as a guiding principle, the translation employs English ballad meter, invoking the literary ballad’s oral-derived history, generic constraints, and prosody, all of which bear striking resemblance to the poetics of the Huajian ji. Situated within the genealogy of Chinese-English translation practice and grounded in translation theory, the project explores the boundaries and possibilities of a domesticating, dynamic equivalence approach to literary translation while introducing one of the finest examples of early Cantonese vernacular literature to modern, English-speaking audiences.
Patricia Sieber, PhD (Advisor)
Nina Berman, PhD (Committee Member)
Marjorie K. M. Chan, PhD (Committee Member)
94 p.
Asian Literature; Comparative Literature; Foreign Language; Literature
translation; Chinese literature; Cantonese; wooden-fish books; versification; ballad; Books of Genius; scholar-beauty fiction

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Odor, E. M. (2014). Re-versing the Eighth Genius: Invoking Partnerships and Poetics to Translate the Huajian ji [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417015192

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Odor, Erin. Re-versing the Eighth Genius: Invoking Partnerships and Poetics to Translate the Huajian ji. 2014. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417015192.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Odor, Erin. "Re-versing the Eighth Genius: Invoking Partnerships and Poetics to Translate the Huajian ji." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1417015192

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1417015192
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.