Obliqueness and foregroundedness: English translations of erotic descriptions in the Mudan Ting

Abstract

This paper compares and contrasts three English versions of The Peony Pavilion, with a view to exploring the strategies adopted in the three translations in respect to their treatment of erotic passages in the Chinese dramatic masterpiece Mudan Ting. It is found that while all three translators generally respect the integrity of the Chinese source text, they demonstrate different trajectories in terms of their translational dispositions. While Zhang Guangqian demonstrates signs of attenuating sexually sensitive material in his translation, Wang Rongpei has the tendency to translate such material in a register that is closer to the contemporary English vernacular than to the more poetic register that characterizes the original Chinese text. Cyril Birch differs from the two Chinese translators by faithfully preserving the poetic register of the erotic passages, to the extent that a foreign feel is often evident in his translation. By locating these findings against the background of previous studies, the article hypothesizes that the strategy used in translating erotic material in literature is a function of the presupposed acceptability of such material by the target readership.