The Reproduction of Helen's Practical Rhetorical Value in English from the Perspective of Pragmatics in Bai Juyi's—"Song of Everlasting Regret"

This paper takes the translations of A Tale of Han's Helen (hereinafter Han's Helen) by Yuanchong Xu and Guojin Hou, addressing the following questions: 1) Are the pragma-rhetoric values of various aspects of Han's Helen realized in Xu's and Hou's version? and which one excels? 2) How can the two English versions of Han's Helen benefit the English translation of classical Chinese poetry in terms of the realization of various pragma-rhetoric values, as well as its translation evaluation? The study employs qualitative analysis based on the Pragma-rhetoric Translatology Principle (PRTP) and quantitative comparison using the Pragma-markedness Equivalence Principle (PMEP). We find that the pragma-rhetoric values of Han's Helen are to a great extent realized in the two versions. Under scrutiny, though, Xu prefers literal and liberal translation, quite in line with the form and content of the original text. By contrast, Hou opts for recreation of the poetic form by various rhetorical devices, without sacrificing much of the ST's meaning, hence greater tension and vividness between the lines. As seen, a good translation of classical Chinese poetry requires not only accumulation of literary and rendering skills but also a high sensitivity to and equivalent realization of pragma-rhetorical acts.