On the English Translation of Mourning Poems from the Perspective of Reception Aesthetics—A Case Study of Su Shi’s <i>Jiang Cheng Zi</i>

悼亡诗是诗歌题材之一，通常表达生者对逝者的悼念。这些诗歌往往情感真挚，能够引起读者的共鸣。接受美学的主要观点包括：强调读者在文学活动中的中心地位；重视读者的期待视野，即读者对作品所具有的一种先在的理解和期待；突出文本的“空白”与“不确定性”，认为这些是促使读者积极参与文本意义构建的重要因素。本文将从接受美学视角出发，对苏轼的悼亡诗《江城子·乙卯正月二十日夜记梦》(以下称《江城子》)杨宪益与伯顿·华兹生(Burton Watson)的英译本进行对比分析，试探讨国内悼亡诗英译的翻译技巧。Mourning poem is a poetic genre, which typically expresses the living’s lamentation for the dead. These poems are often characterized by their genuine emotion, capable of resonating deeply with readers. The key tenets of Reception Aesthetics include: emphasizing the central role of the reader in literary activity; valuing the reader’s “horizon of expectations” (Erwartungshorizont), i.e., the reader’s pre-existing understanding and expectations of a work; highlighting the “Gaps” (Leerstellen) and “Indeterminacies” (Unbestimmtheiten) within the text, considered crucial factors in prompting the reader’s active participation in constructing meaning. This paper will conduct a comparative analysis of Yang Xianyi’s and Burton Watson’s English translations of Su Shi’s mourning poem Jiang Cheng Zi: Recording My Dream on the Night of the Twentieth of the First Month of the Year Yimao (hereinafter referred to as Jiang Cheng Zi) from the perspective of reception aesthetics, aiming to explore translation techniques for rendering Chinese mourning poems into English language.