Reception Theory and Poem Translation

Literary fuzziness is one of the characteristics of literature. It leads to what is called in Reception Theory ¡°indeterminacies¡± and ¡°gaps¡± in literary works. According to Reception Theory, a literary work is full of ¡°indeterminacies¡± or ¡°gaps¡±, depending for their effect on the reader¡¯s interpretation. Thus a kind of interaction between the writer and the reader is achieved. Moreover, since each individual reader, during the process of reading, resorts to imagination and one¡¯s unique ¡°expectation horizon¡± which is based on social background, knowledge and aesthetics needs, the interpretation of the same text might vary from one to another.
> Reception Theory can be applied to the field of translation to understand why the translation of the same literary work can be so different. As the reader of the original text, the translators would interpret the ¡°gaps¡± or ¡°blanks¡± caused by literary fuzziness in the text according to each one¡¯s ...