A Study on the English Translation of Shupu From the Perspective of Thick Translation

Abstract

As an integrated part of its traditional culture, Chinese calligraphy exerts positive implications in the “going global” of Chinese culture. Recent years have seen increasing studies on Shupu written by Sun Guoting, a representative book on Chinese calligraphy history. Under the guidance of Anthony Appiah’s thick translation theory, taking Pietro’s English version of Shupu as an example, this paper will explore two categories of thick translation strategies in the English version of Shupu: the explicit strategy including footnotes and bracketing and the implicit strategy by in-text interpretation and amplification, in the hope of verifying the feasibility and applicability of thick translation in cultural classic translation and its significance for Chinese cultural transmission.