摘 要

本文主要研究在读者接受理论视角下《傲慢与偏见》中的婚恋观，启发对当今时代婚恋观的思考以及对外国文学作品解读的新视角。虽然国内外已经对《傲慢与偏见》的研究已经非常成熟，但从接受美学视角的解读仍然较为稀缺，从作者角度解析的研究居多。本文的创新之处在于将从接受美学的角度进行分析，再通过研究读者期待的满足与否，解读《傲慢与偏见》的恋爱观和婚姻观，体会《傲慢与偏见》在读者接受视角下的新魅力。这种不同视角的解读恰是前期研究所忽视的因素，若能有效认识到读者作为主体对文学作品解读的影响，并以此探索文学作品超出其本身的价值，将有助于对外国文学作品研究的发展，为文学作品的研究注入新的生机。

关键词：《傲慢与偏见》；婚恋观；读者接受理论

Abstract

This thesis aims at analyzing the views on love and marriage in Pride and Prejudice from the perspective of reception theory. It is expected to produce the reconsideration on foreign literary works from a new perspective of study orientation. Although there are already relevant studies of Pride and Prejudice at home and abroad, the research focuses were generally put on the perspective of readers, and the research methods used were mostly from author’s perspective. This thesis explores the satisfaction of reader’s expectation to discuss the love and marriage view of Pride and Prejudice from the angle of reception theory, experience the new charm of Pride and Prejudice from a new perspective eventually. With the effective recognition of the influence from reader’s status on literary works and the cultivation of the values and cultivate values beyond their own worth, it will be conducive to domestic research on foreign literature.

Key Words: Pride and Prejudice; views of love and marriage; reception theory

Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review 3

2.1 Previous Study on Pride and Prejudice 3

2.2 Theoretical Framework of Reception Theory 4

3 Emotional View of Love and Marriage 7

3.1 Elizabeth and Darcy 7

3.2 Jane and Bingley 8

4 Rational View of Love and Marriage 9

4.1 Charllotte and Mr. Collins 9

4.2 Lydia and Wickham 10

4.3 Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet 10

5 Conclusion 12

References 14

Acknowledgements 15

1 Introduction

“Ms. Austen was 42 years old as she died. Of her six novels, Pride and Prejudice is the best. Although there are so many fashionable novels have been forgotten, or just were left to scholars to study, Pride and Prejudice can still give readers a fresh touch. It deserves readers’ sympathy if it is translated into Chinese.” said by Mr. Liang Shiqiu in Yi Shi Dairy on April 10, 1935. In spite of so many love novels had been flashing in the course of history, Pride and Prejudice lives on the world for its unique charm. Its author, Jane Austen, becomes world-renowed for her six love novels. She never got married during her whole life, but she has a deep and fragile feeling towards love, which is the core of her stories. This book depicts the love and marriage of the middle-class and reflects the conservative and closed British village life and social conditions in the late 18th century and the early 19th century. It is listed as one of the top ten novels in the world by Somerset Maugham, the British novelist and dramatist.

Pride and Prejudice caused great repercussions in British society at that time, and it became the epitome of Austen after that. Her book Pride and Prejudice is number two in the list of the 100 most beloved works of British literature till now. After entering China in the 20th century, it was translated by many famous translators and spread widely. Women's independent thoughts and equal and free views on love and marriage in this book have exerted profound influence on Chinese society. To this day, the search for pride and prejudice still continues.

This thesis is going to analyze the satisfaction of reader’s expectation to discuss the love and marriage view of Pride and Prejudice from the angle of reception theory Under the view of reception aesthetics theory, the reader’s acceptance process shows great importance. Different readers will hold different opinions on the same works. The difference of Chinese culture and western culture causes different understanding of Pride and Prejudice. Since Pride and Prejudice came to China, it has been overwhelmingly welcomed by Chinese readers for its dramatic plot and various opinions on love reflected by different couples. Under the interpretation of Chinese readers, it conveys much more meaning than the original author’s. Most studies on Pride and Prejudice discuss from Austen’s perspective. However, this dissertation will not only analyze from the traditional perspective but from the perspective of reception aesthetics theory. Moreover, in the end of the paper, these two are going to be compared to get a conclusion to help us discuss the real charm of Pride and Prejudice. We will reanalysis the causes of Chinese readers’ marriage view towards Pride and Prejudice to promote the cultural exchanges between China and Britain and Chinese readers understanding towards English literary works.

This paper will analyze from the following structural framework. First of all, as the first chapter, the introduction part mainly introduces Pride and Prejudice, the writing story behind it, the ideas that Austen tried to express in this novel, and the great success of the book after its release. In the last paragraph, a detailed explanation of the paper's outline is given to help the reader understand it better. In the second chapter, the literature review, is divided into two parts: the first part is the previous study on Pride and Prejudice, especially how Chinese scholars study and spread it; the second part will introduce the theory of reception, including the content, development and application of reception aesthetics. In chapters 3 and 4, we will discuss the concept of marriage in Pride and Prejudice. First, we divide the views on marriage into two types, emotional or rational, and then discuss them in the next two chapters from the perspective of reception theory. We will re-examine the views on marriage from the perspective of contemporary Chinese readers and take readers' expectations as the standard, and try to draw new conclusions. The third chapter mainly introduces emotional views of marriage, and take Elizabeth and Darcy, Jane and Bingley as examples. Chapter 4 mainly introduces rational views of marriage, and takes Charlotte and Mr. Collins, Lydia and Wickham, Mr. Bennet and Mrs. Bennet as examples. In the final chapter of conclusion, we will summarize the marriages in Pride and Prejudice from two perspectives.

2 Literature Review

2.1Previous Study of Pride and Prejudice

Many scholars have studied Pride and Prejudice. Since it came to China, it has influences Chinese readers’ view on love and marriage. In May 1935, the Chinese translation of Pride and Bigotry was published by Da Xue Press, it was renamed Pride and Prejudice then. It was translated by Dong Zhongchi, preface by Mr. Liang Shiqiu. According to the research of the scholar Ye Xin, A Guide to Study Tours in Scotland, published in 1908 mentioned that there are four textbooks are assigned to English grammar in the Scottish University entrance exam, one of which is Austen's Emma. Nine years later, Wei Yi said in his Biography of Famous Western Novelists: “Austen, one of English novelist…is famous for four kinds of novels.” He was well command of English, but But he quoted Austen's works in English instead of Chinese. As Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813, it was named First Impression which was quoted from Cecilia by British female novelist Bonham, one of Austen’s most famous books. The original sentence was that “Dr List said: everything about this mishap was the result of pride and prejudice.” Austen had no intention of making Darcy a symbol of pride, hence she added “prejudice”. As to whether Prejudice can be rendered as "Prejudice", it is quite debatable.

At about the same time, the Commercial Press released another Chinese translation. It was translated by Yang Bin, prefaced by Wu Mi. With the current translation method, the translation is called “傲慢与偏见”. Her father was open-minded at that time and allowed his children learn the new things. In 1922, Yang Jizheng changed her name to Yang Bin, and was admitted by Bao Ling school for girls ran by American church in Nanchang. Yang Bin was baptized soon. According to the Review of the Two Translations of Pride and Prejudice, Yang Bin may had already translated Pride and Prejudice in 1927 and finished it in 1928.The reason why Yang Bin likes Pride and Prejudice may be the influence from American missionary Bao Guisi. At that time, there were no Chinese teachers in the English department of Yenching University. So they had to hire Wu Mi from Tsinghua University to teach. Wu Mi listed Pride and Prejudice as one of the four must-read books which made him the earliest promoter of Pride and Prejudice in China. Commercial Press called Wu Mi "head school" when they the published Pride and Prejudice. Wu Mi's preface was written in 1931, and Dong's translation was started in 1933. The “head school” was Zhang Guruo, a Peking University professor and a famous translator. Perhaps because of him, Hu Shi and Liang Shiqiu supported Dong's translation. Which of the two translations comes first? According to the Review of the Two Translations of Pride and Prejudice, Yang's translation was completed earlier and of better quality. For example, Pride and Prejudice opens with dry humor, Yang translation is that: “这是普遍的真理，一个有钱的单身汉，一定想要位太太。”and Dong’s translation is that：“一个单身汉，有丰富财产，必须要个妻子，这是一般人承认的真理。”