Translating Intertextual Overtones: With Emphasis on English Translation of Classic Chinese Poems

Intertextual overtone is a kind of additional implication engendered from intertexts when a reader’s sentiment or imagination is triggered by an intertext-related text the reader is reading. Intertextuality is one of the most prominent literary features of Chinese classic poems. It greatly influences the implicational spectrum of the poems, bringing about extralinguistic overtones, which are often elusive or difficult to understand, let alone translating them. This paper analyzes different overtones stemming from intertexts appeared in Chinese classic poems, arguing that these overtones are, to a great extent, poetic “eyes” or poetic “souls” of the poems, and should be carefully handled in translation.