On The Translator's Subjectivity From The Perspective Of George Steiner's Translation Theory

The traditional studies on translation have been prescriptive and source-text oriented for a long time. Besides, translation studies have mainly been focused on translation nature, translation criteria and translation techniques not only in Eastern countries but also in Western countries. The above research often ignores the studies on translators and thereby makes the translators'status marginalized. However, the Pragmatic Turn in the 1970s in Western philosophy and the Cultural Turn in the 1990s have expanded the field of the translation studies, and the studies on the subject of translation have been attracting more and more focus of people. Therefore, the subjectivity of translators has naturally become a new research topic that is paid more and more attention by the scholars and theorists in the field of translation.The relevant theory of hermeneutics is one of the most important perspectives used to study the subjectivity of translators in the field of China's translation study. After a brief introduction to the hermeneutic theory, the author outlines the famous theory—the Fourfold Translation Motion Theory, put forward by the representative of hermeneutics, George Steiner. George Steiner holds that there are four movements in the process of translation, namely, initiative trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution. Apparently, George Steiner's Fourfold Translation Motion Theory is closely connected with the subjectivity of the translator. The translator's trust towards the source text should come first because"All understanding, and the demonstrative statement of understanding which is translation, starts with an act of trust."(Steiner, 2001: 312) After the translator's trust is aggression, that is to say, the following move of the translator is incursive and extractive. The third movement is incorporation. The meaning and the form of the source text are brought into the target language, which is already full of its own words and meanings. George Steiner thinks that, after the translator'aggression and incorporation of the original works, the loss for the source text is inevitable, so the restitution is a vital step during the process of translation. Thus, we can know that George Steiner's fourfold translation motion is related to the subjectivity of translators. The fourfold translation motion, that is, trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution, all emphasize the manifestation of the translator's subjectivity.Based on George Steiner's Fourfold Translation Motion Theory and with Tess of the d'Urbervilles translated by Zhang Guruo as the case study, the author of this thesis uses the qualitative analysis to specifically analyze how Zhang Guruo's subjectivity displays during the process of translating Tess of the d'Urbervilles. The author wants to prove that the subjectivity of translators runs through the whole process of translation and plays an important part in the translation effect.In addition to the introduction and the conclusion, this thesis is composed of three main chapters.As the beginning of the research, the introduction part briefly introduces the background of the selected title, the theoretical basis, the studying method adopted in this thesis, the significance of this thesis and the basic structure of this thesis. Chapter One is the literature review which states the status of translators and the studies on the translator's subjectivity at home and abroad. At the same time, the author also provides the connotations of some terms related to the subjectivity of the translator, for example, subject and subjectivity in philosophy, subject of translation and translator's subjectivity and the manifestation of the translator's subjectivity. Chapter Two presents the theoretical basis of this thesis. At first, the author gives a brief introduction to hermeneutics and then expounds the subjectivity of the translator in the light of philosophical hermeneutics and mainly discusses the George Steiner's fourfold translation motion: trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution, together with the relationship between the fourfold translation motion and the subjectivity of the translator. In the third chapter, the author first gives a brief introduction to the two versions of Tess of the d'Urbervilles that one is in English, and the other is in Chinese translated by Zhang Guruo. Then the author uses George Steiner's Fourfold Translation Motion Theory to analyze the translation of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. Under the guidance of George Steiner's Fourfold Translation Motion Theory, the author will focus on the aspects of Zhang's trust in Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Zhang's incorporation of Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Zhang's aggression in and restitution of Tess of the d'Urbervilles in his translation, which will show Zhang's subjectivity specifically. The Conclusion is a summary of the whole thesis.From the above analysis, we can know that the translator's subjectivity is the most important factor in the process of translating. At the same time, he or she should give full play to his or her subjectivity when translating, which also serves as one of the important reasons why a translation could become well-received and successful. The significance of the study is that it sheds a new light on translation, especially on translation study and translation criticism, and its focus on the translator's subjectivity systematically will offer referential meaning for the later research.