On Translator's Subjectivity

Translator, text and reader are three major factors in translation. Starting from the relationship between the three factors, this thesis, firstly, points out that the previous researchers fail to recognize translator's subjectivity correctly and appropriately in philological and structural translation study & practice, during which, the researchers of philological study consider from the artistic perspective that translator is an artistic subject with originality in his translation so much so that he can manipulate the original text while the researchers of structural study from linguistic aspect holds that translator's subjectivity is denied working in his translation so much so that he is a neutral subject in a certain value system. Then, this thesis, from the point of Phenomenology, Philosophical Hermeneutics, Reception Aesthetics, and Reader Criticism, argues that the translator, as a subject, establishes his active subjectivity in the process of translating as well as his interpretation of the source text; meanwhile, this thesis, from the macro-perspective of New Historicism, demonstrates that the translator is confined by a series of powers and discourses, such as specific social history, culture, ideology, ethics and religion so much so that the translator is a manipulated subject. Yet, lastly, this thesis points out that, in the macro-context of society, on one hand he is manipulated by the present powers and discourses under which he lives; on the other hand he is manipulating, which especially manifests in his11translation ambition and in his acute historical-awareness. We know that only a large number of translators with high historical-awareness and sharpening originality can we read a lot of good translations, which bring us most advanced intellectual achievements, and as a result, can our translation cause prosper in the long run.