Creative Treason Of The Translator In Literary Translation

Creative treason remains a controversial topic for a long period of time but now it is deemed worthy of study by an increasing number of translation theorists in our present translation studies. Traditional translation theory holds that the translator should seek a freedom from the tyranny of subjectivity and realize the exact equivalence between the original and the translated version. However, the phenomena which the term "creative treason" indicates have made frequent appearances in literary translation long before the very term "creative treason" was raised.The first chapter in this thesis mainly deals with the definitions of creative treason in its broad sense and narrow sense as well as the close relationship between creative treason and literary translation. Creative treason, in a broad sense, is the form of the existence of all translation activities in that the original is rendered in a new linguistic system and obtains a new readership and its second life. In a strict sense, creative treason refers to the deviation of the translation from the original which results from the translator's purposeful efforts, which serves as the starting point of our discussion. The challenge posed by the original text because of the uncertainty of its exact meaning and by the respective goals for which original authors want to strive determines that creative treason usually finds easier access to literary translation than to other types of translation.The second chapter is devoted to the relationship between the translator's creative treason and his or her visibility in translation. For one thing, the translator is the most important subject and carrier of creative treason in literary translation and to a large extent, the translator's creative treason influences creative treason by receptors and by reception contexts; for another, creative treason of the translator justifies and reinforces the visibility of the translator in his or her translation.By employing a theoretical framework based on Andre Lefevere's view on the influences of poetics, ideology and patronage on translation, the last chapter discusses the inevitability of creative treason of the translator. It is the unavoidable influence of the translator's poetics and ideology and the respective needs which patrons want to satisfy through translation that call for creative treason of the translator in translation.