On Retranslation

Retranslation of classics is not uncommon. The phenomenon has recently attracted considerable attention in China: the maturing study of retranslation is manifest in the appearance of both a great many retranslated works and a number of research papers. Still, intensive retranslation studies have not yet been conducted; rational and systematic research is urgently needed.Some scholars are studying retranslation from the perspective of the translator's function or subjectivity. Overemphasis on the translator's subjectivity and inattention to the intrinsic uncertainties of the original text do little to promote healthy development of retranslation study. Moreover, greater efforts should be made to examine the socio-cultural and socio-political context within which a particular retranslating activity takes place. Clearly, both the texts and translators are the products of their times and should be regarded as such. This paper endeavors, in accordance with translational theories like hermeneutics, aesthetic study and skopo theory, to assess the theoretical basis of retranslation's necessity and inevitability from four angles: text, translator, social culture and language.Each original text is characterized by openness: its meaning and intention can never be completely uncovered. Each translation is featured by an absence of perfection: it is by no means to be labeled flawless. Thus, openness of the original and never-perfection of the translated version provide different translators with opportunities to show their talents; and this entails the possibility of retranslation.In the process of translating, translators are supposed to exercise their subjective functions, so it is of importance to study the translator's subjectivity. Different from the general practice of introducing subjectivity in a hermeneutical way, the author here attempts to testify to the possibility and necessity of retranslation from an aesthetical perspective. (The translator's aesthetic value and faculty fall into the category of the translator's subjectivity.) In the retranslation of literary classics, when different translators face the same text, they are probably possessed of diverse aesthetic habits, view the literary work from different aesthetic perspectives, and finally produce differentiated translations. As such artistic recreation is virtually based...