On Translators' Subjectivity From The Perspectives Of Hermeneutics And Aesthetics Of Reception

Traditional translation theories emphasize on the"equivalence"and"faithfulness"between the translated version and the source text. The writer and the source text are considered to be sacred and infrangible, while the role of the translator and the readers are ignored in literary translation. However, in the end of 1980s,"culture turn", which brought about new dimensions and approaches, appeared in translation studies. Then the translator's subjective role was accepted widely. Therefore, the source-oriented and equivalence-oriented translation approaches gradually give way to the target-oriented and culture-oriented approaches, which foreground the translator's role.Who is the subject of translation? How translators'subjectivity is represented in literary translation. Based on the theories of Hermeneutics and Aesthetics of Reception, this thesis is intended to discuss deeply on the translator's role and status in literary translation and represent the translator's subjectivity. Theoretically, Hermeneutics affirms the translator's active interpretation of the source text. The translator needs to fuse his/her historical horizon and the horizon expanded by the cross-cultural text continuously and circulate dialogues between the translator and the source text with prejudice to accomplish the translation task. According to Aesthetics of Reception, the translator is confronted with two receptive activities in the translating process. One is the communication between the translator and the original text and the other is dialogues between the target readers and the translated version. In translation activities, the translator must take the readers'existence into consideration to predict their receptive level and aesthetic taste. At first, this thesis introduces Hermeneutics and Aesthetics of Reception and reviews the characteristics and process of literary translation. Then, it introduces the concept of the subject of translation and translator's subjectivity. And also it analyzes the representation of the translator's initiative creativity in literary translation. Finally, by dint of the core notions of Hermeneutics and Aesthetics of Reception-fusion of horizon, prejudice and horizon of expectation, the author here takes examples to illustrate the representations of translators'subjectivity macroscopically.Hermeneutics and Aesthetics of Reception offer new perspectives to study translator's subjectivity in literary translation. The translator plays an indispensable role in the communication of cross-language and cross-culture. The translator's creative work not only widens the readers'horizons but also enriches the culture and language of the target language. With the guidance of new translation standards, the translator will get more space to translate the source text and to go on translation practice rather better. Many worldwide literatures can be widely spread and be endowed with new artistic and aesthetic value.