Surviving Under Power-On Translator's Subjectivity In The Framework Of Feminist Translation Theory

The thriving of feminism from late last century has greatly overturned many patriarchy standards. All the social practices are means that mould women to satisfy the expectation of the patriarchy value system. One's gender is culturally determined and constructed. In order to achieve equality with men, feminists have experienced several stages from winning the political rights and finally realized the fundamental oppression they are suffering is from language, which is created and manipulated most by men.Translator's identity of being a creative subject has been neglected in the traditional "source-oriented" translation theories. She/He is an invisible one who lives under the shadow of the author, having no feelings and personal backgrounds. The ideal translator is completely transparent and unaffected by neither the external nor the internal factors like the historical and cultural environment she/he lives in and her/his own personality and characteristics. Thus, translation is reproduction, either "pretty" or "faithful", which is marginalized and feminized.The inferior status both women and translation are in forms the natural foundation of their combination. Women's historical connection with translation provides their combination the necessary prerequisite. They are declaring their own voices in the hierarchy of either the patriarchy value system or traditional source-text-oriented translation theory through powerfully overthrow the suppression imposed on them. Feminism and translation become combined, interact and co-influence with each other. From the perspective of gender studies, the feminist translation theory has broadened both the theories and practices of the traditional translation studies, which has reinterpreted the fidelity of translation and the subjectivity of translator. And consequently, feminist translation theory is constructed and has greatly expanded the scope of translation studies. For feminist translators, their dual inferiority of being a female and a translator at the same time asks for attention on their subjectivity more urgently.The feminist translation theory takes translation as rewriting, which rewrites the identity of the translator, the translation and the female. The fidelity in translation is not towards the author and the original text any more. Instead, it should be directed towards the writing project in which the writer and the translator both participate. The translator's creativity inserts the culture of the target language with no less social influence than the original to the source language. The advocacy of translator's subjectivity has severely challenged the dominating theory in the field of translation studies.Feminist translation theory has justified translator's subjectivity, admitting their freedom in choosing what to translate by using what translating strategies and methods. Consequently, together with the enhancement of women's status, the identity of translation and translator is recognized and revalued. The range and scope of translation have been greatly extended. It is no longer an isolated field of research, but an interdisciplinary study closely connected and affected by many other disciplines. But the extent of freedom is still limited. The translator enjoys the right to advocate her/his subjectivity in translating the source text, but still being affected and constrained by various elements. Being a forming theory, feminist translation theory needs more time and practice.Based on analysis of some typical examples of woman-handling the source text, the present study proves that feminist translation theory has rationalized translator's subjectivity, which is inevitable and has never disappeared. By doing so, this thesis hopes to shed some light on the introduction and study of this translation branch to China.