Translator In The Limelight

Traditional translation theories, at home and abroad view translation as an activity of secondary status and the translator's only task is to render the faithful reproduction of the original. Any creativity on the part of translator could be regarded as betrayal to the original and should never be allowed. The theories of hermeneutics and Reception Aesthetics have provided great enlightenment for contemporary translation studies as well as literary criticism. Translator, as the first privileged reader of the original text, is by no means a passive recipient; instead he is an active subject in the interpretation of original meaning and the production of the target text. The involvement of translator's subjectivity is indispensable for any successful literary translation. The theories of hermeneutics and Reception Aesthetics have provided solid theoretical foundation for translator's subjectivity in literary translation.With inspiration from translation theories and translation practice, the author of this thesis carries out a systematic study on the translator's subjectivity in literary translation through the case study of three Chinese versions of Gone with the Wind.To begin with, the author gives a brief introduction to literary translation and concludes that the involvement of translator's subjectivity is a prerequisite for successful literary translation. Then, the author provides the theoretical basis for the translator's subjectivity, that is, the theories of hermeneutics and reception aesthetics. The author introduces the development, the main representatives, the important concepts, and their enlightenment on the translator's subjectivity in literary translations. Then the author elaborates the reasons, manifestations and restrictions of the translator's subjectivity in literary translation. Then the author employs the case study of the three Chinese versions of Gone with the Wind After the general introduction to the writer, the novel and its Chinese versions, the author makes a comparative study of the three Chinese versions with concrete examples taken from the texts to demonstrate the translator's subjectivity in literary translation, which includes three perspectives, namely, the translation motives of the three versions, the translation strategies of the three versions, and the language styles of the three versions. As to the last perspective, the comparison will include the translator's subjectivity in adapting diction and sentence structures. In the end the author reiterates that under no circumstance is the involvement of the translator's subjectivity a manifestation of entire liberty, but rather an activity within a certain boundary.