Historicity Of Literary Translation

A source text is a product with time marks, so it is with the translated versions. Translations produced in different times always bear the marks of their own age, a reflection of a specific socio-cultural life. This thesis will study the historicity of literary translation under the framework of modern hermeneutics from three perspectives: the interpretation of the original text, translation strategies, and the language of the translated versions.Modern hermeneutics has provided translation studies with a new perspective. Inspired by modern hermeneutics and its views on translation, this thesis chooses three Chinese versions of Jane Eyre for a case study. Of course, each version has its own advantages, but the focus is to demonstrate the historical nature of translation.In the thesis, achievements about the researches on historicity of translation will be summed up. Foucault's theory of power and discourse reveals that translation is a rewriting of an original text manipulated in many aspects by target culture's network of power. Heidegger and Gadamer put forward the conception of "historicity of understanding", which laid theoretical foundation for later research. In fact, until now the historicity of translation has for a long time failed to come to the attention of the domestic translation theorists and few researches have been made on this topic. Therefore, inspired by the previous researches at home and abroad, the thesis will make a tentative study on this field, hoping to provide some references for future translation studies.Through a deep exploration of the socio-cultural backgrounds of three versions and some examples cited, some conclusions are drawn in the end: (1) The historicity of translators' "prejudice" determines the historicity of the translated versions; (2) The historicity of literary translation determines the necessity of retranslation; (3) Researchers should hold a historical view of translation criticism. (4) The historicity of translation doesn't deny the objectivity of translation. Translation is a unity of objectivity and historicity.Since the translated versions are a reflection of the historicity of both the original text and the time the translators are living in, overemphasis on either of them will lead to pseudoclassicism or pseudomodernism. How can the translators reconcile the contradictions between the two? Further explorations should be conducted in future.