The Translator's Subjectivity In Literary Self-translation From The Hermeneutic Perspective

Self-translation is a special form of translation in which the translation of an original work is conducted by the writer himself/herself. There is no lack of scholars who translate personally their own research papers or treatises for publishing in foreign magazines; however, this type of self-translation is considerably different from literary self-translation: the former is rather mechanical with conventional modes; while the latter demands the self-translator to convey the connotations and spirits of the original in another language at minimum loss. Due to the self-translator's thorough comprehension of his/her own works, usually s/he consciously adopts flexible means to achieve his/her translation purpose effectively, during the process of which the self-translator displays enormous subjectivity. In this thesis, the author is intended to focus on this type of literary self-translation exclusively.Since "the cultural turn" in 1970s, studies on translation have developed from centralization to diversification, noumenon to subject. Consequently studies on the translator's subjectivity from different perspectives have been highlighted. Hermeneutics, a theory of interpretation, provides a brand-new approach for the study of the translator's subjectivity in particular. Gadamer's principal views of "prejudice" and "fusion of horizons" bring the essence of literary translation into light and George Steiner's fourfold hermeneutic motion elucidates the translation process, all of which lay a solid theoretical foundation to the study of the translator's subjectivity in the literary translation. Ascribed to the overlap with the writer, the self-translator endowed with authoritative initiative and creativity, always enjoys more subjectivity in translation by comparison with the other-translator and often gives birth to masterpieces. Nevertheless, studies on self-translation at home and abroad mainly concern about special case studies and rarely take into consideration of the self-translator's subjectivity up to now.In view of the fact above, this thesis is to investigate Xiao Qian's subjectivity as a self-translator by analyzing his self-translations in light of Steiner's fourfold hermeneutic motion, namely, trust, aggression, incorporation and compensation, combined with Gadamer's core points of "historical interpretation", "prejudice" and "fusion of horizons" etc. Firstly, Xiao Qian invests great trust to his original works for complex reasons. Secondly, because of the difference of culture, religion and language, he bearing the TT-readers'prejudice in mind tries sedulously to approach and maximumly interprets the connotations and spirits of the originals, hoping for the achievement of the fusion of horizons. Simultaneously, when self-translating, Xiao Qian acting as the bilingual and bicultural mediator always actively incorporates the meaning and form to different degrees. These three movements are bound to lead to a certain loss in the aspects of language, culture, thoughts and the like of the original. Finally, Xiao Qian also has to apply all kinds of means to compensate, by which balance and transplant can be accomplished.On the grounds of careful study of Xiao Qian's self-translations, the author of this thesis investigates Xiao's subjectivity and constraints in self-translation, and finds out that self-translators enjoy more freedom of interpretation. Moreover, they effectively emend, enrich and embellish their original texts with the aid of self-translation. In the process, their subjectivity and creativity are played to the greatest extent. Meanwhile, self-translation liberates the translator's thoughts, making them realize that the mode of literary translation should be diverse and various proper translation methods may be tried. In this sense, it requires translation studies and translation standards shift from static prescriptive to dynamic descriptive. It also renders a new approach to the realization of "fidelity", to be specific, fidelity is an issue on degree, relative, dynamic and diverse, asking us to understand it philosophically and to break the fence of traditional dualism courageously for seeking the dynamic and harmonious balance in translation studies and practice.