Comparative Analysis Of Two English Versions Of Wenxin Diaolong From The Perspective Of Translator’s Identity

Wenxin Diaolong is a convergence and culmination of ancient statements onliterature criticism. It was the single longest treatise in Chinese literary criticism up toits time. Its studies have achieved a quasi-disciplinary status with its own name:Dragonology. It plays an important role in the cultural communication between Chinaand western world.Among its English versions, Stephen Owen’s and Yang Guobin’s translation arerepresentative ones and are accepted by many scholars. The two translators are quitedifferent in their identities: Owen is one of the most distinguished Americansinologists, translator and professor while Yang Guobin is a Chinese translator. Owenis a representative one among all the other translators of English origin. On the otherhand, Yang’s translation refers to some most important English versions translated bytranslators of Chinese origin. His version absorbs the excellence of previoustranslation so that it is a typical one among the English versions translated by thetranslator of Chinese origin. In the process of translating the work, the identities thatthe two translators have as a reader, author, creator and cultural communicator differmuch in many aspects. These differences provide great value for this research, whichis also one of the originalities of the dissertation.A translator bears different identities as the subject of the translation. He hasdifferent identities, such as reader, author, creator and cultural communicator.Different identities exert different influences on the translating activity. A translator asa reader shares some features with common readers. However, he has his own features.He has to have a more profound and more comprehensive understanding of the sourcetext. As the author of the target text, he has to renew the life the source text. As acreator he is never the servant of the original author and should exert his imaginationand literary sense to achieve a better understanding of the source text and deliveracceptable work to his audience. He has much freedom when he conducts his duty as a translator. Translation is far more than transference between two languages, butrather a cultural communication. A translator as a cultural communicator has toconvey the cultural elements in the source text to the target text. Owen and Yang’sdifferent identities in the translation process have great influences on the selection ofsource text, the adoption of translation strategy, language style and culturalcommunication.The translation of Chinese classic literary works has been much discussed in thetranslation field. Wenxin Diaolong is a representative classic work and the research onits translation is of great significance and an important reference for the translation ofChinese classic works. Through the comparative analysis from the perspective oftranslator’s identities, the paper offers some practical suggestion on the translation ofChinese classic works. The target audience should be clarified before translation; Keyterms should be properly translated; Intertext should be paid much attention.