On Translator’s Subjectivity From The Perspective Of George Steiner’s Fourfold Translation Motion Theory-a Case Study Of Eileen Chang’s Translation Of The Singsong Girls Of Shanghai

As one of the few influential figures in the history of modern Chinese literature who took therole of both bi-lingual writer and translator, Eileen Chang made not only great achievements inliterary creation, but also great contributions to translation. Though researches toward EileenChang as a writer outweighed those toward her as a translator in the past half century, heridentity as a translator has been recognized by a number of scholars in recent years. However,researches upon Chang as a translator were mostly focused on summaries of her translationcareer, and few in-depth researches have been made of her bi-lingual translation of The SingsongGirls of Shanghai. Actually Chang’s translation of Singsong Girls is a rare and valuabletranslation case, for it was the first time for the same translator to conduct both an intra-lingualand inter-lingual translation toward the same source text.Traditional translation studies have been prescriptive and source-text oriented, mainlyfocusing on the nature, criteria and techniques of translation, often ignoring the studies ontranslators and thereby leaving the translators marginalized. However, the Cultural Turn in the1980s expanded the field of translation studies, as a result studies related with translator havebeen attracting more and more attention. Therefore, translator’s subjectivity has naturallybecome a new area to which more and more scholars and theorists have devoted themselves. Therelevant theory of hermeneutics is one of the most important perspectives from whichtranslator’s subjectivity is observed in. After a brief introduction to the hermeneutic theory, thethesis outlines the famous theory—the Fourfold Translation Motion Theory, put forward by therepresentative figure of hermeneutics, George Steiner. George Steiner holds that there are fourmovements in the process of translation, namely, initiative trust, aggression, incorporation andcompensation. Apparently, George Steiner’s Fourfold Translation Motion Theory is closelyrelated to translator’s subjectivity.This thesis makes a qualitative analysis on how the translator’s subjectivity is manifested inChang’s bi-lingual translation of Singsong Girls. This research intends to show that translatorEileen Chang’s subjectivity runs through the whole process of translation and plays an importantpart in the translation effect.This thesis is composed of four main chapters besides the introductory and conclusion part.At the beginning of the research, the introduction briefly introduces the background of the selected subject, its theoretical basis, significance and its basic structure.The second part is the literature review reflecting studies on translator’s subjectivity homeand abroad. Researches toward Eileen Chang’s translation of Singsong Girls are conducted aswell.The third part presents a framework which setting the theoretical foundation for thisresearch. Firstly, some terms such as subject and subjectivity in philosophy, subject of translationand translator’s subjectivity are all presented in this part. Secondly, a brief introduction tohermeneutics is presented to discuss George Steiner’s Fourfold Translation Motion as well as therelationship between George Steiner’s theory and translator’s subjectivity.The fourth part presents the research design of the whole thesis, in which research questions,studying method, dada collection and analysis are all conducted.The fifth part analyzes Chang’s translation of Singsong Girls under the guidance of GeorgeSteiner’s Fourfold Translation Motion Theory. This part focuses on the aspects of Chang’s trust,incorporation, aggression and restitution of Singsong Girls where Chang’s subjectivity isspecifically shown.The conclusion is a summary of the whole thesis. After a specific analysis of Chang’stranslation of Singsong Girls, the thesis concludes that Chang has fully exerted her subjectivity asa translator.