On The Translation Of A Thousand Splendid Suns From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

The development of hermeneutics provides a new angle for the translation studies, which widens the field of translation studies and strengthens the understanding of translator’s role. George Steiner was a distinguished representative of hermeneutics in the20th century. In1975, his masterpiece After Babel:Aspects of Language and Translation was published, which has been regarded as the most prevalent and authoritative monograph in translation circle. This book was characterized by the proposal of "the hermeneutic motion", which consisted of four parts, namely, trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution. A Thousand Splendid Suns is the second novel of Khaled Hosseini, an American Afghanistan writer. This novel is about. two Afghanistan women, Mariam and Laila, who are struggling for hope, love and happiness in spite of family violence and social instability. It offers a window which opens up into Afghanistan history and culture. The novel, first published in2007in America, became the number one national bestseller, which attracted great attention. After the publication, Li Jihong, a Chinese translator, translates it into Can Lan Qian Yang in Chinese, which is widely favored by Chinese readers.This thesis attempts to analyze Li Jihong’s translation of A Thousand Splendid Suns from the perspective of hermeneutics, aiming to display how the hermeneutic motion is manifested in the translation of A Thousand Splendid Suns. Then some translation principles will be summarized, which the author hopes will provide some suggestions for the future study of A Thousand Splendid Suns.This thesis consists of six parts. The first part is introduction which is about the research background, research questions, the significance and purpose of the research, and the structure of the thesis. Chapter one is the part of literature review. The author examines the previous researches on the application of hermeneutics to the study of translation. Then a systematic review on Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns is carried out. Meanwhile researches on Li Jihong’ Chinese Translation of A Thousand Splendid Suns are conducted. Finally, since there is no research carried out about Li Jihong’s Chinese version, it comes to the necessity of this research. Chapter two is the theoretical framework of the thesis. It starts with the development of hermeneutics, in which main ideas and principles of hermeneutics are introduced. Then the author places great emphasis on George Steiner’s hermeneutic translation theory. Hermeneutic motion is elaborated systematically, namely, trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution. Chapter three focuses on the specific analysis of the translation of A Thousand Splendid Suns from the perspective of hermeneutics. This part tries to see how the translator’s trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution are demonstrated in the process of translation. Chapter four is designed to summarize the translating principles from the perspective of hermeneutics in A Thousand Splendid Suns, namely, valuing the role of translator’s subjectivity, respecting the source text and emphasizing the target readers’ reception. It is suggested that only a good combination of these three principles will contribute to achieving a successful translation. The last part is the conclusion of the whole thesis. It first shows findings of this study. It is found that hermeneutic motion is fully manifested in Li Jihong’s translation and three principles are summarized from Li’s translation practice from the perspective of hermeneutics. Then it discusses the limitations of this research and gives suggestions for future study.