Analysis Of Translator’s Subjectivity In The English Version Of "Tales Of Hulan River" From A Hermeneutic Perspective

The thesis analyses Howard Goldblatt’s translation of "Tales of Hulan River’ and aims to assess translator’s subjectivity from a hermeneutic perspective based on George Steiner’s new translation model that presents four steps of the hermeneutic motion:aggression (penetration), incorporation (embodiment) and restitution.The thesis first introduces the concept of hermeneutic translation. Hermeneutic studies focus on language and meaning, believing that "translation is interpretation". The subject in question centers on the merger of horizons, including that between the text and the readers as well between the text and the translator. George Steiner believes that In his opinion, there are four parts of the hermeneutic look at translation, which he wanted to comment on and explain. Trust assumes that "there is something there" to translate, even if, at first glance, it seems to the translator that there is hardly any meaning in the text. Aggression is a dynamic step. According to Steiner, comprehension in translation is "invasive and exhaustive". Incorporation is an embodiment of meaning. A new form has to be created and it does not come from or into a vacuum. The native semantic field is an expanded entity. Restitution means that there needs to be a balance between the text in the source language and its translation in the target language. The aim is to fully extract the pure quiescence of the original text and create a classic translation piece.The thesis then analyses the differences between hermeneutic translation and the interpretive theory, introducing three categories of mainstream viewpoints on hermeneutic translation.The analysis is conducted on Howard Goldblatt’s1985edition of "Tales of Hulan River". As a biographical female literary classic,"Tales of Hulan River" integrates the lyric expression of personal emotional experiences, the vivid social landscape of a faraway city, as well as rich and unique narrative featured with traditional Chinese elements. The translation of such unique literary work requires translators to fully unleash their subjectivity, to share the empathy with the writer, to bridge cultural differences and finally to achieve the merger of horizons. To conduct a thorough analysis of translator’s subjectivity as embodied in the process of trust, aggression, incorporation and restitution, the author divided the contents of the work into5categories, including poems, folklore narratives, natural scenery descriptions, lyrical expressions and character descriptions.The author believes that George Steiner’s hermeneutic perspective can effectively improve translator’s subjectivity in capturing the Zeitgeist and reproducing pronounced Chinese elements imbedded in the work.