A Study On The Application Of George Steiner’s Hermeneutic Motion Theory

Hermeneutics is a professional branch that studies understanding and interpretationin terms of textual meaning. The process is connected with the importance of original texts.A translator’s participation is based on the proper interpretation and recreation of sourcetexts to a level. Many scholars such as Schleiermacher, Dilthey, Heidegger, Gadamer andSteiner have contributed a lot to the research and made great progress. In particular,Steiner puts forward hermeneutic motion theory on account of the studies made byprevious pioneers. The theory includes trust, aggression, incorporation and compensation,each of which is completed by a translator. That is the reason why many previous studieshave related fourfold motion theory to the translator’s subjectivity. Before the translationtask, the translator should choose proper texts according to his personal interest, linguisticand cultural competence and attraction of original texts; meanwhile, it is necessary to taketheir reception degree into consideration, which suggests the text can mean a lot. Thetranslator can also reduce inherent gaps between two languages. The process is not aconflict but a gradual close to another target language. When mediating indispensabledifferences, he remolds significant materials and reproduces his style in the target text.The process relies on his understanding of the author’s intention, translation strategies,and target readers’ appreciation, so that the text could be appropriate to target customs andreaders’ psychology. At last, according to George Steiner compensation is needed as theoperation of translation produces loss of meaning. Therefore the translator should carryout some strategies to restore the balance.Red Sorghum is one of the well-known novels created by Mo Yan. It was also one ofthe representatives for Chinese literature in the1980s. The work illustrates “legends”which happened in Northeast Gaomi Township, Shandong Province, showing strong localflavor. Mo Yan brings his unconstrained style into full play, telling stories with his special talent, adding subjective elements exaggeratedly and describing a unique world felt byorgans. What he does indicates his features with “Root-seeking” and “Vanguard” factors.The source information mentioned above, as for the translator, is the part which should beexpressed in the translation. The rational degree of the translated text determines if theoriginal popularity could be reappeared.As for the remarkable translator, what Goldblatt has done makes modern andcontemporary Chinese literature known by the West. He is reputed as Chinese chief andunique “midwife”. Most of Mo Yan’s works have been translated by Goldblatt; and thenthey have shocked the literary world in the United States. Red Sorghum is one of histranslated accomplishments. The thesis explains Steiner’s hermeneutic theory at length,taking Red Sorghum as an object. The author applies text analysis and descriptive methodto study the text from levels of vocabulary, syntactic and passage arrangements. Afterrepeated analyses, Goldblatt unfolds his competence in manipulating Chinese,understanding historical and cultural background and analyzing future reception market;meanwhile, he shows his quality in the application of target language.The thesis finds that Goldblatt has his own insights into works he will translate. Heconsiders cultural factors and judges wanted reception in the literary world before makingdecisions on choices. Because of his linguistic and cultural competence, he can uselanguage transformation to explain textual meaning. At the same time, he has alreadyconstructed trust toward the author. Next, owing to differences existing in language andculture, Goldblatt reconciles the arrangement of vocabulary, syntax and text to restore theoriginal information properly. Sometimes the target language does not have the expressionshown in the original text; thus the translator has to reproduce and recreate anothercounterpart. The process cannot prevent core information from spreading. Finally,Goldblatt makes a compensation for the balance between the two texts, promoting thetarget text to be closer to the source one, which realizes the goal of interpreting the text. Itmeans that a translator, on the basis of textual rules, must carry out language applicationstrategies to interpret and express intonations from cultural and conscious perspectives. Healso makes regulations if necessary, in order to achieve the goal that literature will bemore receptive in the international market.