A Contrastive Study On Two Chinese Versions Of Between Tears And Laughter In Light Of Hermeneutics

In translation practice, the translator plays an important role. After the CultureTurn, more and more scholars pay attention to translator’s subjectivity. Comparedwith other translators, would the translator’s subjectivity be different as to theself-translators. Based on George Steiner’s Fourfold Hermeneutic Translation MotionTheory, this thesis attempts to contrast the two Chinese versions of Between Tears andLaughter in light of Hermeneutics and analyses the translator’s subjectivity reflectedin Lin Yutang’s Chinese version and Song Biyun’s Chinese version, and thetranslation strategies adopted by the two translators. After that, achievement anddrawbacks of the study will be presented. As Lin Yutang only translated the firstthirteen chapters of Between Tears and Laughter, the examples selected in this thesisare all from the first thirteen chapters.The first Chapter will give a brief introduction to the background and thesignificance of this thesis. In the second Chapter, this thesis explores the previousstudies on self-translation from home and abroad and also the studies on Lin Yutang’sBetween Tears and Laughter. Then the development of the hermeneutics and thetranslator’s subjectivity is introduced. In the third Chapter, based on George Steiner’sTrustμ, Aggressionμ, Incorporationμ and Compensationμ, this thesis contrasts thetwo Chinese versions of Between Tears and Laughter and analyses the translator’ssubjectivity reflected in Lin Yutang’s self-translation and Song Biyun’s translation. Inthe fifth Chapter, this thesis analyses the features of both Lin Yutang and SongBiyun’s translation version and concludes the different translation strategies adoptedby the two translators. After that, conclusion is made: in every George Steiner’sprocess, both translators can·t avoid subjective consciousness and affection. Theself-translators, as a special translator, have different features in translator’ssubjectivity.