A Case Study Of The English Translation Of Lust, Caution By Chesterman’s Models Of Translation Ethics

Since the 1980s, "the cultural turn" in translation studies has indicated the great influence exerted by politics and culture on translation. It seems that translation was no longer a bridge between cultures, but a domestic servant to hegemony, subversion, manipulation and oppression. Therefore it is of necessity for the academia of translation studies to highlight the ethical imperatives for translators and to rebuild translation as a bridge between cultures, and that’s why the research on translation ethics has come to the fore. Moreover, the rapid economic growth of China as a powerful nation has propelled the Chinese cultural diffusion all around the world and the spread of Chinese literary classics becomes a matter of growing concern. Nevertheless, since Chinese culture is still at a distinct disadvantage in the communication between different cultures, translation ethics, concerning the ethical attitude towards "the Other", is indispensable for the translation of Chinese literature.The studies on translation ethics have gone through different stages of development both at home and abroad since the notion of "translation ethics" was put forward by Berman, but a complete system has not yet been established. Of various research results, Chesterman’s theory of five models of translation ethics is one of the most influential. Enlightened by the controversy between virtues and norms in ethics, Chesterman advised the translator to mediate the conflicts between different external moral values under the guidance of internal virtue. This thesis, with the English version of Lust, Caution which has got access to Western mainstream culture as a case in point and Chesterman’s five models of translation ethics as the theoretical framework, probes into the ethical models embodied in the version as well as the conflict and mediation between these models, in order to provide a reference for the English translation of Chinese literature. The major finding is:in translation process, different moral values predominate in different contexts and the translator is unable to conform to all the values simultaneously. The ethics of professional commitment, based on the translator’s virtue of striving for excellence in translation, serves as the macro-level guiding principle which mediates between different values and resolves the micro-level conflicts between them. The translator tries to make the best ethical decisions under its guidance, which is conducive to the quality of translated text as well as the mediation of different ethical values. An in-depth analysis of the method used by the translator to deal with conflict between different ethical values and of the stark difference between oriental and occidental ethics may serve as a reference for the English translation of Chinese literary classics.