Androgynous Translation:A Case Study Of Sense And Sensibility

Since feminist translation theory was introduced to China, domestic studies mainly focus on researching the female consciousness, the translators’ subjectivity, the intervention strategies reflected in E-C or C-E translations, while the limitations of feminist translation theory have not been analyzed deeply enough. The androgynous perspective is an effective way to overcome the defects of the feminist translation theory and helps to achieve the gender equality and harmony advocated by feminist translators. Androgynous translation theory requires that translators should deal with the various gender-related issues in translation not only from their own gender perspective but also from the gender other’s perspective. However, current studies on androgynous translation theory are too few and not systematic, let alone relevant case studies.This thesis tries to present a systematic study of androgynous translation. Firstly, the connotations of androgyny are analyzed in detail; then the necessity, the feasibility and the influential factors of androgynous translation are discussed; finally, the approaches to realizing androgynous translation are explored. It is pointed out that the dialectical thoughts behind the androgyny view make androgynous translation an ideal supplement to feminist translation theory. In addition, the main ideas of androgynous translation theory are summarized in three aspects, namely the relationship between the author and the translator, the relationship between the original text and the translated version, and the androgynous perspective of translators.Based on the theoretical analysis, two Chinese versions(translated respectively by the female translator Wu Lili and the male translator Sun Zhili) of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility are chosen for a case study. Androgyny in this novel is analyzed from figure molding, Austen’s view on love and marriage, and her opinion on the power relationship between genders. Then the two Chinese versions are compared in three aspects: the reproduction of figural characteristics, the representation of gender relationships and the linguistic features of the two versions. Based on the comparison, conclusions are reached that Sun’s version is much more androgynous, but due to his own gender identity and his being deeply influenced by the patriarchal society, some parts of his version show a certain gender bias against women, so Professor Sun translates Sense and Sensibility with a marked degree of androgynous awareness though he does not adopt the androgynous translation theory in a conscious way; while the female translator Wu Lili’s version also reflects a certain degree of unconscious androgyny awareness.The thesis is expected to exert some influence on Chinese translators and arouse their interest in androgynous translation so that they can adopt androgynous translation theory consciously when translating the gender-related works. Then some contributions can be made to realizing the equality between men and women by means of translation.