An Exploration Into Spivak’s Deconstructive Translation Theory

The vogue of deconstruction came to the US in the late 1960 s,owing particularly to a conference held in the year of 1966 at John Hopkins University on structuralism.Jacques Derrida read his paper “Structure,Sign,and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences”,which is named as “the manifesto of deconstruction”.The vogue of deconstruction swept tremendous influence to linguistics,philosophy and translation studies.The deconstructive translation theory came into being in response.This thesis focuses on Spivak’s conception of deconstructive translation.Spivak who is a Bangladeshi postcolonial translator respects Derrida as her teacher.As a follower of Derrida’s deconstructive thoughts,she inherits and develops Derrida’s deconstructive thoughts,and regards it as the foundation of her literary criticism.As a translator and interpreter of Derrida’s deconstructive thoughts,Spivak,on the basis of her own translation practices,absorbing Derrida’s deconstructive translation thoughts,proposes her own deconstructive translation theory.Spivak’s conception of translation has great significance in translation theory studies.So,Professor Guo Yingjian and Chen Yongguo organized the activity of translating and editing A Spivak Reader.Spivak’s “Translator’s Preface” to Derrida’s Of Grammatology is one of the most representative works of her deconstructive translation thoughts.Scholars at home translated Spivak’s “Translator’s Preface” which can further our understanding of Spivak’s conception of deconstructive translation.This thesis,regarding Spivak’s “Translator’s Preface” as a cutting point,talks about her conception of deconstructive translation.Spivak develops her own conception of deconstructive translation on the basis of her creative inheritance from the former masters.Spivak overthrew these traditional binary oppositions in translation studies.From the perspective of the sovereign subject,a freeplay of identity and difference,etc.,she deconstructs the traditional relationship of preface and text,prefacer and author,as well as translator and author.Spivak discusses her own understanding of translation by placing it in a double bind.Spivak advocates substituting the notion of regulated transformation for the notion of translation,so as to highlight the inevitable difference between signified and signifier in the process of transformation.For the relationship between signifier and signified is never pure,so the transformation which actually practices their difference is,of course,never pure.For the existence of intertextuality,Spivak admits the activity of transformation is not only possible,but also feasible.Spivak’s conception of deconstructive translation makes great contributions to both translation theory and translation practice.It promotes the discursive power of non-English and non-mainstream cultures;and it provides a new perspective to translation study,both theoretically and practically.