The Translators’ Subjectivity As Reflected In Steiner’s Hermeneutic Translation Theory

With the development and needs of the modern age,it has become an irreversible trend to promote cultural exchanges between different countries.In recent years,the slogan of “let Chinese culture ‘go global’ ” has become louder and louder in China,attracting more and more attention from various fields.Literary exchange is an important way for countries to output their excellent cultures.Therefore,the translation of excellent literary works builds an important bridge for the cultural communication between countries,and the quality of the translation will directly affect the effect of cultural communication.Based on Steiner’s hermeneutic translation theory,this thesis studies Li wenjun’s and Li Jihong’s Chinese translations of The Sound and the Fury,aiming to study the translator’s subjectivity reflected in the whole process of hermeneutic motion which includes trust,aggression,incorporation and compensation.Through a comparative study of these two translations from Steiner’s hermeneutic four-fold translation steps,it is found that these two translators tend to adopt different translation methods and strategies in their translating process under the influence of giving play to their own translator’s subjectivity,thus bringing versions with different effects to us.In translating literary works,the translator’s own cultural awareness and understanding ability play a very important role.When dealing with some vocabularies with special cultural connotations,Li Wenjun shows his profound cultural awareness.At the same time,when translating some distinctive words and sentences,Li Wenjun gives full play to his subjectivity and tends to make some appropriate adjustments to his translation.He often adopts the translation strategy of domestication to make the translation closer to the target readers.Li Jihong,on the other hand,tends to adopt the foreignization strategy to completely reproduce the style and characteristics of the original so that readers can experience the original flavor fully.However,the involvement of too much translators’ own consciousness and emotion will also reduce the objectivity of the translation and make it out of balance with the original text,which is slightly reflected in Li Jihong’s translation.Therefore,translators should properly exert their translator’s subjectivity in the translating process.This study has certain theoretical significance for the research of translator’s subjectivity and certain practical value for the translation of literary works.