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Structure And Deconstruction: From Chomsky To Venuti

Posted on:2007-11-13Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:Y H FengFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360185464312Subject:Literature and art
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Deconstruction uses translation to raise questions regarding the nature of language as well as the differences between languages. The goal of translation is not"assimilation", but"dissimilation"in a way that reflects language differences which cannot be separated from the innate value and meaning of the target text. With a philosophical understanding of what can be translated or not translated, deconstructionists have undertaken to radically rewrite western translation theory with its history of ethnocentric violence and cultural hegemony, and to discuss those questions upon which translation theory is founded. This realization of the equality between source and target cultures insists that discussions of power, ideology and postcolonialism are all relevant to translation studies which makes the target text a field of heterogeneous discourses while simultaneously constructing the cultural subjectivity of translation.The most influential translation studies scholar in North America has been Lawrence Venuti, who has questioned the practice of altering the foreign text to conform to western culture's forms, ideas and preferred systems of beliefs. The significance of Venuti's resistance translation theory is far reaching in that the marginalized cultures can be re-examined and even re-evaluated in contrast to Anglo-American culture. Of course, adaptation and foreignization in translation play independent functions in cross-cultural communication and understanding and as such will long be considered effective cultural strategies.Chapter One of this study contains the background research for this project. A discussion on linguistics ranges from what is largely descriptive research to the explanation of the language faculty of human beings. Although Chomsky holds that the formal properties are not specific to any particular language and therefore are not meant to manifest the translatability between languages, the"underlying structure"theory has been"used"by Nida to substantiate his claims. Nida concludes that ideas"must be modified"to fit with the conceptual map of experience of the different context. This author holds that a key problem in literary translation lies in the proper transfer of language styles, or the"nationality"of the language. If the re-creation in translation has more or less got rid of the source's textual form and the"nationality"involved, the translator and original writer can be on the same plane, and as a result, the innovative translation becomes a kind of pseudotranslation.Chapter Two is not intended to systematically philosophize translation theory from a deconstructionist point of view. Deconstruction attaches great importance to the nature of language and translation; it broadens our philosophical view of the conceptual frame and provides us a new inter-disciplinary methodology. This chapter introduces Foucault's genealogical method, Heidegger's deconstruction of the subjectivity of the"knowing being"and Derrida's queries about transferring, re-creation, re-rendering and communicating the original"meaning", and is an endeavor by this author to probe into those questions regarding translation as posed by certain deconstructionists. Chapter Three is a core part of this study. Lawrence Venuti strongly opposes domestication as a tradition in western translation history and puts forth his resistance strategy as something to take its place. He criticizes the humanistic underpinnings of much of literary translation. His main thesis is that translation tends to be an invisible practice in the United States and is used to gain a foothold in the beliefs and ideas of the target language culture. He provides a new set of terms and methods for analyzing translation, such as"translator's invisibility","symptomatic reading"and"abusive fidelity". He is attracted by poststructuralist strategies of foreignization which give foreground to the play of signifiers. These new strategies reincarnate the ethics of translation and rebuff those traditional criteria reflecting only communicative and informative considerations. This author has offered the constructive concept of"familiarizing to be defamiliarized"in the hope of preventing the abuse of"foreignization"as a translation strategy. Chapter Four amplifies Venuti's real intentions which lay behind all his strategies. Translation discourse constructs a target language's subjectivity as it represents foreign text in the target language. Translation strategy can be conservative or unconventional, and the role of the text type, the genre, the purpose of the target text, as well as the intended reading receptors are all factors that decisively influence the final linguistic form and the lay-out of the translation of the target text. Therefore, translation studies have been challenged by the questions related to culture such as: How does translation build up its consistent cultural subjectivity and how does it have far-reaching effects in the target culture and play a part in the cultural revolution? Still, it is important to remember that the non-ethnocentrism developed by translation can in turn form a new type of ethnocentrism which subsequently become another mainstream set of prejudices. This author holds that the interference of non-ethnocentrism opens a new space to the expression of cultural differences and is a worthwhile cultural endeavor. Foreignization and the adherence to the peculiarity of a foreign culture, as a poststructuralist stance against ecumenism and the justified ethic of translation, can be a curse in disguise. Although the marginalized oriental cultures have forced their way into western society, they simultaneously reinforce the mainstream culture as they consolidate their position against foreign cultures. Still, it is undeniable that foreignization as a philosophical and cultural consideration has been a focal point in contemporary translation studies as has been the feasibility of foreignization as a point of attraction for translation theorists, practitioners and those connoisseurs of the translation art.
Keywords/Search Tags:foreignization, adaptation, Deconstructionism, translator's invisibility, cultural subjectivity, national style, pseudotranslation, translation discourse
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