A Study On The Translation History Of Works By Modern And Contemporary Chinese Women Writers:A Gender Perspective

Studies of Translation History from gender perspective is a recent development in the field of Translation Studies since the1980s, which is based on Feminist Translation Theory put forward by Canadian feminist researchers and translators such as Sherry Simon and Loise von Flotow. Many researches have been done in this field in the West, while in China researches are limited to a few classical works and a few female translators. In consideration of lack of studies in the field of Chinese to English literary translation and reception of modern and contemporary women writers’works in the English-speaking world, the author tries to study the translation history of modern and contemporary women writers’works from the1930s up to now from gender perspective.A literature review of both studies in the field of Translation History and studies of translation history from gender perspective is given, based on which the research questions of the dissertation are put forward. The main research questions are:1) What are the features of the works translated in different periods and the development trend?2) How do translators, especially women translators, promote translation of women writers’works and influence the reception of translated text in the target culture?3) How does the social context, especially gender related context, influence translation of women writers’works?The research objects are the translated works by women writers since the May Fourth Period and the translators. The works include novels, short stories, essays, autobiographies and poems written by both feminist and non-feminist women writers. Novels, short stories and autobiographies by feminist writers are mainly studied. Woman translators are the main focus of the research. Female consciousness and feminist features represented in their translation are analyzed in details.According to the changes of Chinese and Western social context and the features of translation itself, the translation history of modern and contemporary Chinese women writers’works is generally divided into three periods:from the1930s to1960s, the1970s and1980s, and since the1990s. The research mainly takes the methods of Descriptive Translation Studies and qualitative research to explore translation of women writers’works in three different periods. Gender perspective is taken throughout the research as the major theme and representation of Orientalism is the implicit theme. The research also uses such basic methods as induction, deduction and summarization to examine the features of translated works by women writers and the paratexts of translated works. Other methods such as comparative method are used in some case studies to examine the influence of social context and gender factors on translated text.The first wave of women’s literature in the1920s in modern China is a result of both the Western feminist thoughts and the May Fourth Movement in China. In the revolutionary period from1930s to1960s many women writers shifted the theme of their writing from women’s subjectivity to revolution. Translation of women writers’ works from Chinese to English started in1930. From then on till the end of1960s, against the background of war and revolution, translation of women writers’works was sporadic. It was mainly promoted by Chinese writers and scholars with good Western education background and a few Western journalists in China. The selection and translation of women’s works were mainly done by men, and the major concern of the works is the theme of war and revolution.However, there are still some works with feminist features translated into the English-speaking world. Some women writers, such as Chen Hengzhe and Ling Shuhua who had good knowledge of English language themselves, were active in editing, translating and promoting their own works to the English-speaking world. Some other women writers, such as Xie Bingying and Ding Ling, combined gender issues with the grand theme of revolution, and presented their female consciousness and feminist thoughts to the English-speaking world through translation of their own works.In the1970s and1980s, communication between China and the West began to develop quickly. Women’s consciousness, which were repressed in the revolutionary period, began to reemerge in works by women writers. At the same time, feminist studies began to take form in the Western academic field. Against this background many Western scholars began to do research on Women’s Liberation Movement in China. Most Western scholars took Orientalist perspective in their research, and mainly focused on the failure of liberation for women in Communist China. Some scholars recognized the female consciousness and feminist features in the works by women writers from the1920s and1930s such as Ding Ling. The analysis of feminist features in contemporary women writers’works made by translators, Western literary writers and researchers are mainly shown in the paratexts of translated works. Chinese institutional translation made great efforts in promotion of women writers’works. Gladys Yang, the most important feminist translator in this period, showed her strong female consciousness and represented her thoughts on Chinese feminism in her translation and other writings.In the1990s, the second wave of feminist writing began to appear in China, while the West experienced the third wave of Feminism, which was greatly influenced by poststructralist and postcolonial theories. Scholars began to take interest in Feminisms in the Third World countries, and Chinese Feminism started to get reconsidered in its specific social context. Against this background, many Western presses took the initiative to translate works by modern and contemporary women writers. The Western world still takes Orientalist views towards Chinese women writers’works, which is best shown in the paratexts of some popular works by women writers such as Hong Ying and Wei Hui. Self-orientalist features are also prevalent in the works themselves, which further strengthen the stereotypes of image of Chinese women and prejudice in the eyes of the Western public.Some Western women translators have made great efforts in promoting works by Chinese women writers as well as Chinese literature in general. Some of them are feminist scholars themselves and pay special attention to women writers. They not only translated prominent writers such as Ding Ling, Zhang Ailing and Can Xue, but also tried to introduce high-quality works by less known women writers in modern Chinese history. Others devoted themselves to translation of Chinese literature in general, but some female consciousness is also shown in their translation of women writers’works and translation thoughts. However, many Chinese feminist works are still ignored by the Western critics and readers, and some feminist features of their works are also lost in the translation. An analysis of the paratexts of the English translation of A Private Life by Chen Ran and the strategies the translator takes in the translation shows that the work is more received as one about female sexuality and politics, and some feminist features and thoughts represented in the original work are to some extent lost.The conclusion part summarizes the major features of the development of translation of women writers’works, development of women’s consciousness in the translated works and translators, the still marginalized position of women writers’ works, representation of Orientalism in the translation history, and other existent problems in translation of women writers’works.The research is an original research on the translation history of works by modern and contemporary Chinese women writers. First, the research rediscovers some long-forgotten women translators such as Chen Hengzhe and Ling Shuhua, and reexamines and compares some others, including a few male translators, from gender perspective, and stresses the importance of women writers in the translation history of women writers’works. Second, the research examines the Orientalist features in the social context in the three periods and their representation in the translated texts and paratexts of Chinese to English translated literature. Third, the research explores how women writers’works are marginalized in Chinese to English translation throughout the history and investigates the reasons behind it.The author hopes that the research will contribute to the studies of Translation History in both theory and practice. The author combines various research methods in the research, hoping to promote theoretical development of studies on Translation History. The research also provides research data for scholars in both literary studies and translation studies for their future research. At the practical level, the research may help Chinese and Western literary translators and publishers understand the trend of development and deficiencies in translation of women writers’works and improve their selection and translation work in the future.