On The Translator's Subjectivity In The English Version Of Fortress Besieged

The translator plays an important role in the process of translation. In the translation process, the subjectivity of translator deals with the choice of the text, the motives of translator and the style of translation. However, the translator's subjectivity is ignored in the traditional translation studies for a long time, as attention is mostly paid to the linguistic competence and the translation techniques which are thought to have more influence on the translation effect. In recent years, especially since the"cultural turn", people began to change their concepts of subjectivity, and the translator's subjectivity has become the focus for more and more scholars and the related studies have become more and more important.Traditional translation theories hold that the author of the source text is authoritative, while the translator is only in a subordinate position. The translator has to be faithful or loyal to the source text, serving both the author and the reader. With the cultural turn in translation studies, contemporary translation theories such as hermeneutics, feminist translation theory and deconstructionist translation theory, believe that no matter how hard the translator may try to hide himself, to make him invisible, his world outlook, outlook on life, values, personalities and taste will unavoidably play a part in his translation. In other words, the translator does enjoy his subjectivity in translation. Subjectivity is a concept in philosophy, referring to the alienation of the subject's essential power in its objective activity and the characteristics of the subject. The translator's subjectivity refers to the subjective initiative reflected in the translation activity by the translator on the precondition that he must respect the translation object in order to realize the translation purpose. The basic characteristics of the translator's subjectivity are his self-conscious culture awareness, his humanistic character, cultural and aesthetic creativity. It should be noticed that when the translator enjoys great freedom in the translation, he must act under certain constraints. To be a good translator, he must balance himself between subjectivity and self-restraint.Hermeneutics focuses on the activity of people's understanding and interpretation of the text, and translation also involves the understanding of the original text. Essentially, hermeneutics and translation research are for the purpose of exploring the meaning of conversion. People no longer focus on the static comparison between the original and target text, but on the dynamic study by putting the target text in the social and historical environment. At the same time, the translator's subjectivity has been found. Hermeneutics of translation studies provide new insights, expand the scope of translation studies and deepen people's understanding of the translator. Influenced by traditional Chinese poetics and aesthetics, translation judgments are usually intuitive, subjective and impressionistic, rather than objective and systematic in the analysis of translation. Most translation judgments seem to remain the simple task of correcting the errors of words. The thesis is intended to make a study on the translators'subjectivity reflected throughout the translation practice of Qian Zhongshu's Fortress Besieged. The study is made within the framework of hermeneutics to explore the translator's subjectivity in hermeneutics.The thesis consists of five Chapters. Chapter one gives an introduction. It introduces the background of the original text, the aims and questions, the methodology, the significance and framework of the thesis. Chapter two is literature review, which consists of three parts. The first part introduces the previous researches upon the English version of Fortress Besieged. The second part introduces researches upon translator's subjectivity, which consists of two parts: Translator's subjectivity in the traditional views and in the cultural turn. The third part introduces the previous researches upon Hermeneutics. Chapter three is the framework of the adopted theories. It gives a general introduction to Hermeneutics and introduces four major representatives'thoughts of Hermeneutics. Then it presents the translator's subjectivity in the view of hermeneutics, displaying the combination between translator's subjectivity and hermeneutics. Chapter four is the principal part of the thesis, which is intended to explore in detail how the translator's subjectivity is manifested in the translation process of the work in the perspective of hermeneutics. Chapter five is the conclusion of the paper.Finally, conclusions are given: In the process of translating literary works, subjectivity exists as an objective reality. The translator's subjectivity is an effective way to interpret Fortress Besieged. The translator's subjectivity displays not only in the process of translation but also in the other factors, such as: the purpose of translation and the selection of the original text. Translation does not have the final version. Translation is not only a conduct of searching and restoring the original meaning, but a creative activity all along, with the elements of translator's subjectivity. However, it doesn't mean that the translators can do whatever they like, but within a certain dimension. It is the translator's responsibility to balance the dimension, which is the embodiment of his excellent personality.The significance of the thesis is: In translation studies, subjectivity plays an important role in the research of translation criticism and literature translation. A translator must be subject to certain restrictions in his conductions while enjoying great freedom. And a good translator must find a balance between subjectivity and self-restraint. On the whole, the translators of Fortress Besieged achieve the balance basically.