Fidelity Or Treason: Exercise Of The Translator's Subjectivity In The English Version Of Wolf Totem

Since the"cultural turn"in 1980s, the issue of the translator's subjectivity has gradually become a hot research topic and attracted considerable studies on it. However, many are fond of stressing the importance of unbridled play of the translator's subjectivity, so much so that they pay no heed to the restrictive factors which always greatly influence the exercise of the translator's subjectivity. Thus, how to appropriately exercise the translator's subjectivity remains to be a controversial issue. In light of this, the present thesis explores the connotations of the translator's subjectivity from a more dialectical perspective. On the one hand, it probes into the manifestation of the translator's subjectivity in the whole process of translation, and on the other hand, analyzes and sets out the major restrictive factors, including the author and the original text, patronage, the intended readership, ideology and poetics. The present author holds that the translator is always subject to these factors and feels the pains to strike a balance between"fidelity"and"treason". On the basis of these analyses, this thesis avoids the traditional"faithfulness"criterion. Instead, it suggests that the exercise of the translator's subjectivity can be judged from the following aspects: Firstly, to what extent does the translator convey the elements (like word diction, cultural elements, literary style, major theme and so on) embodied in the original? Secondly, how well is the translated version accepted by the target readers? Thirdly, does the translator build a harmonious relationship with his patrons during translation? Lastly, does the translated version conform to the dominant ideology and poetics in the target culture?This judging method is adopted in discussing Goldblatt's translation of Lang Tuteng in the latter part of the thesis. Lang Tuteng is a Chinese masterly work on grassland wolves written by Jiang Rong which has quickly become a hit and exhibited excellent market performance since its release. The novel was translated by Howard Goldblatt who has been acknowledged as the foremost translator of modern and contemporary Chinese literature in the West. The English version of Wolf Totem has also enjoyed well acceptance by western readers so far. The present thesis chooses Goldblatt's translated version of Wolf Totem as a case to study in order to figure out how Goldblatt exercises his subjectivity during translation and why his version has been so well accepted by western readers. Based on the judging method put forward in the foregoing chapter, the thesis first probes into the major factors influencing Goldblatt's exercise of his subjectivity in selecting both the materials and translating strategies. And then, with the help of the concrete examples taken from Wolf Totem, this thesis explores how Goldblatt endeavors to strike a balance between"fidelity"and"treason"on both linguistic and cultural level. At last, the present thesis concludes that during the process of translation, Goldblatt followed advisable advices from his patrons, adapted the novel to target readers'tastes as well as the current ideology and poetics in western world,did a good job in conveying the elements of the original to the target readers and stroke a balance between"fidelity"and"treason". All these efforts finally contributed to the success of the English version of Wolf Totem. These findings are expected to promote further studies in this field and shed light on translating and spreading Chinese contemporary literature to the western world.