A Critical Study Of Feminist Translation Theory

In the history of translation, the relationship between the original writer and the translator is in a hierarchical order, just as that between men and women in the history. The translator has been in the authoritative shadow of the author for thousands of years. With the culture turn of translation studies in the 1980s and the flourishing development of feminism in the western countries, feminist translation theory has ascended the stage of history. Contemporary translation theory re-interprets translation and redefines the relationship between the original writer and the translator, and that between the original and the translation, and it claims that translation is production, not reproduction. Based on it, feminism merges the issue between men and women into contemporary translation studies. In specific practice, feminist translators emphasize the creative adaptation and even rewriting of the original in the perspective of feminism and have put forward their relevant translation strategies, such as supplement, preface & footnoting and hijacking. The birth of feminist translation theory has undoubtedly positive and practical significance. It provides a new angle for people to re-think the deficiency in the traditional translation theory, such as the supreme authority of the original text, the translator's invisibility, and fidelity as the highest standard for translation. It has not only broadened people's research field, but also injected fresh blood for translation study. However, some feminist translators'radical behavior in translation makes the other extreme—the supreme authority of the translator/women, invisibility and even death of the original writer/men. Over-emphasis on the translator/women's subjectivity, not only has caused a certain degree of negative impact on both translation theory and practice, but also fails to correspond with the goal of building a harmonious society in China. Therefore, the original writer and the translator, men and women should co-exist and cooperate in order to reach one kind of common prosperity.Nowadays, scholars and researchers in China have paid extensive attention to Feminist translation theory. However, their research has mostly focused on its contributions to translation studies. Its theoretical limitations have received little attention, let alone corresponding solutions. Some scholars have ever introduced androgynous theory, which has played a positive role in the improvement of feminist translation theory. Besides androgyny, this thesis also tries to interpret the translator's androgynous consciousness which should be equipped in the process of translation from the perspective of Habermas's theory of communicative action. This thesis also indicates that the original writer/translator, just as men/women, should establish a rational new thought and self-adjustment in the process of communicative interaction so as to maintain a balance between these two poles and reach a harmonious state. The new angle of view not only lets us have a better understanding and explanation of the connotation of androgyny, but also plays an active role in making literary criticism and theoretical research present multi-symbiotic features. This thesis consists of six chapters. The first one is the part of introduction. The second chapter is about the literature review of feminist translation theory home and abroad, and the deficiency of the present studies. The third introduces feminist translation theory in detail and analyses its current limitations. The fourth chapter introduces androgyny and Habermas's theory of communicative action in order to improve feminist translation theory. The fifth part takes the two Chinese versions of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse as the research object, and analyses the influence of the translator's intention and consciousness over the translation. In translation practice, the translator's androgynous consciousness not only contributes to the development of feminist translation theory, but also has important practical significance. The last part is conclusion. This part briefly summarizes the main content of this thesis, and also points out the deficiency in it and offers suggestions for further research.