A Study On Translator's Subjectivity In The English Translation Of Classical Chinese Poetry From The Intertextual Perspective

With the development of literary theories, particularly post-modern literary theory, the theory of translator's subjectivity welcomes its prominent development. The translator's subjectivity has been improved largely, and intertextuality makes a remarkable contribution to it.In the 1960s, Julia Kristeva, a French scholar, first put forward the concept of intertextuality. After Kristeva, many scholars also developed the theory of intertextuality from different perspectives. Intertextuality provides a new perspective for translation, because translation, to some extent, is an intertextual activity. Intertextuality emphasizes creative "scissors and paste". Therefore, intertextuality and the translator's subjectivity have an interlaced relationship.Classical Chinese poetry, with a long history, delicate images and unique forms, is a great treasure which the Chinese people cherish dearly. The translation of classical Chinese poetry has long been an essential part of translation. Some famous classical Chinese poems have even been translated into numerous English versions, and "Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night" is one of them. The 35 English translations of "Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night" constitute a powerful intertextual network, which exerts enormous influence on translators. What these translators should do is to absorb the positive influence and abandon the negative influence in translating and devote themselves to producing creative translations.The poet of this seven-character quatrain "Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night" builds beautiful images through condensed and compact language. The seemingly simple poem arouses numerous different understandings, and translators translate according to their own comprehension.From four aspects, i.e. title, musical elements, image and style, the author makes a comparative analysis of the 35 English translations of "Mooring by Maple Bridge at Night". It is found that the majority of the translators can skillfully remove the negative influence imposed by intertextuality and produce creations to their translations to display translator's subjectivity.