A Study Of Translator's Subjectivity Demonstrated In Selected Tales Of The Han, Wei And Six Dynasties Periods By Yang Xianyi And Gladys Yang

In the history of translation studies in the west and China, the translator has long been excluded from the subjects of translation, as has the translator's subjectivity from the studies of translation. In pace with the cultural turn in translation studies at the end of the 1970s, studies on the translator's subjectivity have been pushed back onto the stage where they should have been. At present, numerous studies on the translator's subjectivity at home and abroad are of wide coverage. Different translation theories state and analyze the translator's subjectivity from different perspectives of theories, such as the Hermeneutics Theory, the Manipulation Theory, and the Skopos Theory and so on.Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, famous as an accomplished translation couple in China, have been dedicated to the translation of the Chinese and western literary works in their life time, and have made great contributions to the cultural exchange between China and the world. As far as the studies on the couple are concerned, most are focused on their monumental English version A Dream of Red Mansions. On the contrary, many other Chinese classics translated by them have not received due attention from the academic world. For instance, few scholars have systematically researched into their English version Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods so far.In the history of Chinese literature, fiction as a literary genre was conceived during the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties periods. Those ancient tales are large in numbers, distinctive in stylistic features and unique in creation techniques. Especially, the technique of presenting complicated phenomena through succinct narrations has deeply influenced the Chinese fiction of later times. The Yangs selected ninety representative tales from those and translated them into English, which comprises the book Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods. For its excellent organization of the tales and for its skillful translation, this English version has been held a classic enjoying a high status in the translated Chinese literature, and become an important reference for researchers on Sinology. Its significance to the spread of Chinese culture is undeniable.This thesis aims to probe into the demonstration of the translator's subjectivity in the English version Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. To reach this goal, the author intends to adopt the qualitative investigation approach, to sort out and summarize the characteristics of the tales of the Han, Wei, and Six Dynasties Periods (or Hanwei Liuchao Xiaoshuo, for convenience) and Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods, to analyze the translators' subjectivity demonstrated in the Yangs' English version by integrating translation theories concerning the translator's subjectivity, and to select and examine the typical examples by comparing the original text and the English version.This thesis will explore the whole process of the Yangs' working out Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods. To be exact, the focuses will be on the Yangs' selection of the original texts, selection of the translation strategies, selection of the style in the target language, and the actual reproduction of the original in the target language. Further, in studying the Yangs'process of reproduction, special attention will be given to the Yangs'treatment of the titles, plots, culture-loaded expressions and illusions respectively.Through the descriptive study of Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods, the author of this thesis has found that in the very English version, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang did demonstrate their subjectivity as the translators, and accordingly reproduced the original quite successfully. The author has also found that the three basic elements of subjectivity—Creativity, Restrictions and Intentionality—have all influenced the demonstration of the translator's subjectivity, which clearly confirms that the translator's subjectivity is naturally an organic unity of the three. Towards the end of the study, the author supplies the translation practice of Chinese classics with some reasonable reflections on the demonstration of the translator's subjectivity.Through this case study on the demonstration of the translators'subjectivity in the English version Selected Tales of the Han, Wei and Six Dynasties Periods by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, the author of the thesis attempts to arouse the concern of the literary circle about other Chinese classics translated by the Yangs. further promote the studies on the Yangs as translators, and make some contributions to the studies on the translator's subjectivity in translation studies.