On Translator's Subjectivity In The Two Chinese Versions Of Pride And Prejudice

In the West, historical literature recordation which can be traced back to ancient Rome testified to the existence of translation research. Some contents related to translation can be found in the works of ancient scholars such as Cicero and Horace. However, until 1950s, so many researchers had all brought their focus on the only question of"how to translate". That is, during that period of more than two thousand years, the translation scholars in the West had always followed the specific questions correlated with translation actions with interest, for example,"literal translation"or"liberal translation","translatability"or"untranslatability", etc, and most of the researches came from their own translation practice and direct experience. But as far back as 1950s, some scholars such as Eugene Nida, Peter Newmark and J. C. Catford who studied the translation from the standpoint of linguistics, extricated themselves from the practical experience and probed into the translation studies with linguistic theories. Since then, the linguistic school played a dominant role in the studies of translation theory. They became such a leading force that translation studies began to subordinate to the linguistics and even grew into one of the branches of comparative linguistics, applied linguistics and semantics.However, this research category in terms of text comparison and language transferring extremely restricts the initiatives of the translation subject, i.e. the translator. Therefore, the"culture turn"of translation studies since 1970s becomes an inevitable trend. Opened with James S. Holmes, the researchers of cultural school promote the contemporary translation studies in the West to a new level with unique perspectives and particular hermeneutics. The focuses shift from the question of"how to translate"to the question of"why to translate this way?"Translation is not merely considered as the transferring media of two languages any more. More and more restraining factors including the context and culture of the target language, particularly the most vigorous element in translation activities, i.e. the translator has drawn people's increasing attention.The translator is the most dynamic factor in translation. As an independent thinking entity, he or she unavoidably displays his or her subjectivities in the translation process. His or her translation thoughts, purpose, strategies and techniques as well as the personal growth and language competence greatly influence the formation of the target text. The translator as an individual decides how a specific translation assignment is to be carried out; and translators as a whole play an important role in intercultural communication and facilitating the development of human culture. However, there is still not a rather profound system in studying translators until now. Most researches on translators have focused on their linguistic competence, translation skills and functions in cultural communication, and not much attention has been paid to how the translator, as a crucial human factor, influences the translation process with his or her motivation, attitude, cultural orientation, value, prejudice, horizon, historicity and translation purpose, etc. Then different means by which the translator asserts his or her sense of self will be discussed, which include becoming an expert-translator of both the source culture and the target culture, proposing distinctive translation principles, and catering particularly to the target text reader. In view of all this, the current research has made an attempt to probe into the issue of how the translator involves him or herself in translation process and thus influences translation results. The main objective of this research is to provide an overall description of the working mechanism of the translator in the translation process with a view to facilitate the understanding of the nature of translation.Among all the novels of the English novelist Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice is the most popular and attractive one. Through so many Chinese translators and a great deal of Chinese versions, this classic novel succeeds in casting an enduring literary spell among Chinese readers. In creating so many published Chinese versions, translators Wang Keyi and Sun Zhili contribute the best ones. The former is concise, smooth and idiomatic; the latter is faithful, accurate, and full of exotic melodies. The author of this thesis groups all the participating elements of the translator in the translation process under the title of the translator's subjectivities. These subjective factors of translators exist objectively, and what they bring to their translations cannot be neglected.This thesis is composed of three parts: they are introduction, contents and conclusion. The main body is composed of three chapters. In Chapter One, The role of Translator and the Translator's Subjectivity is introduced. Section One states the changes of translator's role caused by the cultural turn in translation studies which breaks the tradition. Section Two discusses different means by which the translator asserts his or her sense of self. The Connotation of the Translator's Subjectivity and a tentative definition then is elaborated in Section Three. What the author of this thesis discusses in Chapter Two is the Elements Influencing the Translator's Subjectivity in Translating Pride and Prejudice on the standpoint of the translator him or herself. Section One deals with the Personal Growth and Individual Capability. Section Two and three discuss the Functionality of Translation and the accordingly adopted Translation Strategies respectively. In Chapter Three, on the standpoint of the object i.e. the specific literary text, the Analysis of Translator's Subjectivity Embodied in the Two Chinese Versions of Pride and Prejudice is entitled with detailed case studies and translation criticism. There are three perspectives outlined: From Linguistic Form and Structure, From Style, and From Cross-Culture.The conclusion is a summary of the author's findings in the above discussions. The author of this thesis illustrates the core topic and regards that the translation is a process in which the translator as a feeling and thinking entity participates and plays a dominant role. On the one hand, translation is the subjective hermeneutic to the source text by translators who have different experiences and language competences. On the other hand, the target text is the result of choices made by translators in terms of translation thoughts, purposes, strategies and techniques.