Translator's Role In Literary Translation

This dissertation attempts to investigate the role of a translator in literary translation with the help of the reception theory. The operational translation process includes three major steps: the reception step in which the translator reads and understands the original work; the formulation step in which the translator produces the TL text; and the revision step in which the translator reviews the translated work. Correspondingly, the translator invariably assumes the triune role as a reader, a formulator and a reviewer respectively.The dissertation consists of six chapters. In the first chapter, the paper introduces the reception theory. Then in the second chapter, it examines the triune role of a translator. In the third, on the basis of the reception theory, it investigates the translator's role as a reader and the main factors that have a bearing on the translator as he reads the original work. Next, the relationship between the translator as the formulator of the TL text and his readers, and the way he constructs the meaning are examined. The dissertation holds that the translator should take his readers into account when he is formulating the TL text, and that he should put himself in his prospective readers' shoes to review his own work. Finally, the paper defines a qualified translator.In the end, the paper concludes: (1) the perfect fusion of horizons is inapplicable, but the maximum fusion is practical for the sake of the discrepancy in it; (2) retranslation of classic literary works should be encouraged; (3) a qualified translator should have linguistic and literary competence, as well as cultural consciousness.Essentially, the paper is a reader-oriented approach to translation.