The Construction Of Gender Identity In Chinese Feminist Translation

Bringing the aspect of"gender"into translation studies, feminism gave fresh impetus to the"Cultural Turn"for translation studies in 1990s. From a gender-studies angle, a number of issues are entangled with language and translation: cultural gender differences, the formulation of gender differences in language, the revelation of gender ideology and translation, etc.Translation and women have been long associated with each other for they both occupy peripheral positions. The conventional view holding sway is that a translation is considered a secondary work dependent on, and subservient to, the original text, just as women are assigned dependent functions under patriarchal power. Unsatisfied with the notion that translator, translation and women are all relegated to the inferior class, feminist translators do their utmost to cast away the conventional sexism ideas in translation studies and social ideology. The core of feminist translation theory is:"identify and critique the tangle of concepts which relegates both women and translation to the bottom of the social and literary ladder"(Simon 1996:1).In order to realize the dream to overthrow patriarchal domination and make themselves visible, feminist translators seek to emphasize their identity and ideological stance in the translation project. Due to different objective conditions, cultural and political institutions and ideologies, feminist translators from different nations inevitably take on their unique look and employ different approaches.Chinese feminist translators and Western feminist translators adopt different approaches and methods of translation respectively in response to their dissimilar personalities, unique cultural backgrounds and various traditions of translation. Although Chinese feminist translators are naturally milder in personality and writing styles, in order to make themselves visible, they also adopt non-conventional approaches; however, the discreetness and implicitness still exist in their translation practice. Compared with the radicalness of Western feminist translators and their strong sense of mission to overthrow patriarchal domination in literature, Chinese feminist translators are prone to adopt relatively mild and conservative translation...