The Analysis Of Power-Discourse In Translation

The sound and fury of translation in the past century cannot be dispensed from such basic notions as fidelity and origin. The various discussions, findings and practices in this field, the discussions on translatability or the wrestles between the translation strategies of"literal translation"(直译) and"liberal translation"(意译), all merge into the same aim to serve better the fidelity to the original. Yet with the development of the translation studies, it has finally been doubted whether there is really such an origin and why should translation be bound with fidelity to the original if there is not. The first move in such direction was the critique of"representation", which not only swayed the outdated definition imposed on translation, but also endowed translation with almost equal initiative to that of the original. Yet it has been the power-discourse theory that has systematically unveiled the mask of the origin. In the"power turn"of translation, power-discourse theory renders new insight and unique angles for observation. Exploring from the constraints imposed on the translation discourses, the"will to truth"sharply reveals the illusions of origin and ascribes it to the complicity between power and knowledge; the principle of"commentary"expounds translation within the power network and under the module of the primary-commentary text; while the principle of"discipline"sees through the dual role played by translation in both being marginalized and performing the authority of categorization. Translation is thus re-conceptualized with the inspiration from power. On the other hand, the combination of the principle of"author"with the subject constrains in translation discourses simultaneously emphases the central role of the translator and analyzes the control internalized into the translator by power manipulation. Foucault's power-discourse theory has developed an insight of its own and been so epoch-making that it has, in fact, acted as a turning point on philosophical studies and illuminated the significant developments of various philosophical schools later, one of which is post-colonialism. Yet with an inclination to theoretical research, Foucault's methods have difficulties in the concrete analysis of power in that it is, in essence, non-interpretative and non-evaluative. This thesis thus has chosen to look to post-colonialism for methodological assistance, for it is from Foucault and further than Foucault. Stemming from the notion of"historicity"which subverted the teleological historicism, it respectively discusses the...