The Subjectivity Reflected In Lin Yutang's Translation Of Fu Sheng Liu Ji

As a famous writer and translator, Lin Yutang made great contributions to the understanding between China and the West, especially to the introduction of Chinese culture to the world. His familiarity with Chinese culture and Western culture and his mastery of both Chinese and English made him attain great achievements in translation. It is a pity that research on Lin Yutang's translation is not fully conducted, which forms a great contrast with that on some translators' such as Yan Fu and Lu Xun, but the fact that research on Lin Yutang's translation is of great value can not be denied.The book Fu Sheng Liu Ji was written by Shen Fu, a literary person in the Qing Dynasty. Fu Sheng Liu Ji is an autobiographic story, mainly dealing with daily trifles, the jocosities and distress between husband and wife, the contradiction and conflicts between father and son, and between brothers. Its inornate and natural style of writing makes readers fascinated. There are two translated versions of Fu Sheng Liu Ji. One is the version by Lin Yutang, and the other is that by an Englishman, Shirley Black. This thesis, taking Lin Yutang's translation of Fu Sheng Liu Ji as a case study, on the one hand, tries to attract more attention to Lin Yutang's achievements in translation and on the other hand, tries to correct the false opinions held since long time ago on translators.Traditional translation theories hold that the author of the source text is authoritative, while the translator is only in a subordinate position. The translator has to be faithful or loyal to the source text, serving both the author and the reader. With the cultural turn in translation studies, contemporary translation theories such as hermeneutics, feminism translation theory and deconstructionist translation theory, believe that no matter how hard the translator may try to hide himself, to make himself invisible, his world outlook, outlook on life, values, personalities and taste will unavoidably play a part in his translation. In other words, the translator does enjoy his subjectivity in translation. Subjectivity is a concept in philosophy, referring to the alienation of the subject's essential power in its objective activity and the characteristics of the subject. The translator's subjectivity refers to the subjective initiative reflected in...