A Comparative Study Of Three Chinese Versions Of Uncle Tom's Cabin: From The Perspective Of Gadamer's Philosophical Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is a subject on understanding and interpretation. The development of it from theological hermeneutics gradually to modern philosophical hermeneutics has undergone a long process. The publication of Truth and Method in 1960 symbolized its author Gadamer, a German philosopher, had become the most influential contemporary hermeneutist.There exists an intrinsic relationship between hermeneutics and literary translation studies. Translation studies from the philosophical hermeneutic angle free themselves from the traditional principles of"determinative author"and the pursuit of the only"standard"translation and provide a new insight into translation studies. According to the theory, literary translation means interpretation. Literary works and translators have their own horizons. Translators of different times understand and translate texts with their own horizons (including language, culture, religion etc.), hence diversify the interpretation. From this point, literary translation process is a fusing of horizons as well as an interpretation process. Meanwhile, the irreversibility of history determines the historicality of translation. Any translation is produced under specific social and historical conditions.Uncle Tom's Cabin has at least nine Chinese versions. This thesis carefully selects and analyzes three of these versions; they are Lin Shu & Wei Yi's A Chronicle of Black Slave's Appeals to Heaven appeared in the late Qing period, Huang Jizhong's Tangmu Dabo De Xiaowu published in the early 1980s, and Lin Yupeng's Tangmu Shushu De Xiaowu made at the beginning of the 21st century. These translations are produced in widely different backgrounds and are good representatives of their time. Previous textual studies from the angle of hermeneutics mostly studied one or two texts hence ignored the historicality of understanding and interpretation which philosophical hermeneutics emphasizes.Languages are always changing. The changes of a language reflect and record the development of society and the vicissitude of people's life. From Lin Shu & Wei Yi's concise and refined classical Chinese to Huang Jizhong's fluent and natural Chinese then to Lin Yupeng's somewhat"westernized"language, we can see the varied interpretations are in accord with translators'competence as well as their social and historical circumstances, though there are great differences in the selection of words and phrases and sentence structures in the three translations.Literary translation will never do without interpreting culture. Discussion on the different interpretations of culture in the three versions is another key point in the thesis. Domestication and foreignization are two different translation strategies when dealing with culture. From Lin Shu to Huang Jizhong and Lin Yupeng, their translations underwent a process from extremely domesticated gradually to rather foreignized. Because the original involves many religious materials, this paper specially compares the similarities and differences of the interpretation of religious materials in the three translations. Lin (& Wei)'s and Huang's translations were obviously influenced by Chinese traditional Buddhism and Daoism; Lin (& Wei)'s translation deleted most religious materials and retained those relating to the characters'setbacks, bitterness and their determination to fight back; Huang's notes are larger in number and more detailed than Lin (Yupeng)'s. Moreover, cultural misinterpretation is a special kind of interpretation as well. Since different cultural misinterpretations have their peculiar cultural background, it is necessary to correct our attitude towards misinterpretation. Different interpretations of culture are closely related to the translators and the social and historical environment.In recent years, the coexistence of several versions and retranslation of the same masterpiece have become more and more common in literary translation. What attitude should we take towards these diversified translations? In terms of the translations made in various historical conditions and with particular world spirit, philosophical hermeneutics provides theoretical foundation for the validity of their coexistence and this paper justifies it with textual analyses. Is the theory still illuminative for the various interpretations of the same masterpiece made in the same period? Further explorations are needed. Nevertheless, a translator has to realize his responsibilities, improve his language competence and try to make good translation to meet the needs of time.