On The Elaboration Of Translator's Subjectivity From The Practice Of Yen Fu's Translation

In this paperⅠmake a detailed study into Yen Fu's translated workTian Yan Lun through whichⅠtry to find out the main factorsinfluencing the translator and his translation works so as to study thesubjectivity of translator in translating process.With the advent of modern Hermeneutics, Deconstructions,Reception Theory and Skopos Theory, "Culture Turn" emerges intranslation study. Researchers in this field came to realize the limitationsand impracticality of the so-called faithfulness and equivalence to textuallevel, and they didn't feel content with the traditional method of codeswitching, for such translated works couldn't be guaranteed to maintainits excellence in the target language and culture, such translated workscouldn't be well received by the target text readers, such translated workscouldn't attain translator's translation skopos.As it is all known that the late 20th century represented a markedshift towards translation study heavily influenced by cultural studies.Since the research scope fundamentally changed, translation study istremendously broadened and deepened. The translator's status as thesubject of translation has been widely acknowledged and the translator'ssubjectivity has been attracting more and more attention. Translation is a very complex communicative act. The translatorplays an indispensable and irreplaceable role in this complicated activity.It is the translator who translates the cream of foreign literature into hisown language and introduces it to his compatriots. The translatorconducts the code-switching between two different languages andreproduces the content and spirit of the source text into the target text.This thesis takes the practice of Yen Fu's translation as an example,analyzing the influence of his subjectivity, including his translationintention, translation strategies, translation skopos and aesthetic beliefs. Itgoes further to discuss some factors that manipulate translator'ssubjectivity in the process of translation. After that, translation theoriesput forth by Michael Foucault and Andre Lefevere are discussed in detailto help analyze the translator's subjectivity elaborated in Yen Fu's work.Finally, it boils down to the conclusion that only by forming correctaesthetic beliefs, cultural stance, translation skopos and ideologicalattitude, can a translator bring his subjectivity into full and correct playand adopt appropriate translation strategies to produce excellenttranslation works.This thesis makes a study into the practice of Yen Fu's translationfrom the perspective of translator's subjectivity, attempting to attractmore academic interest in translators as the subject of translationactivities. This thesis has altogether 6 parts. Chapter One takes a study of practice of Yen Fu's translation. The second chapter analyzes the factorsthat affect the success of Yen Fu's translation. Chapter Three makes ananalysis of relation between ideology and translation. And the study oftranslator's subjectivity is mainly expounded in the following chapter.After the review of the traditional translation theories, the thesis discussesthe role of the translator in the process of translating, and then moves tostudy the subjectivity of the translator and AndréLefevere's "rewriting"view. Theoretically speaking, Hermeneutics confirms translators'creativity and emphasizes translators' active interpretation of literary texts,which implies that the translator is not a passive recipient of meaning butan active and creative agent in the making of meaning. The author of thisthesis takes the social factors into consideration and advances the ideathat translator is manipulated by multi-social factors such as politicalideology, cultural deposits, historical tradition and social ethics, whichgives us a clearer understanding of translator's subjectivity, and then theauthor gives a further discussion about it and a case study of Yen Fu'stranslation practice. After that, some suggestions are proposed to thetranslators in the same chapter. Lastly it is believed that the subjectivityof the translator has become a prominent issue in contemporarytranslation studies. This study can help improve our understanding of thesubjectivity of the translator, the understanding of the nature oftranslation and the role played by translators in translating. The thesis concludes that only when the translator becomes the real manipulator,who can correctly recognize the role he plays in translating process, canhe give a full play to his subjectivity and make further progress to bringabout wonderful translated works. The author of this thesis holds that agood translator should have awareness of the time, proper strategy as wellas good self-consciousness.