A Tentative Study On Wang Rongpei's Poetry Translation: From The Perspective Of Translator's Subjectivity

Traditional translation studies tend to focus on "faithful linguistic transference" or "dynamic equivalence" , and at the same time it neglected the study of the most active factor-the translator and his subjectivity. Since the "cultural turn" in 1970s, translator's marginalized position has been raised to the centre as a culture disseminator and history participant. However, the present study always laid stress on the macro theoretical analysis and position of translators, which seems to be weak in the micro study and exploration on a specific translator. In order to deepen the study on translator's subjectivity, it is quite necessary to study from a specific case, from individual to general, and combine case study with systematic research.This thesis is intended to make a study on Wang Rongpei's poetry translation theory and practice from the perspective of the translator's subjectivity. Meanwhile the author tries to investigate the role of the translator's subjectivity in the process of translation by analyzing the personal subjective factors-particularly his philosophical thoughts, translation motivation, translation principles so as to find out how these factors influenced his choice of source text and translation strategies as well.Through a detailed analysis of Wang Rongpei's subjective factors in his translation activity, the author tries to explore Wang's subjectivity reflected in his poetry translation theory and practice. Based on his great grasp of English lexicology and long-term translation activity, he has formed a set of feasible translation skills and specific writing style. He has always showed special fondness and enjoyed high reputation for Chinese Classic Works. His translation motivation is to show the world the essence of the authentic traditional Chinese culture, that's why he chose a large number of Classic Philosophical works as well as his endeared ancient poetry & local operas as his translation objects. He has followed his own translation principles in his translation practice and invariably adhered to his supreme goal to be "vivid in description and faithful in meaning". He employed both domestication and foreignization with skillfulness in his translation practice to increase the acceptability of his translated works among western readers, fulfilling the task of spreading the Chinese culture to the world. With his representative work 'Tao Yuanming's Poetry" as a case study, the author tries to analyze how Wang's subjectivity successfully influenced his rendering from such three aspects as realization of "three beauties", transference of cultural images, as well as .reproduction of literary style.In short, Wang' poetry translation embodies beauties in form, sound and sense. His plain and natural language, fresh and fluent style-"describing the most common things in the language of common people" accord with his principle of translation-"being vivid in description and faithful in meaning."Mr. Wang has made a great achievement in poetry translation and spreading Chinese culture. He is a loyal advocator and practitioner in the field of Chinese Classics in English translation, so to combine his poetry translation theory and practice with the study of translator's subjectivity is not only a brand-new subject, but also deserves the attention of other scholars to do further research in this aspect.