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The Analysis And Critique Of Deconstructive Translation Ethics

Posted on:2010-07-27Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:M W HaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:2155360275984244Subject:Foreign Linguistics and Applied Linguistics
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
Recently, more and more translation theorists have noticed the importance of translation ethics in translation studies. Like each ethical theorist conceives ethics in a personal way, translation theorists cannot agree with each other about translation ethics. This thesis is to discuss translation ethics according to deconstructive approach.Traditionally, the ethical norm for translation is considered as"fidelity". The translation must faithfully show the original meaning and the author's intention, or it will be criticized as unfaithful. In spite of the shift of focus from sameness to difference in recent translation studies, most translation theorists still hold"fidelity"as the moral norm; the distinction is that they redefine"fidelity"differently. But such redefinition is far insufficient, especially when the philosophical foundation of fidelity is overthrown by deconstruction.The thesis first introduces Levinasian ethics of the Other, which is critically inherited by deconstructive ethics. Levinas strongly questions the whole western philosophical discourse, which he criticizes as the totalization of the Other and otherness. According to him, the real Other is exteriority, which cannot be reduced to the Same, and which escapes the cognitive powers of the knowing subject. It describes the relation between the Same and the Other. Thus it is also called the ethics of the Other. Derrida does not totally agree with this exteriority, but the Levinasian ethics has an obvious influence on him.Then, the thesis focuses on the ethics of deconstruction, which influences the translation ethics of deconstructive approach. Deconstruction defies the convention that a text has an exclusive and transcendental meaning, or in Derrida's word,"There is nothing outside of the text". It argues that meaning is the effect of language and can only be obtained through reading or translating. So, deconstruction proposes double reading to overthrow the traditional understanding of the text. The ethical moment of deconstruction lies in this"undecidability"of meaning, which is reflected in translation as the"relevant translation". The traditional and anti-traditional meaning found in double reading should be both presented in translation. So, deconstructive translation ethics is not all about the ethics of the Other, which focuses on differences between languages and cultures; it is also about finding a different way of understanding meaning, which is the ethics of difference.After this, Venuti's thought on translation ethics is taken as an example to show the application of deconstructive translation ethics in practice. There is an obvious tendency in Venuti's translation studies. His discussion about foreignizing and domesticating translation strategies and his"ethics of location"can be seen as realization of deconstructive translation ethics in translation practice in cultural level.In the end, the author points out that, in spite of the limit of this approach, deconstruction and its ethical thought should be considered as a powerful weapon of (self-)criticizing for translation theorists.
Keywords/Search Tags:deconstruction, translation ethics, Derrida, Venuti
PDF Full Text Request
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