Inter-Subjectivity: A New Perspective For Interpreting Yang Hsien-Yi And Gladys Yang's English Version Of Hong Lou Meng

Hong Lou Meng(HLM) is not only the epitome of the art of Chinese classical literature but also an unprecedented masterpiece in the world. How to make this "encyclopedia" novel of Chinese feudal society well-known to the exotic world is worth researching.After the publication of the complete English version of HLM-A Dream of Red Mansions(ADRM) translated by Yang Xianyi and his British wife Gladys Yang from 1978-1980,a wide variety of scholars have conducted research on it from different perspectives and have yielded encouraging results but at the same time lacking systematic analysis with guiding principles and theoretical basis to deepen the understanding of the version. On the basis of the previous studies,therefore,this thesis attempts to explore ADRM from the perspective of inter-subjectivity in philosophy.With the transition from subjectivity to inter-subjectivity in philosophy and literature domain,the emergence of descriptive approach and the cultural turn in translation,inter-subjectivity has become the hot topic of discussion in translation studies.From the perspective of inter-subjectivity,translation activity is seen as a dialogue of communication between or among subjects,such as the source text author (STA),the characters and the world in the source text(ST),the translator, the target text readers(TTR) of the target text(TT),the patronage,etc.,in which they identify and respect each other,rather than the subject conquering the object.The plural subjects having different pre-understandings and horizons,their interpretations of ST are also various and different.A true,sincere,correct and comprehensible translation works under the guidance of four validity claims(namely, truth claim,sincerity claim,correctness claim and comprehension claim) requires the fusion of their pre-understandings and horizons.By analyzing the dialogues among subjects in translation-the writing subject(STA),the translating subject(the translator),the characters in ST,the world,the co-operative subject(the co-operator of the translator) and the operational subject(the patronage) on the basis of the theory of inter-subjectivity,this thesis tries to explore ADRM at macro-level and micro-level.The selection of ST and edition,the book title translation,the volume division,the employment of notes and the application of sound system as well as the adoption of publisher's note represent the macro-level dialogue.At micro-level,on the one hand the translator has a discussion with the translation of some fictional characters' personality,social property,social status,psychological activity and behavior as well as their world where they live,and on the other hand the translator's choices of translation strategy,purpose and translating process are influenced,manipulated and constrained by the impact of out powers and the acceptance and recognition of TTR.It also represents the inter-subjectivity-towards the dialogical subjectivity.It turns out that the popularity of ADRM enjoyed both at home and abroad is attributed not only to common dispositions,profound knowledge and culture cultivation of STA and the translator but also to the translator's successful mediation of inter-relationships among the plural subjects and translator's total harmonious understanding of intrinsic feature of translation activity-mutual inter-subjectivity by adopting an integrated framework in which the dialogic principle stands as theoretical basis,the multiple human participants as joint base points, the socio-cultural environments as background,and the texts as end-result with the aim to faithfully broadcast the Chinese culture and improve TTR' level.It also represents plural subjectivities of a single subject.This thesis applies inter-subjectivity to the investigation of ADRM so that our research not only is meaningful in the sense of contributions to both furthering the research on ADRM and theory of translation,but also proves helpful to the healthy development of modern translation criticism and has important theoretical significance in some deviations in translation.