On The Subjectivity Of The Translator-A Comparative Study Of The Two English Versions Of Hongloumeng

Since the cultural turn in translation studies appeared, the study on the translator's subjectivity in the West has made much progress. In China the study is in the ascendant. The Chinese literary classic Hongloumeng, an encyclopedia of Chinese culture, has been translated into many different foreign languages. As English translations are concerned, there are nine English versions, among which the most influential two versions are A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang and The Story of the Stone, by David Hawkes and John Minford. Since the two authoritative English versions came out, the articles on the study of them have been coming in a steady stream. Given the disparate variations in the two English versions, the author intends to explore the manifestation of the subjectivity of the translator through a comparative study of the two translation works in detail, thus unearth the reasons for the differences from the perspective of the translator's subjectivity.This thesis starts with a history of the research on the subjectivity of translator, and a review of the viewpoints on translator's subjectivity in traditional translation theories as well as the development on this research. Then on the basis of this review, it further elaborates the concept as well as prevailing approaches of the theory of the subjectivity of the translator. It justifies the subjectivity of the translator through the added values of a translation and illustrates its necessity and significance through a detailed analysis of how the subjectivity is performed through the process of literary translation. Then this thesis gives a brief introduction of the literary masterpiece Hongloumeng, the author Cao Xueqin, as well as English translations of Hongloumeng and their relevant studies. After that, the author attempts to apply the theory of the subjectivity of the translator into the two complete versions of Hongloumeng, mainly analyzing the differences and similarities between the two versions from three aspects: the selection of source text, translating strategy and language style.As a conclusion, the dissertation intends to prove that the two English versions of the literary work Hongloumeng have the traces of the subjectivity of the translator in various ways, which, as a sign of individual creativity of the translator, is natural and inevitable. Moreover, translation is more than a scientific transformation of languages but a creative working process where the intellectual sparkles and individual creativities are actively performed.