Comparative Study On The Two English Versions Of Lao Can You Ji

Lao Can You Ji, as one of the four denouncing novels in late Qing period written by Liu E, enjoys international fame because of its thematic achievement and high artistic value. It was among the first Chinese classical novels that were translated into English. Among them, Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang's version and Harold Shadick's version are the two most popular English versions of the novel.Although there appeared many translations of the novel, there seldom appeared academic studies on its English versions both at home and abroad and few scholars have researched on how the English versions of the novel were received in the western world. None of the only few existing studies connected the reception of the English version of the novel with translator's subjectivity for research. They still did their research from the issue of textual transformation and left translator, the subject of the translation, in peace. In fact, the translator plays a decisive role in the process of translation. He will inevitably leave his trace in his translation. This thesis tries to study the two English versions of Lao Can You Ji translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang, and Harold Shadick from the angles of translator's subjectivity and the of the translation.The cultural turn in translation studies in 1970s brought translator's subjectivity into new light. Modern hermeneutics provided firm foundation for the research of translator's subjectivity. George Steiner applied translator's subjectivity to the study of translation process—hermeneutic motion. The hermeneutic motion embodies translator's subjectivity to the greatest extent. It provides a new perspective and theoretical foundation for the study of translator's subjectivity. The thesis will focus on how the two translators demonstrate their subjectivity through Steiner's hermeneutic motion. After an investigation of how the two translations are received in the target culture, the thesis makes a tentative study on the relation between reception of the two versions in the west and translator's subjectivity on the base of hermeneutic motion.The two translators'experience, personality, preference and linguistic competence lead them to demonstrate their subjectivity differently. Upon the whole, Shadick tends to foreignize the source text while the Yangs would like to domesticate the original in the process of hermeneutic motion. That is to say, Shadick's subjectivity is demonstrated in his foreignization translation while Yang's subjectivity is manifested in his domestication translation. Owing to their different ways to display their subjectivity, the two English versions receive different reception. The investigation reveals that Shadick's foreignized translation has better reception than Yang's domesticated translation. Shadick's foreignized translation includes more cultural specifics in it. Yang's domesticated translation is more fluent and helps the readers avoid interruption by extra annotation in reading it. But both Shadick and Yang endeavor to pave a smooth way for the target readers to comprehend the translation and appreciate Chinese culture in the translation easily. Both of the two versions show their respective translators'subjectivity in making their translations as loyal as possible. From this, the author concludes that Shadick's translation is accepted more easily by the foreign readers for his subjectivity is demonstrated in foreignizing way while Yang's translation is not accepted so well as Shadick's because of his domesticating way to display his subjectivity.