Translator' Faithfulness Under Translation Ethics

The past several decades have seen the great development and prosperity of translation studies. And translation studies has undergone three periods:pre-linguistics period, linguistics period and cultural studies period. The debate of "word-for-word" and "sense-for-sense" translation and "equivalence" are the main concerns in the first two periods. And the prerequisite for the discussion of main problems in the two periods is the recognition of the authority of the original text. After translation studies has taken the cultural turn, the deconstructionist argues that translation is a kind of rewriting. Thus the authority of the original text is being greatly challenged. What is more, being faithful to the source text or the author which has dominated the translation circle for many years is questioned as well.As an important issue in translation circle, the position of "faithfulness" should not be overthrown, but its connotation should be enriched and enlarged from a new angle. Andrew Chesterman's five models of translation ethics are about discussions of ethics which is compatible with the concept of faithfulness. And the present thesis is a reconsideration of "faithfulness" under translation ethics and aims to redefine it from the perspective of five models of translation ethics.This thesis is composed of three chapters besides the introduction and conclusion. The introduction focuses on the discussion of research background, research questions and research significance. A brief statement on the main concern of each translation period is made and the necessity of rethinking faithfulness is demonstrated as well in this chapter.Chapter One outlines the translation criteria both in China and in western countries which dominate the academic circle for many years. Several important translation scholars and their ideas and observations on translation are mentioned here. In the literature review of translation theory, it adopts Luo Xinzhang's observation on Chinese translation theory. He thinks that China has a translation system of its own, and the development line is "following the original—pursuing faithfulness—spiritual resemblance—sublimation". Nida's equivalence and Newmark's semantic translation and communicative translation are mentioned in the review of western translation theories.Chapter Two is the framework of this thesis. An overview of the scholars who advocate translation ethics are provided here firstly. And then in accordance with Andrew Chesterman's five models of translation ethics, this chapter works out five models of faithfulness.Chapter Three shifts the focus from framework to case study. Firstly, it gives a brief introduction to the author, the two translators and their ideas on translation. And then a comparison of two Chinese versions of Tess ofthe D'Urbervilles is made both from the extra-text and text under the framework of five models of faithfulness. The conclusion outlines the limitations and further suggestions of this study.The case study has proved that "faithfulness" under translation ethics is feasible to assess a translator's activity. Furthermore, it can evaluate a translator's activity more thoroughly and utterly for it reveals the relationship between the translator and the text as well as the wider world. So when it is applied in the comparison of different translation versions, the result of the comparison will be more objective. It is hoped that the thesis can provide a new perspective to the research into the concept of faithfulness and enrich the research on translation versions of Tess of the D'Urbervilles.