A Comparative Study On Two Chinese Versions Of Wuthering Heights From The Perspective Of Feminist Translation Theory

Feminist translation theory is produced and developed under the circumstance of the emergence of "culture turn" movement. Feminists combine the translation theory and feminism together, and form a special translation theory and strategy with female feature. Feminist translation theory provides a theoretical foundation to feminists and female translators, and supports female rebellion to social conventions. It helps to emphasize female's influence to the society, eliminate the gender discrimination, and make female get the equal treatment.For the purposes of finding the differences between male translators and female translators, the present study focuses on the comparison of the two Chinese versions of Wuthering Heights from the perspective of feminist translation theory. It is also discussed the effect of female consciousness and the influence of translated texts' styles by comparing the differences. The original text Wuthering Heights written by female writer Emily Bronte contains obvious feminist features. The translated versions are respectively translated by Zhang Ling & Zhang Yang (female) and Fang Ping (male). By means of the comparative study from four aspects, namely the prefaces of the translated version, the dialogue in the novel, the character depiction and the description about dirty words, this thesis demonstrates the differences between female translators and male translators, and manifests that what's kind of strategy of feminist translation theory will be employed by female translators. It's often said women will understand women better, therefore, feminist translators prefer to translate women writer's works, for the purpose of advocating their viewpoints and talent. As female translators, Zhang Ling & Zhang Yang translate the works with strong feminist awareness, hence they are more sensitive when they encounter some gender related words or concepts. Wuthering Heights depicts a masculinity-oriented society:people's minds were restricted in the shackle of paternal sense of hierarchy and sexual stereotype, and their freedom and liberation stagnated. Without power and identity, those marginalized proletarians and feminists were incapable of governing their lives. When translating this sort of works, female translators prefer to employ the strategies and methods of feminist translation theory, and rewrite those gender related words or sentences. However, male translator Fang Ping focuses on the translation effect of the novel. He draws more attention on the character depiction and the storyline rather than advocates the ideas of the author. He also applies some strategies as female's to achieve the best translation, but from different angles, because female translators are aiming to maintain the interest of female.Based on feminist translation theory and analysis on different translated texts, this thesis attempts to evoke people's attention about female and female studies, erase the gender discrimination and achieve the real equity of gender. It finally draws a conclusion that female translators and male translators do have different emphases and angles in the process of translation, especially when they translate the works with feminist features like Wuthering Heights. To some extent, this thesis will be helpful to the research and development of feminist translation theory in China.