Analysis Of Lin Yutang's Self-translation From Perspective Of Dialogism

By introducing Bakhtin's Dialogism, this study analyzes Lin Yutang's purpose of English writing and its self-translation which are conceived as a whole in this study, expounds dialogues existing in process, and summarizes the dialogic relationship between his original and its self-translation. Dialogism, as nucleus of Bakhtin's philosophical system, is a form of architectonics. According to Bakhtin (1968,1981,1984,1990), literature can be regarded as dialogues, presented in written form, between Self and Other, as well as author and hero. Through those dialogues and value exchanges, Self's subjectivity construction is realized, which is premised on the construction of Other. Recent years, studies on Lin Yutang's literary works and translations has attained great achievements while self-translation, as an important and special part of his creation, has received little attention. However, most of the few studies on his self-translation emphasize on translation strategies and culture inclination, which divides the connection between his English composition and self-translation. This study interprets Lin Yutang's English creation and its self-translation to be two components in his subjectivity construction, and Bakhtin's unique understanding of architectonics provides a proper explanation for his activity of English writing and self-translating. His English writing projects Self'onto Other and inspects Self from the perspective of Other's value system to achieve Surplus of Seeing. Afterwards, he conducts self-translation which participates in as a return to his unique position collecting Surplus of Seeing. By doing so, he is able to form a complete self valuation and construct a whole subjectivity. Therefore, Lin Yutang's original creation and self-translation are an integrated whole of dialogue and complementation.By introducing Dialogism, the study analyzes Lin Yutang's two stages of composition. In his original composition, he commences two dialogues. One is between him and traditional Chinese culture which is realized by creating heroes in his novels. Relationship between author and hero is an important topic for Bakhtin. In order to obtain Surplus of Seeing, author struggles for the position of Outsideness through striving with hero. The other dialogue happens between Chinese culture and western culture. By setting Chinese stories and heroes into English environment, Lin Yutang examines Chinese culture from the perspective of western value system to obtain an Other's Surplus of Seeing. His self-translation is a returning step in his whole process of subjectivity construction. He forms a unique angle of view by collecting Surplus of Seeing obtained, through which he commences a dialogue with Chinese readers. In this dialogue, he represents the value of traditional Chinese culture which has been ignored or denied during that time, and conveys a sign of national pride fading away gradually in his age. The dialogue existing in self-translation also offers explanations to his great amount of supplement where Chinese culture is involved in self-translated texts in comparison with their original texts, which is perverse to self-translation of other writers.The relationship between Lin Yutang's original and self-translation is also examined in this study. These two texts comprise a dialogue which is more than the sum of its parts, and they are a couple of dialogic and complementary texts. This relationship differs from traditional definition of faith for it emphasizes differences and complementation rather than similarities.Lin Yutang builds a complete and authentic image of China to western world through subjectivity construction which is also an aesthetic activity. He makes westerners directly experience Chinese culture in their own language, and presents our precious traditional culture to his fellows to inspire their patriotic passion and national pride.This thesis consists of five parts:Chapter one is introduction. In this part, research background, purpose and outline of this thesis will be given;Chapter two is literature review. In this chapter, we will review related studies on self-translation and Lin Yutang's self-translation abroad and home. Studies on Dialogism and its application to self-translation will also be referred to;Chapter three is theoretical framework of this thesis. In this part, author will expound Bakhtin's Dialogism and explicate her understanding on it;Chapter four is an analysis of Lin Yutang's original and self-translation. In this part, author will analyze the purpose of his original creation and self-translation, elucidate the process of his original creation and self-translation, and summarize the dialogic relationship between these two texts;Chapter five is conclusion. This chapter will summarize the main findings and contribution of this study. Limitations and suggestions of further studies are to be provided as well.