A Study Of Yang Bi’s Translations From The Perspective Of Feminist Translation Theory

This dissertation is devoted to a tentative exploration to Yang Bi’s translations from the perspective of feminism.Feminism has received a lot of attention since its emergence. It is the wakening of women’s self-awareness. The feminists advocate the equality between men and women. They exert every effort to subvert the traditional social hierarchy which highlights male dominance; besides, feminists strive for women’s right of speech. The writer of this thesis holds that the developments of feminist movements enable women to look outside the household and care for their own needs. Women no longer consider themselves as derivatives to men but as independent individuals. Thus, more rights and opportunities are demanded for women to have access to more choices and freedom in their lives.It is well acknowledged that feminism has exerted a far-reaching influence in many fields, such as politics, economy and literature. However, feminism merely served as a perspective for literature criticism before it infiltrated into the translation field. The feminist translators aim to emphasize the status of translation as feminists aim to emphasize the status of the female. The feminist translators develop certain translation intervention strategies to rewrite the original work so as to make women’s voice heard in translation. Since women and men are different in language use, the feminist translators use language to make female gender visible and identifiable. The feminist translation is a bold act as it redefines the principle of "faithfulness","betrayal". Some radical feminist translators even use the process of translation as a political end.Yang Bi is a representative translator in China; her gender identity and her exquisite craftwomanship in translation ensure her an irreplaceable place in the Chinese translation world. Yang Bi’s translated work Castle Rackrent and Vanity Fair, especially the latter, have been considered the example of quality translation and are worth repeated appreciation. The writer holds that with regard to the translator’s gender identity, it is worthwhile examining Yang Bi’s translations from the perspective of feminism.This dissertation aims to determine whether Yang Bi’s translation is influenced by her gender identity and the manifestations of the influence. To carry out this study, the writer adopted several steps below.First, the writer of this dissertation starts with analyzing the source of Yang Bi’s feminism by conducting a general review of her whole-life experiences; then the writer carries out a careful text analysis on the feminist translation strategies adopted. The efforts are given to indentify the manifestations of Yang Bi’s female identity. Through a careful analysis, it can be drawn that Yang Bi is not a radical feminist translator, but she does adopt feminist translation strategies in her translations. Besides, her female identity is manifested, on the several levels of language. This study provides a new perspective for the study on Yang Bi’s translations. Apart from that, it also gives certain indications of translation study from the perspective of feminism.