On Translator’s Subjectivity From The Perspective Of Fusion Of Horizons

Biancheng, masterpiece of the world famous Chinese contemporary writer Shen Congwen, is characterized by simplicity, purity, exquisitiveness, intangibility and spontaneousness, which is accredited as "an indelible pearl all through ages" at home and abroad. It has been translated in13foreign languages, circulated in more than40countries, shaking the literary circle all around the world. Throughout80years since its birth, Biancheng has two commonly studied English versions:one is The Frontier City published by Jin Di and Robert Payne in1947; the other is The Border Town by Gladys which came out first in1981and republished in2011. The author intends to employ Gladys’2011version to explore Gladys’subjectivity in translation process-the two fusions of horizons, and its impact on the TT in depth according to Gadamer’s theory of "Fusion of Horizons".Translation is a process of hermeneutic dialogue. Ascribed to the historicity of subjects and objects in translation, both of which possess their independent horizons respectively, various conflicts and fusions of those different horizons are inevitable and necessary. This thesis attaches great importance to the two decisive fusions of horizons in translation exclusively:Fusion1-the fusion of the ST’s horizon and the translator’s horizon; Fusion2-the fusion of the new horizon formed in Fusion1and the horizon of the target language/culture. First of all, the translator surrounded by his unique prejudice meets the ST with the "appealing structure", and s/he has no choice but to choose and absorb the ST, extending his/her horizon to that of the ST and then possibly generating plenty of different potential understandings. Secondly, on the premise of taking the horizon of the target language/culture into account, the translator has to fully play his/her subjective initiative to delimit the horizon produced in the first fusion in accordance with context and then formulate the TT’s peculiar horizon. Whereas due to the historicity and subjectivity of the translator’s prejudice and the indeterminacy and blanks of the ST, the ideal and perfect fusion of horizons is impossible, in this sense, fusion of horizons takes on "degrees" determining the ST’s "after-life" in exotic environment. Gladys’The Border Town is widely accepted by English readers, spreading Chinese contemporary literature and culture successfully. Based on the two stages of fusion of horizons, the author will probe into how Gladys’subjectivity is displayed during each process deeply, to be specific, how Gladys fuses her horizon with the ST’s horizon on the level of religion, culture and image-G as much as possible; and how she makes it in the fusion of form and meaning when she endeavors to fuse the new horizon generated in Fusion1with that of the target language/culture.On the grounds of detailed study of Gladys’The Border Town, the author holds that Gladys plays to full her subjective initiative and creativity of the translation subject in the fusion of horizons; and reproduces the artistics and aesthetics of the ST amazingly. Her achievement makes us realize that "fusion of horizons" is a dynamic, historical and subjective process. The translator’s subjectivity runs all through the two fusions, endowing the ST "after-life". But out of the separate particular properties of the translator and the text, fusion of horizons is bound to be a matter of "degrees". Moreover, the two steps of fusion are not unidirectional linear but bidirectional cycling, both of which interact, amend, enhance and perfect actively and positively. The last but not the least, the ST plays roles in the two fusions of horizons all the time, directly in the first fusion while indirect in the second one. In this sense, TT is the result of fusions fulfilled by the translator’s cognition and eyes for beauty based on the ST. Thus the function of the TT in target language/culture may be different from that of the ST in the original culture, both of which share the commonness as well as discrepancy and supplement one another. In other words, the TT has the feature of impendency, imprinted by the translator’s subjectivity.