The Study Of Feminist Translator’s Subjectivity From The Hermeneutic Perspective

In a broad sense, hermeneutics can be defined as the science and methodology ofunderstanding and interpreting. Some viewpoints of the hermeneutics can be utilizedin the translation researches, such as, the historicity of understanding, the openness oftext meaning and the existence of multiple interpretations. According to hermeneuticstheory, the interpreter and text have their own horizon respectively and interpretershould combine the two horizons in order to accomplish the fusion of horizons.The translator’s subjectivity refers to the subjective initiative and creativitydisplayed by the translator during the dynamic process of translation. The translator’ssubjectivity is mainly reflected in these respects: the selection of the text, theunderstanding of the text and the adoption of translation strategies. In this thesis, theauthor analyzes the feminist translator’s subjectivity under the framework ofGadamer’s philosophical hermeneutics and tries to provide a different perspective forthe translation studies.The feminist translator, from the viewpoints of hermeneutics, shows theirfeminism consciousness in their fore-understanding. Their dialogue with the originaltexts is tinted with the thoughts of feminism and the result of the dialogue is a fusionof horizons, which is the indication of their subjectivity in translation. This thesisintends to analyze the feminist translator’s subjectivity with the theoretical support ofhermeneutics. This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one is a general introduction to thethesis, including the background of the study, the research aim, the research methodand the structure of the thesis. Chapter two mainly introduces the studies on feministtranslator both in china and abroad. Chapter three states the theoretical foundation ofthe thesis. It gives thorough introduction to the hermeneutics by introducing three keyprinciples in it. Chapter Four is the study of feminist translators’ subjectivity under theframework of hermeneutics. In this chapter, the author analyzes the feministtranslator’s subjectivity showed in the selection, understanding of the original text andthe strategies and androgyny perspective applied by feminist translators. Last chapteris the conclusion. The author of this thesis believes that the understanding of theoriginal text is in deed a process of fusion of horizons. The theories in thehermeneutics are very instructive to the study of feminist translation. This chaptersummarizes the discussion in the thesis and proposes suggestions for further research.