An Analysis On The Influence Of Feminism On Translation Translation

The nineteenth century has witnessed the rise of the feminism in Western countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States, etc. The feminist movement then focused on the issue of women obtaining their political right, realizing their self-independent idea and seeking their own pursuit. Such feminist thoughts were fully embodied in the works of the19th century writers. With the further development of feminist movement, people began to rethink the concept of gender. Feminist thought not only had its great influence on politics, but also on the society and academia. Translation studies owed a great deal to the introduction of feminism, as it had widely expanded the scope of exploration, and the translator’s subjectivity was manifested.Traditionally, the translator had not been paid due attention. A translator was regarded as "servant", and the translation work he engaged is a kind of "dancing with the fetters". And the female translator was even treated as "servant’s servant". In the1980s of the20th century, translation studies had experienced the "cultural turn", more and more scholars at home and abroad began to show concern for the translator’s subjectivity, and they adopted different approaches to their studies. Feminism has brought the aspect of ’gender’ into translation theories including the aim of theory, basis of research, theory strategy and practice approach, broadening the studies of translator’s subjectivity. Feminist translators emphasized that translation was a political activity with the purpose of striving for a due position for women and translators in society. The feminist translation theories have adjusted the irrationality of the traditional translation theory. From the perspective of feminism, feminist translators think that they are entitled to question the original text:if the point of view of the source text is opposite to that of the feminist, they can interfere with the source text and do some revision to it. At present, the feminist translation thought has aroused many people’s attention. There are few systematic and complete introduction of translator’s subjectivity from the perspective of feminist translation, let alone its application in the English-Chinese translation practice. Thus it’s quite necessary to make a profound research in this aspect.From the perspective of feminist translation theories, this thesis tries to make a systematic and detailed comparative study of the two Chinese versions of Jane Eyre. As the novel Jane Eyre, the best literary production made by female novelist Charlotte Bronte, is full of feminine features. One of the versions was translated by Wu Junxie (male) and another by Zhu Qingying (female). This paper discloses the features of translators of different gender on translation strategy and practice, especially the feminist features of female translator. In this way, the thesis tries to uncover the introduction of feminist translation studies in China as well as its application in practice.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction of the rise of feminism in the West and the gradual development of feminist translation theory. It has also made a brief research on the process of western feminism, gender and translation combined together. Then the aim and structure of the thesis are elaborated. Chapter Two is literature review. It has sorted out the feminist translation theory. It also explores the notion of feminist translation and its relationships with translator’s subjectivity. Then it summarizes its development and acceptance both at home and abroad. Chapter Three plays as the theoretical foundation of this thesis. It makes a detailed introduction and analysis of the feminist translation theories adopted in this thesis. The most important part is Chapter Four. The author attempts to analyze and apply feminist translation studies into practice. First of all, it makes an analysis of the feminism embodied in the novel Jane Eyre. Then and more importantly, it makes a comparative study between the two Chinese versions. Through specific examples, the author tries to find out whether feminist elements can be traced from translators of different gender, as during the course of translation, they will, consciously or unconsciously, expose a certain attitude or position. Besides that, a further analysis is made on the specific strategies or methods employed by the feminist translator to manipulate the source text so as to make his/her idea "visible" in the translated version. Through a series of case analysis, the thesis states that the translator’s subjectivity mainly displayed in his/her understanding of translation and choice of the translated version. For the purpose of representing the feminist elements in the source text, the translator has adopted unique language style and feminist language so as to show the feminist identity. Chapter five is the conclusion. It will point out the author’s findings, the significance of feminist translation theories, its limitations and some points to be further researched in the future.