On C-E Prose Translation From The Persective Of The Translator’s Subjectivity

Prose can be reputed as the treasure of Chinese culture for its beautiful words,rich affection and profound meaning. Unfortunately, more translators are engaged inEnglish-Chinese translation than the other way around. Translators who devote toChinese-English prose translation are even fewer and far between. In order to remedythis regret, Mr. Zhang Peiji resolutely chooses Chinese-English prose translation ashis mission, especially the translation of excellent modern Chinese prose. His majorachievement—Selected Modern Chinese Essays has been reputed as “not a textbookbut better than a textbook” for it provides Chinese scholars with abundant typicalexamples to conduct profound study on general principles and translation skills. Italso opens a window for foreign scholars to understand and study the vivid Chinesethoughts since May4thMovement.The translator, as the most important subjective factor in the translation processonce curled on the margin of the cultural systems working as the craftsman with littlepay. His subjectivity was long ignored. However, the culture turn sets off a new waveof study on the translator’s subjectivity. Under the influence of culture turn, study onthe translator’s subjectivity draws attentions of scholars from home and abroad. Withless and less shackles, the translator wins more and more subjectivity. In recentlyyears, study on this topic has gone deeper and deeper and it has been applied to theanalysis of numerous renditions as a new angle.In this regard, this thesis attempts to conduct research on Zhang Peiji’s SelectedModern Chinese Essays3from the perspective of the translator’s subjectivity. Thethesis firstly reviewed the transformation of the translator’s status—frombehind-the-curtain to the forefront; Then the paper discussed the translator’ssubjectivity and problems related to it; Later on, the author taking the translator’ssubjectivity as a angle analyzed the typical examples in Selected Modern ChineseEssays3from the macro level and micro level. On the macro level the translator’sleading role in the choice of original material, translation purpose and the choice oftranslation strategies are discussed while on the micro level the translator’s decisivepart in aspects like words, syntax and figure of speech are analyzedBased on the above research, the following conclusions can be drawn: As thesubject of the translation activities, the translator has walked from behind-the-curtain to the forefront and his corresponding subjectivity has been gradually recognized;Through the analysis of the typical examples from Selected Modern Chinese Essays3,we find Zhang’s subjectivity permeates the whole translation process, no matter thedisposition of reduplications or the application of syntactic devices like division andcombination or the reproduction of the rhetorical devices such as, simile andpersonification. Besides, factors beyond the translation process, such as, the selectionof translating materials, the confirmation of translation purpose, the choice oftranslation strategies also embody the translator’s subjective consciousness; theappropriate manifestation of Zhang’s subjectivity contributes to his beautifulrenditions and his reputation home and abroad.