On Translation Subjectivity In Drama Translation

In this paper, the author attempts to study the translation subjectivity in the translation of Thunderstorm from the perspective of Communicative Action Theory proposed by Jurgen Habermas. And in the framework of the theory, this paper tries to define what translation subjectivity is and how translator’s subjectivity and inter-subjectivity work during the translation process through the case study.Translation subjectivity has been increasingly popular since the "Cultural Turn". At first, the focus is on the translator’s subjectivity in the Western world, and with more and more Western scholars divert their attention to this field, many influential theoretical works emerge. Thus, a lot of translators and scholars begin to conduct relevant studies in China from various perspectives.Within the Theory of Communicative Action, translation is a communication between all subjects, and the purpose of communication is to reach consensus and mutual understanding. Through the in-depth analysis in the translation of Thunderstorm, it has been found that:firstly, drama translation is a kind of communicative action in which the translator plays an indispensible role through language and it involves many subjects including the original writer, the translator, the co-translator (if there is any), characters in text and the target receiver. Thus, translation subjectivity can be understood as the translator’s subjectivity and inter-subjectivity; secondly, to produce a successful and accepted translation, it is necessary for the translator to communicate and negotiate with the original playwright and the target audience to reach consensus and mutual understanding. This paper includes five parts. The first part is the introduction including the literature review and the objectives and significance of this paper. The first chapter is the theoretical foundation. It begins from the definition of subject and subjectivity in translation and the discussion about various understandings of translation subjectivity to find out some problems and to present the author’s understanding of translation subjectivity; then introduces the Theory of Communicative Action and its application in translation studies to redefine the translation subjectivity.The second chapter deals with drama translation. The author firstly clarifies the specific study object in this paper. The features of dramatic text are presented for further detailed analysis. And then the nature of drama translation within the framework of Communicative Theory is discussed and how translators’subjectivity and inter-subjectivity work during translating is explained. The last section provides the principle and strategies to solve the problems in drama translation.Chapter Three is the case study and the main part of this paper. The author gives many examples from Thunderstorm to analyze the translation of two major compositions of dramatic text:directions and dialogues. Through the analysis, it can be found that the full play of translators’subjectivity must be based on the inter-subjectivity. The last part is the conclusion. In this part, the significance and limitations of this study are pointed out.