Translators’ Subjectivity In Snyder’s Translated Cold Mountain Poetry From The Perspective Of Steiner’s Hermeneutics

Translators as the subject and center of translation activities have been placed in amarginalized position during the long history of the development of translation theory. Traditionaltranslation theories regard “fidelity” and “equivalence” as standards to assess translated texts, butignore the subjective and dynamic role of translators. It is a fact that no matter in translation or in allaspects of daily life, translators’ subjectivity inevitably exists. With the “cultural turn” in foreigntranslation studies in1970s and1980s, the role and status of translators have attracted more andmore attention of translation theorists abroad and home, thus the study on translators’ subjectivityhas become a heated topic. A variety of disciplines have been introduced into translation theoriesand among which the hermeneutics undoubtedly provides a new theoretical perspective for thestudy of translators’ subjectivity since it is related with understanding and interpreting meanings.George Steiner introduced philosophical hermeneutics into translation studies, and he dividedthe process of translation into four motions, namely trust, aggression, incorporation andcompensation, emphasizing on the specific correlation between comprehension and expression oftranslators during the process of translation. According to Steiner, translators have to select theoriginal version by aesthetic judgments, and be sure that the text is significant and worthwhile fortranslating. As for the aggression motion, translators enter into the translation phase, at which theymay be faced with the hostility and resistance from the source text. In order to aggressively invadeinto the source text by taking an approximate and violent interpretation and translation, translatorshave to fully exert their initiatives to reproduce the source textual and aesthetic information as wellas language style so as to convey the distinctive features of exotic culture. Finally, translatorsshould try their best to compensate the balance between the source text and the target one.Based on the fourfold hermeneutic translation motion theory proposed by George Steiner, thisstudy will embody the abstract concept of translators’ subjectivity into four concrete motions in thestudy of Snyder’s translated versions of Cold Mountain Poetry. The study aims at how translators’subjectivity exerts influence onto the translated version, thereby affirming the crucial significanceof translators’ subjectivity in translation and contributing to the study of translation process.Moreover, it provides a theoretical foundation for reestablishing translators’ positions and functions.