Intersubjectivity In Literary Translation

The development of translation studies has a close connection with thesuccessive paradigm shifts from author-centeredness through text-centeredness andfinally to translator-centeredness, and the evolution of the three paradigms indicates ahistory of replacement of one center with another. Since the “cultural turn”, thetranslator’s cultural identity has been constantly explored, and the issue on translator’ssubjectivity has become a hot topic of discussion. As a result, the translator eventuallyobtained his/her visibility. However, the post-modernism trend of thoughtoveremphasized the translator’s subjective initiative in the translation process. Inaddition, and most importantly, the deconstructionists have interrogated somelong-held beliefs about traditional translation studies, such as the author’s authorityand the supposed stability of text meaning, suspending all that we take for grantedabout translation.The history of translation studies has witnessed a tremendous shift of thedevelopment of subjectivity from one extreme to another. With reflections onsubjectivity study, it is not difficult to notice that the exploration of subjectivity hasalways been confined to the thinking mode of binary opposition of subject vs. object.In other words, this thinking mode requires that where there is the emphasis of anindividual’s subjectivity, there is the neglect of other subjects, which inevitably leadsto the twilight of subjectivity. Therefore, the philosophical turn from subjectivity tointersubjectivity has great significance to translation studies, which rejects theparadigm of simple subjectivity.By systematically exploring the development from subjectivity tointersubjectivity in translation studies, this thesis points out the predicament of simple subjectivity as well as the necessity for literary translation studies to take theintersubjectivity turn. Literary translation activity, in terms of intersubjectivity,requires the interdependence, active interaction and equal communication amongcollective subjects. This thesis not only makes a horizontal study of theintersubjectivity by exploring the internal relations among the creation subject (the STauthor), the translation subject (the translator) and the reception subject (the TTreaders), but goes on a vertical analysis by dissecting the translator’s dual identity asST interpreter and TT author.Moreover, this thesis investigates the domesticating strategy Zhang Zhenyuemployed in his translation of Moment in Peking to probe into the manifestations ofintersubjectivity in literary translation. This thesis is designed to exemplify theapplicability of intersubjectivity in the study of literary translation with a case studyof Zhang Zhenyu’s translation of Moment in Peking, and to argue thatintersubjectivity may free literary translation studies from the limitations of onesimple subjectivity research paradigm, expecting to motivate scholars’ and translators’exploring more appropriate translation strategies under the guidance of theintersubjectivity theory.