The Dynamics Of Translator’s Subjectivity

With the advent of “cultural turn” in western translation studies, the principle oftranslation has gradually shifted from “faithfulness/equivalence” to the performanceof translator’s subjectivity in translating. Translators are no longer considered inferiorto the original texts or authors, but are considered as the creative subjects. Since theresearch on translator’s subjectivity started in recent years, does this mean thetranslator couldn’t exert his/her subjectivity before? Furthermore, for the sametranslator, especially one who has gradually gained his/her fame, does the translator’ssubjectivity in his/her early translated works differs from that in his/her later ones?Based on the two questions, the author of this thesis puts forward a hypothesis that thescale of a translator’s subjectivity ranges from0to10, including0and10. In thishypothesis,0means that the translator is completely invisible, which is an ideal stateproposed by the traditional view; while10means just the opposite where thetranslator fully performs his/her subjectivity.Tales of Hulan River and Wolf Totem are two special translated works of HowardGoldblatt. The translation of Tales of Hulan River was begun in mid-1975, and thefirst translated edition was published in1979, when researches on translator’ssubjectivity just started; while the translation of Wolf Totem was begun in2005andwas published in2008, when the translator’s subjectivity has been studied by manyscholars in many aspects. Meanwhile, Tales of Hulan River is the first Chinese noveltranslated by Howard Goldblatt, while Wolf Totem was translated when he had alreadygained fame. Furthermore, Tales of Hulan River (2002edition) and Wolf Totem areobviously different on the macro level: the former is translated nearly word by word,while the latter is much shorter compared with the Chinese version, with over20%ofthe original contents omitted. The thesis aims to make a comparative analysis of the two translated works ofHoward Goldblatt in terms of initiative, passivity and self-regard of translator’ssubjectivity and to test the hypothesis by analyzing these two translated works. Theresearch shows that even though the research on translator’s subjectivity began in the1970s, translators cannot avoid exercising their subjectivity in the process oftranslation. And for the same translator, he/she will neither be fully restricted by thefactors such as the original text or the author, nor could he/she get rid of theirinfluences. It is impossible for the translator to be completely invisible or to fullyexert his/her subjectivity. Translator’s subjectivity is a unity of initiative, passivity andself-regard. The research also reveals that many elements should be balanced in theprocess of translation, which makes higher requirements for the translator. Meanwhile,when making evaluation of translation, one should consider the final presentation ofthe translated work as well as analyze the reasons ascribed to the accomplishment ofthe work.