On Arthur Waley’s Translation Of The Travels Of An Alchemist From The Perspective Of Translator’s Subjectivity

Translation, as a practical activity, has always been in the cultural exchanges. However, as one of the most active and energetic factors, translators were regarded as the tools of language transfer and were in the position of the edge. From the 1970s, with the latest research of philosophy, aesthetics, linguistics, semiotics, literature and other disciplines, translators enriched and deepened people’s understanding on translation, and expanded the field of translation studies, which made translation activity gradually took its own position. As a result, researches who study translators especially translator’s subjectivity are more and more. The subjectivity of translator refers to translator’s initiative that manifested in the whole process of translation with the aim of achieving certain translation purpose under certain conditions and constraint of subject. Related theories are Hermeneutics, Skopos theory and Manipulation theory and so on.The Travels of an Alchemist is a book which records the experience of Qiu Chuji’s travel from Shandong to Samarkand to teach the ways of protecting life to Genghis Khan. It is written by Qiu Chuji’s disciple Li Zhichang and finished in 1228.Its full name is The Travels of an Alchemist:The Journey of the Taoist Chang Chun from China to the Hindukush at the Summons of Chingiz Khan(《一个道士的行记：在成吉思汗召唤下长春真人从中国到兴都库什山的旅程》)It is translated with an introduction by Arthur Waley and was published by George Routleadge & Sons, LTD. in 1931. Many scholars did some research on Waley’s achievement in Chinese poetry translation, few studies has been done on this special literal work.The author of this thesis tries to make an analysis on The Travels of an Alchemist and Auther Waley’s English version from the perspective of translator’s subjectivity. Translator’s subjectivity is analyzed both from the initiative factors and passive factors. Initiative factors include the selection of source text, the selection of the target reader and the selection of translation strategies and so on. Passive factors are translator’s bilingual competence and reader awareness and so on. Then the author select some examples from Waley’s English version of The Travels of an Alchemist to analyze Waley’s translation strategies adopted in his translation, by analyzing the strategies, the author aims to explore Waley’s subjectivity in his process of translation.The study helps the readers understand The Travels of an Alchemist and Waley’s English version more accurately. The selection of translator’s subjectivity enriches the study of this perspective in practice, and remotes its development to some extent. Moreover, because The Travels of an Alchemist is an important and significant classical works of Taoism, the study of The Travels of an Alchemist and Waley’s English version may contribute to the development of Taoism and the spread of Taoist thought, and promote the exchange of Chinese culture and Western culture to some extent.