Hybrid Translation Of Chinese American Literature

In recent years, with the increase of cultural interaction between China and Western countries as well as the improvement of Chinese status in the world, Chinese American Literature has drawn great attention in the academic field. From literary themes to cultural studies, the research results are flourishing. Comparatively, the Chinese American Literature translation is rarely considered by researchers. As a part of diasporic literature, Chinese American Literature reflects the conflicting and blending between different languages and cultures, which has posed a great challenge to translation. In traditional translation study, translation is considered to be a purely linguistic and impersonal process for achieving semantic equivalence. The postcolonial scholar, Homi K. Bhabha, introduces the term of "hybrid" into the postcolonial study. The hybrid theory reinterprets the language and cultural hybridity from the viewpoint of right discourse which provides a new perspective to translation studies. Therefore, further studies on Chinese Amercian literature from the perspective of hybridity are meaningful.This thesis attempts to analyze Chinese translations of Chinese American Literature from the perspective of hybridity. Through the case study of the typical novel The Women Warrior and its translation, the author figures out the problems existing in the Chinese translation. The hybridity in Chinese American literature, as the author points out, is the most typical feature of the source text which has its special functions. Chinese American writers intend to construct a cultural "third space" to present their own cultural identity and realize the fusion between Chinese and American cultures.A comparative study between The Woman Warrior and its Chinese translation has been made to reach the conclusion that the hybridity degree of the source text has been obviously lowed. The influential factors including social ideology, the subjectivity of the translator and reader acceptance will cover some of the reasons for the dehybridization. For Chinese translators, the application the domestication translation strategy is a tool to provide a natural and fluent version for the target readers. However, the over-back translation and "localization" of Chinese American literature lead to the dehybridization, which erases some of the characteristics of hybridity, and the functions of Chinese American literature disappear as well. Therefore, the foremost thing the translator should do is to translate from the source text perspective to represent the typical feature of Chinese American literature.