Manifestation Of Translator’s Subjectivity In Literary Translation

As we know, the translator is a dynamic factor in translating activity. However, translator was restricted by the ideas that translator should be totally faithful to the source text for a long time. Thus, as the subject of translation, translators’ active role was neglected. With the widespread of "the Cultural Turn", the active role a translator plays in translating activity has been noticed.There are two current Chinese versions of Lin Yutang’s My Country and My People. One is Huang Jiade’s version and the other is Hao Zhidong&Shen Yihong’s version. These two versions were chosen because both of them are commonly used ones and translated in different historical backgrounds. Huang Jiade’s version was translated in 1930s when the studies of translator’s subjectivity in western country just begin. Thus, Huang Jiade’s translation may not be instructed by the theory. That’s why Huang’s version is mostly literal translation and less manifestation of translator’s subjectivity. While Hao Zhidong&Shen Yihong’s version was translated in the late 1980s when the translator’s subjectivity has been studied in China. Their translation was instructed by the theory more or less, and there is more manifestation of translator’s subjectivity in this version.This study was written on basis of translators’ subjectivity. By comparing the two translated versions of Lin Yutang’s My Country and My People, the author elaborates how a translator displays itself in the translating activity, and the influences that translator’s subjectivity exerts on the translated texts. Thus, gaining a more profound and illustrative understanding of the nature of the translators’ subjectivity. What’s more, after the comparative study of the version before "the Cultural Turn" and the one after that, the author believes that the role that the translation theory played in translation practice cannot be neglected, though translation is a practical subject. At last, the author hopes that this study will be helpful to other translators’ practice.