On The Translator’s Subjectivity In Feminist Translation:A Study Of Zhu Qingying’s Chinese Version Of Jane Eyre

In the 1980 s, the “cultural turn” appeared in translation studies. Since then, many researchers have studied translation from various perspectives, for example, translation norms, manipulation theory, postcolonial theory, feminism and the like. As one special perspective, feminism has a major influence on translation studies. Female and translation have the same social status and common interest, and the combination of them is natural.Feminist translation theory pays much attention to translator’s subjectivity, especially the feminist translator’s subjectivity. Feminist translator’s subjectivity is special, which is different from the traditional translator’s subjectivity. Feminist translators are not satisfied that the translator is degraded. It has been a long time women are in subordinate positions in society. Feminist translators try to remove the gender bias in translation studies, improve the status of women and exert their subjectivity. The translator’s subjectivity in the feminist translation mainly include the four aspects: 1) reinterpreting the concept of fidelity and emphasizing on creative treason; 2) emphasizing on difference in meaning; 3) achieving visibility of feminist translators; 4) emphasis on the equal position between the author and the translator. In addition, feminist translators prefer to adopt three important translation strategies: supplementing, prefacing and footnoting, hijacking. The above ideas form the theoretical basis of the feminist translator’s subjectivity in their translation practice.Jane Eyre is a famous feminist novel. If the original text is translated under the guidance of the feminist translation theory and the female translators can convey the meaning of the source text to the Chinese readers more faithfully and vividly. Compared with Huang Yuanshen’s version, this thesis intends to explore the Zhu Qingying’s subjectivity in her Chinese version of Jane Eyre from the feminist translation perspective. A statistical comparison is made between the two versions. Besides, the analysis of Zhu’s translation strategies and linguistic characteristics suggests that the female translator Zhu Qingying employs different translation strategies consciously or unconsciously to embody the feminine awareness in order to make women seen and heard in the text and exert her subjectivity as well as rebuild female status.