A Comparative Study On Translator's Subjectivity In The Two English Versions Of Biancheng From The Perspective Of Hermeneutics

As a famous contemporary writer,Shen Congwen is well known for his lyric and rural novels.His masterpiece Biancheng has been translated into more than thirteen languages all over the world.Of all these translations,there are four English versions,among which two of the latest are chosen as the study objects in this thesis.They are The Border Town co-translated by Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang in 1962,and Border Town translated by American sinologist Jeffery C.Kinkley in 2009.The two versions appeared in different ages nearly half a century apart,so there exist great differences in the translators' qualification,historical background and political condition.Therefore,all of these factors result in the great differences of translators' subjectivity.In the past,the comparative studies of the two latest English versions of Bianchengare mainly from the perspective of translation aesthetics,translation rewriting,Skopos theory and translation theory of adaptation and selection and so on.The authorof this thesis takes the translator's subjectivity as the study object and makes a comparative study on the typical differences of the translator's subjectivityin the two versions from the perspective of Hermeneutics.Furthermore,the different translation methods presented by the different translator are compared in the thesis.George SteinerappliesHermeneutics to the fields of translation studies,and puts forward fourfoldmotions of translation,which are “trust”,“aggression”,“incorporation” and “compensation”.The autonomy and initiative of the translator can be fully embodied inthe four steps,thus itwill provide a powerful theoretical basis to explain the subjectivity of the translator.Based on the fourfold Hermeneutics Motions of George Steiner,the author of this thesis analyzes the translator's subjectivity and compares the typical differences of translator's subjectivity in the two versions of Biancheng.This is a new supplement to the previous research on the comparative study of the two versions of Biancheng.According to the comparative study of the two versions of Biancheng,the author holds that in the first step,the translators' “trust” in the source text generates from their highly respect of Shen Congwen's Biancheng,the translators' cultural awareness and language ability as well as the translators' intention.The second step “aggression” is based on the Yangs and Kinkley's different understandings ofBiancheng,which are manifested in the different interpretations of original Chinese culture.The third step “incorporation” is mainly the absorption of the meaning and form in source text,which is embodied in different translation strategies adopted by different translators.The Yangs prefer to use the strategy of domestication,whileKinkley tends to adopt the strategy of foreignization.Inthe final step named “restitution”,the translators try to strike the balance between the translation and the source textby the means of deletion,direct compensation,indirect compensationand substitution.The Yangs tend to take the measures of indirectly compensation,deletion and substitution,while Kinkleyprefers direct and indirect compensation to achieve the balance.At last,it comes to the conclusion that from the perspective of Hermeneutic Motion,the translator's subjectivity is fully embodied in the version ofYang Hsien-yi& Gladys Yang and the version of Jeffrey Kinkley.As for the specific differences of translation techniques,the Yangsmainly adopt the methods of omission and combination in theversion to make the translation more smooth and fluent and conform to the expression habits of the target language;whileKinkleyuses the methods of amplification and division to make the translation more vivid and specific with exotic style.