Analysis Of Translators' Subjectivity In The English Translation Of Yumi From The Perspective Of The Schema Theory

Bi Feiyu is one of the most prominent realistic writers in the Chinese contemporary literary world as well as English-speaking countries,for a few of his works have been introduced abroad and obtained considerable popularity and appreciation.Yumi,as one of his realistic representatives,exquisitely discloses complexity of human nature under the background of the Cultural Revolution with incisive and vivid portrayal of female characters,winning the Third Lu Xun Literary Prize,the top honor for Chinese novels.Afterwards its English version was also awarded the 2010 Man Asian Literary Prize.Undoubtedly,the work itself possesses sufficient excellence,but the translation plays an equally important part in the going-global process of Chinese literature.In view of Three Sisters' acceptance in the West,the study of the translation bears certain extent of significance and implication for translation theories and practice.Yumi was translated by Howard Goldblatt,with his wife Sylvia,as his co-translator.Different from the other translations by Goldblatt,mainly literal translation was adopted in this novel with the supplement of some free translation methods,which still manifests the Goldblatts' initiative in translation purpose and passivity generated from target language readers,etc.Generally speaking,in terms of the selection of original texts,integral translation strategies and specific translation techniques and skills,the Goldblatts presented much subjectivity.All these subjective decisions are made on the basis of the translators' cognitive assessments on the original text and target language readers,which could be specifically reflected from three aspects:language,content and form.The three elements are exactly in line with the systematic classification of the Schema Theory proposed by Carrel,and simultaneously cover the most fundamental factors of novel translations.On account of the interactivity between the translators' subjectivity and the Schema Theory,this thesis probes into the Goldblatts' exertion of subjectivity concerning the selection of the source texts,translation strategies and circumstantial translation methods from the perspective of the Schema Theory.With regard to the selection of Yumi,on the one hand,the Goldblatts took certain consideration of their accumulated schemata concerning Bi's writing techniques and style as well as their preference for Chinese regional novels;on the other hand,Yumi generally conforms to the target language readers' expectation from Chinese novels in terms of language,content and form.As to integral translation strategies,the writer analyzes the impact of both the schemata of source text and target text,which turns out to play a significant part in the determination of major transliteration with the supplement of free translation.As to the detailed analysis on the Goldblatts' consolidated but circumstantial translation methods in terms of linguistic,content and formal schemata,the thesis comes to the conclusion that the Goldblatts' subjectivity during the entire translating process is largely determined by their own and target readers' schemata,which facilitates the successful going-global process of Yumi.Therefore,the thesis not only provides an empirical study to the application of the Schema Theory into the translators' subjectivity,but also underlines the importance of good reproduction and realization of linguistic,content and formal schemata for a good translation.