A Study Of The Translator's Subjectivity From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

As one of the important ways of cultural transmission and exchange,translation is a human activity with a long history.As the subject of translation,translators play an important role in translation.However,for a long time translators have been regarded as “translation machines” or “servants” of the originals,and the significance of them for the translation activity has been neglected.Traditional translation studies mainly focus on the faithfulness of the translated works to the original within the domain of language.Until the 1990 s,there is a “cultural turn” in translation studies,which made the translation studies no longer restricted to the sphere of language.The scholars turn to focus on the influence of cultural factors of translation.More and more people began to make studies on the influence of translator's subjectivity on translation from the perspective of social and cultural factors.As such,the marginalized status of translators has changed gradually.Andre Lefevere,one of the representatives of Manipulation School,holds the idea that “translation is rewriting” and tries to interpret the influence of main control factors on translation.According to Lefevere,translation is a rewriting of the original and ideology,poetics and patronage are three major factors which have great influence on the translation process.In order to make the target texts conform to the dominant social ideology and poetics in the target culture and get the support from the patrons,translators exert their subjectivity to rewrite the original texts by employing appropriate translation methods and strategies.At the same time,the rewriting of translators is not arbitrary or without any restrictions,but is greatly influenced by the three control factors of rewriting theory.Mo Yan,is the first modern Chinese writer winning the Nobel Prize for literature,and his works attract the attention from domestic and foreign readers.Shengsi Pilao,one of his masterpieces,is full of magic realistic elements.In 2008,its English version Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out translated by Howard Goldblatt was published and received an enthusiastic response in the West.With the prolifictranslation works of Mo Yan's works,Goldblatt has made a great contribution to the publication and popularization of Mo Yan's literary works overseas which help a great deal in winning him the Nobel Prize in literature.Based on the rewriting theory,through comparative analysis of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and the original,the thesis makes an in-depth study on how translators exert the subjective activity on the selection and rewriting of source texts under the influence of ideology,poetics and patronage.It mainly aims to explore two questions.One of it is how the three elements of rewriting theory influence Goldblatt's translation Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out;And the other is how translator's subjectivity works in the process of translation under the influence of the three elements of rewriting theory,in other words,how translators rewrite the original by adopting translation strategies.This study mainly uses qualitative analysis methods,which include documentary analysis,case study and comprehensive analysis.Based on the analysis of previous relevant studies on the subject at home and abroad,the thesis takes the rewriting theory as theoretical framework and compares Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out and the original to analyze some translation phenomena.The thesis gives a comprehensive analysis of the influence and manifestation of translator's subjectivity in translation.Based on the analysis of the novel and its English version,the thesis concludes that ideology,poetics and patronage greatly influenced the selection of source texts and translators' rewriting.In general,it is easier for the readers to accept the works with the ideology and poetics they identify with.Patronage also inclines to give support to the works that they think conform to the taste of target readers.For this reasons,translators often take the ideology,poetics and patronage into account when they make their own choice about which texts to translate and what translation method to employ.Translators manipulate the rewriting under the influence of three control factors.They rewrite the original to make it more acceptable to target readers.As for the rewriting of Shengsi Pilao,in order to make the target text comply with dominant social ideology,Goldblatt employs translation strategies such as the combination of translation and explanation as well as the deletion of culture-loadedwords when his translation involves Chinese history or specific social background.In order to accord with the Western dominant poetics,translators used some translation methods to deal with the translation of proverbs and four character idioms with Chinese characteristics.Moreover,the influence of the patronage also is reflected in translation.It is normal for Arcade,the independent patron of the publishment,to require the translation to cater to the taste of target readers.As the novel is a full-length masterpiece approximately 550 thousand words,Goldblatt omitted or deleted some inessential or overlapped contents in source text in order to improve the readability of the translation.This thesis is hoping to enrich the connotation of rewriting theory and deepen the study on translator's subjectivity.It also aims to give some inspirations to the translation practice of modern and contemporary Chinese literature in an effort to promote the spread of more high-quality Chinese literary works worldwide.