A Study Of Feminist Thoughts In Eileen Chang's Translation

Eileen Chang has made her position irreplaceable in the history of modern Chinese literature both for her creative works and her translation of Western great works.Many scholars pay more attention to Eileen Chang's literary creation.Comparatively speaking,there are not so many researches on Eileen Chang's translation.Based on feminist thoughts and translation theory,the study takes Eileen Chang's translation of The Old Man and the Sea as a reference,making a comparison between the original and the translation to analyze how Eileen Chang's feminist thoughts are manifested in her translation.Specifically,this study intends to answer the following research questions:1)What translation strategies does Eileen Chang use to express her feminist thoughts in the translation of the Old Man and the Sea?2)What are the characteristics of Eileen Chang's translation as a feminist translator?The results of the study are as follows:1.Eileen Chang uses the strategy of prefacing,supplementing and hijacking to intervene in the text,to make women visible and then finally to eliminate the gender discrimination which always exists in translation study and practice.Eileen Chang's interventional practices in the translation reflect her feminist thoughts.She adopts prefacing to make women visible and to unveil gender discrimination and advocate equality between male and female.The strategy of supplementing is applied by Eileen Chang when the translation is related to gender and to deal with some words about female identity in her translation.She takes the technique of “hijacking” to avoid words used by men.Finally,feminist thoughts in Eileen Chang's translation are fully embodied by praising female images.In Eileen Chang's translation,she usually chooses women-only vocabulary and sentence pattern to show her feminist tendency.2.The characteristics of Eileen Chang's translation as a feminist translator can be shown in the following three aspects: first of all,western feminists emphasize their role as female translators by intervening and rewriting the original,while Eileen Chang shows her feminist standpoints through the detailed description.Secondly,western feminist translation theory claims that women translators should become the subject of the translation activities and have their own voice,using different kinds of feminist translation strategies to achieve the manipulation of the original and then to achieve their own female identity and translator's subjectivity.However,Eileen Chang's female translation is mild and moderate because she doesn't manipulate the original text deliberately in order to show the subject position of female.She maintains coordination of words by both males and females.Finally,she is always in pursuit of a completely harmonious dialogue between men and women.She tries to establish an equal relationship between males and females.In conclusion: Eileen Chang is not only an outstanding writer,but also a great female translator.She is the “spokesperson” of women,especially her unique feminist thoughts reflected in her translation are worth studying and using for reference.