A Comparative Study On Lin Yutang’s Self-translation And Song Biyun’s Translation Of Between Tears And Laughter From The Perspective Of Deconstruction

Self-translation,as a special form of translation,has received more and more attention from scholars of different origins.As far as the study of self-translation is concerned,the foreign translation circles have made great achievements,while the research in domestic translation circles is very limited.Domestic scholars focus on Lin Yutang’s Chinese-English translation,and pay far less attention to his self-translation.In this thesis,the authoress reviews the definition of self-translation,introduces the theoretical studies and the current situation of self-translation at home and abroad,and selects Lin Yutang’s self-translated works for a comparative study,which is of certain significance to the study of Lin Yutang’s translation and the phenomenon of self-translation.Deconstruction,as an anti-traditional philosophical thought,has not only caused a sensation in the field of philosophy,but also exerted a great influence on translation circles since its birth in the 1960 s.As the embodiment of Deconstruction in the field of translation,the deconstructive translation theory breaks the binary opposition advocated by Structuralism,breaks the fetters of “faithfulness”,liberates the translator and the translation from the situation of being subject to the original author and the source text,injects new vitality and vigor into translation studies,and provides a brand-new vision for translation studies.Lin Yutang is a famous modern Chinese writer,translator and linguist.He created and translated many works throughout his life,and made great contributions to the cultural exchange between China and the West.Lin Yutang published Between Tears and Laughter in1944,and translated the first eleven chapters of the book himself.In 1966,Song Biyun,a Taiwanese translator,also translated the book.This thesis selects Between Tears and Laughter as the research object,adopts Deconstruction theory to establish the theoretical framework,and compares the Chinese versions of Lin Yutang and Song Biyun from five aspects: pure language,uncertainty of meaning,“relevant” translation,the relationship between the source text and target text,and translator’s subjectivity,based on which the respective characteristics of the two versions are summarized and the relationship between self-translation and Deconstruction discussed.Through the research,this paper draws the following conclusions: 1.As a bilingual writer who is proficient in both Chinese and Western studies,Lin Yutang uses a variety of translation methods and translation skills during the process of translation,which makes the translation more fluent and more in line with the expectation of Chinese readers.However,Song Biyun imitates the language form of the source text and only adopts literal translation strategy,making the translation become a hybrid of two languages and causing difficulty for Chinese readers to understand her translation.2.Self-translators enjoy higher freedom than conventional translators.Self-translators can play an active role without distorting the meaning of the source text.3.Deconstructive translation theory can be used to explain and analyze the phenomenon of self-translation,thus revealing the possibility of unlimited interpretation of text meaning and emphasizing the importance of respecting language differences.This thesis has certain research significance.By comparing the translations of Lin Yutang and Song Biyun,this thesis explains that a translator should have an excellent bilingual ability;In addition,the combination of deconstructive translation theory and self-translation finds a new perspective for the research in the field of translation and provides guidance for translation practice.