Manifestation Of Translator's Subjectivity In Lin Shu's Translation Works From The Perspective Of Deconstruction

Translation plays an important role in cross-cultural communication, enabling the successful exchanges among different cultures. However, the long history of translation studies did not recognize and attach enough importance to the significant role that the translator plays in the process of translating. Translation was considered as a "servant" of the original text, whereas the social status of the translator subordinate to that of the author. With the development of the translation studies as a branch of science, more and more scholars have begun to approach translation studies from different perspectives. Among all these perspectives, deconstructionism is one of the recently emerging schools. It denies the stability of meaning and declares the death of the author by introducing concepts like differnce, trace and intertextuality, etc, into translation studies. Moreover, deconstructonists endow translators with supreme power, claiming that they should be entitled with the power to make their own interpretation and criticism, and that it is only through their translation that the original works may acquire new life and enduring appeal, with which they can live on and on.As an influential translator in Chinese translation history, Lin Shu knew no foreign languages, but he translated a large number of works with the aid of his collaborators. Lin Shu's translated works were greatly welcome by Chinese readers of his time, ushered in a translation boom at the beginning of the 20th century, and thereby had a great impact on the literary, cultural and social aspects of that time. However, his translated works suffered great criticism in the meantime, for his rejection of the vernacular Chinese and his large-scale adaptation and changes made of the original works. From the perspective of deconstructionism, what Lin Shu did is a full embodiment of his subjectivity displayed in the process of translating. This thesis employs the methods like description, comparison, and illustration to make a descriptive analysis of Lin Shu's subjectivity as a translator in light of deconstructionism, and carry out a case study of Lin Shu's translation of David Copperfield.This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter gives a brief introduction to the theoretical background of the research, the research status, and the framework of this thesis. The second chapter briefly introduces the origin, the development of deconstructionism and its major representative Jacques Derrida and his main ideas, and summarizes the views on translation held by deconstructionist scholars. The third chapter focuses on the subjectivity of translator from the perspective of deconstructionism. Translator's subjectivity is defined at the beginning of this chapter. The following part of this chapter elaborates on the invisibility of the translator from the perspective of traditional translation theories, the shift of the translator's status in the context of post-modernism and especially how translator's subjectivity is emphasized and his status is promoted when viewed from the perspective of deconstructionism. The fourth chapter makes a case study of the translator's subjectivity displayed in Lin Shu's translation of David Copperfield. At the beginning of this chapter, a brief introduction to Lin Shu is given, providing information about his life, his historic background and the arguments on Lin Shu's translation. Then the case study is carried out at two levels. At the macroscopic level, Lin Shu's subjectivity as a translator is discussed in terms of the purposes of Lin's translation activities, his choice of the original texts, his adoption of translation strategies and techniques. At the microscopic level, Lin Shu's subjectivity is explored in aspects like the translation of the title, the employment of new terms and annotation, the use of the classical Chinese and his challenge to the Zhanghui style. The fifth part is the conclusion. Based on the above analysis, this thesis come to the conclusion that in light of deconstructionism, both the large-scale changes and the small adjustments at the lexical and syntactic levels that Lin Shu made in his translation of David Copperfield are Lin Shu's purposeful acts well grounded on his translation purposes, and the full manifestation of Lin Shu's subjectivity as a translator. In addition, this thesis have also found that both the theories and practice of literary translation can be better explained and guided by the deconstructionism.