A Study Of Translator's Subjectivity In Xu Yuanzhong's Poetry Translations From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

Traditional western translation theories emphasize on the"equivalence"and"faithfulness"between the translated text and the source text from linguistic, semantic and discourse analysis perspectives. The writer and the source text are considered to be sacred and infrangible, while the role of the translator and the readers are ignored in literary translation. However, in recent years, many scholars shifted their attention to study translation from cultural perspective. Hence, at the end of 1980s,"cultural turn", advocated by Susan Bassnett came into being, which introduces a new concept of translation on cultural level. After that, the cultural identification of the translator is recognized and his subjectivity is manifested in target text through"purposeful""rewriting"and"manipulation"towards the source text.As an expert in Chinese literary translation especially classical Chinese poetry translation, Xu Yuanzhong's translation theory and practice attracted many scholars, and research people began to dedicate their study from different kinds of aspects, such as the perspective of aesthetic theory and functional equivalence. As for the translator's subjectivity, it is seldom been touched from the perspective of Manipulation Theory even though certain researches have been done at the culture, hermeneutics, philosophy, and deconstruction level.This thesis is a tentative analysis of translator's subjectivity based on Xu Yuanzhong's poetry translation theory and practice in the light of the Manipulation Theory and the translator's subjectivity. The essence of his theory can be summarized as"the Art of Beautification". To be precise, it includes"Three Beauties", (i.e. beauty of sense, beauty of sound, and beauty of form) and"San Hua'"(i.e. equalization, generalization and particularization) with a view to enable the target readers to understand, appreciate and admire the source text. A case study of Xu's poetry translation is carried out to illustrate how the translator exerts his subjectivity and manipulates the source text in order to realize his translation purpose.This thesis consists of six chapters. The first chapter discusses the role of translator which is not"invisible"any more with his subjectivity emphasized after the"cultural turn". The second one is a literature review of Manipulation Theory and discusses the relationship between manipulation and translation purpose, pointing out that in literary manipulation, the translator's cultural attitude and the purpose of translation have an important impact on the strategies he/she adopts. The third chapter introduces poetry translation to point out that it is a creative art. It can not be simply assessed by such traditional criteria as equivalence and fidelity for it calls for the creativity on the part of the translator. The fourth chapter explores manipulation in poetry translation. Here Xu Yuanzhong's poetry translation theories are analyzed and illustrated to realize his/her creativity which will lead to his translation purpose. The fifth chapter is a case study about how he manipulates the original works to achieve his translation purpose. The last chapter is the conclusion which guides the translators to better apply his subjectivity and creativity to translate much more classical poetry to spread Chinese culture.