A Comparative Study Of The Translator's Subjectivity In The English Versions Of Hong Lou Meng

The translator is undoubtedly the most active factor in translating activity. However, for a long time, under the influence of the traditional text-oriented translation theories, the translator has to oppress himself not to be subjective in translation and tries to be a faithful "servant" of the original and its author, in order to convey the author's meaning. In the 1970s, with the development of the culture turn, the schools of translation study began to realize the creativity of translator in translation and the significance of translator's subjectivity.This paper first introduces the change of the identity of translator and the definition of the translator's subjectivity. Then it analyzes the representations of the translator's subjectivity: Characteristic Translation, Mistranslation and Compilation. Hong Lou Meng is one of the most successful Classic in Chinese literature. It is the high artistic value and the cultural factors contained in the novel that bring about great difficulties to the translators. Among the ten English versionsof Hong Lou Meng, there are only two complete versions (A Dream of Red Mansions by Yang Xian-yi & Gladys Yang, and The Story of the Stone by David Hawkes & John Minford), of which the translation methods and styles, etc. are all different from each other. Yet both of the versions achieved great success. Their successes cannot be separated from the full use of translator's subjectivity. At last, based on the two complete English versions of Hong Lou Meng, it makes comparison in the representations of translator's subjectivity in the selection of the original editions, the translation of the title, the change of the original style, the translation of the kingship relationships, the translation of the names, as well as the way of annotation, and makes discussion of the subjectivity from the perspective of culture by the above two translators respectively.