Translators' Creative Treason In Two Chinese Versions Of Vanity Fair

Traditional translation theory regards translation as pure language transference, and the main task of translators is equivalent to the original text. Consequently, the emphasis of traditional studies has been put on the source text, i.e. the perspective is source-oriented. Traditionally, fidelity or faithfulness has served as the highest criterion and the most important yardstick for judging the quality of translation works. Hence, a faithful translation has been understood as one which bears a strong resemblance to its source text, usually in terms of either its literal adherence to the source meaning or its successful communication of the"spirit"of the original.However, the equivalence theory and other kinds of source-oriented theories have been turned out to be untenable because different languages are hard to be copied. As the carrier of culture, each language is bound to bear some heritage of culture. Translation, as the transference among different languages, is actually the transference of different cultures; due to the cultural misunderstanding, creative treason becomes unavoidable. Yet, for quite a long period of time, creative treason has been treated as the betrayal from fidelity or faithfulness, as a result, the notion of creative treason has always been fiercely repelled. Correspondingly, translators, as the readers of source texts and interpreters of target texts, have been put in the dilemma between fidelity and treason: for one thing, they have to adhere to the source texts, for another they must adapt to the target language.As we know, literary translation is actually a process of literary re-creation for its unique artistic and aesthetic characteristics. Owing to the great differences between languages and cultures, and the instability of meanings, creative treason is to some extent inevitable for literary translation. This thesis aims at analyzing creative treason caused by translators through comparing two translations of Vanity Fair from the perspective of Gadamer's hermeneutics. In light of philosophical hermeneutics, translating is a process of understanding and interpreting. Modern hermeneutics has freed us from scientism, and made the subjectivity of translators clear to us. In the dynamic course of translation, the influence of translators should not be neglected. According to Gadamer, the translator, first as a reader, then an interpreter, has his/her own"preconstruction"and"fore-understanding"before understanding, what is more, his/her understanding and are active. For Gadamer, fore-having, fore-sight, and fore-conception are different social and psychological unities of different translators, which result from different social and cultural contexts; and it is these different unities that constitute the presupposition of the translator's creativity. These differences existing among different social and psychological unities are manifested in the process of understanding as different translators'choices and prejudices. Translators'pre-understanding and expectant horizons are the supply of soil for translators'creative treason. Consequently, there is no absolutely objective translation which is totally faithful to the source text. By offering sound theoretical bases and relevant examples, the paper deals with translators'creative treason in two Chinese translations of Vanity Fair.By means of exploring roots and manifestations of translators'creative treason, this paper tries to testify that translators'creative treason is universal in literary translation; moreover, it is translators'creative treason that extends the artistic life of the original text. In some sense, translators'creative treason is an approach of being faithful. At last, the writer draws a conclusion that the clumsy fidelity may lead to real treason—the deviation from the original meaning; while ingenious treason on the level of language may lead to faithfulness because transformation on the basis of being faithful to the original meaning will ultimately correct the treason of the original.