On Translator's Subjectivity And Intended Reader's Aesthetic Reception In Literary Translation

Translator's subjectivity has gradually become a heated topic in translation study since the cultural turn in the 1970s. Scholars at home and abroad have started to lay focus on translator's function during the translation process. Emphasis has been shifted from text-centered study to subject-centered study, that is to say, from the analysis of the original text and the target text to that of the translator's creative thoughts displayed during the translation activity, which is especially apparent in literary translation study.This thesis is an attempt to examine translator's creative functions in the translation activity and the position of the translator in this cross-cultural communication, and to suggest that the final purpose of translator's subjectivity goes to the intended audience or readers'aesthetic reception for the extension of the translation's life in an alien culture. Hence the author should endeavor to further develop translator's subjectivity from certain diversified perspectives. The translator is the reader, researcher, and explainer of the original text and the original author; the co-author and the first reader of the target text and; the rhetorician for the intended readers of the target text. As the intended readers of the translated text are the final targets of any translation activity, it is inevitable and necessary to take into account the unconscious interaction between the translators and their intended readers. This thesis, therefore, concentrates on the interaction between the translator's subjectivity and the intended reader's aesthetic reception. In addition, some typical examples are selected to validate the author's argument. Finally a conclusion is reached that it is the joint effort of translator's subjectivity and the intended reader's aesthetic reception that ensures the success of the translation in the target culture.