On Translator's Subjectivity In Lin Shu's Chinese Version Of Uncle Tom's Cabin: A Deconstructional Perspective

Translation, especially literary translation is essentially the translator's re-creation. In translation studies, one of the fundamental questions is how to define the translator's role. In traditional translation theory, the translator is defined as the "servant" or "tongue man", and translation is regarded as the transfer on the language level. In addition, translation study is equated to the two questions of "how to translate" and "how to translate well", treating the translator as the skilled worker of language transference. Therefore, the translator's subjectivity and creativity are completely neglected. However, with the "Cultural Turn" in contemporary translation studies, especially the deconstruction research, the translator's status in translation process is redefined, endowing with the unprecedented subjectivity and creativity. The theory of deconstruction has made great impact on traditional translation and has become more influential in recent years. It has great significance in confirming the translator's subjectivity and the criterion of translation criticism.Lin Shu's translations have always been the important research subject in translation studies and practice in China. In this thesis, from a deconstructional perspective, Lin Shu's Chinese version of Uncle Tom's Cabin will be analyzed, which was produced before the Chinese Bourgeois Democratic Revolution of 1911. This thesis analyzes the manifestations of the translator's subjectivity in the translation process, which including the following three steps in a broad sense: the choice of the original works and strategies, the step in the process of understanding and the step in the stage of expression. In the light of some important concepts such as historical context, différance, trace, and uncertainty of meaning, etc., this thesis analyzes Lin Shu's Chinese version "黑奴吁天录", and holds a positive view of deconstructive translation theory. It also explores the reasons for his translations' great success and profound influence from a deconstructional perspective, aiming at illustrating the significance of this theory for literary translation studies. This thesis realizes the connection of the deconstruction theory and practice, and then solves the problem: Deconstruction translation has paid more attention to theoretical study than to practical contribution. In fact, it provides a new angle to literary translation and the translator's subjectivity.