On Translator's Subjectivity Through The Influence Of Western Feminism On Both Western And Chinese Translation Theory

Subjectivity, as a basic topic of philosophy, has been discussed for over thousands of years; translator's subjectivity is also of great importance in the research of translation theory. However, the subjectivity and creativity of translator in translation practice are totally disregarded in the source-oriented traditional translation studies. Though translator actually takes the main role in translation, his status and function are often marginalized by people. Also, influenced by the traditional concept and translation theory, women at that time were put at an inferior position in society similar as translators in translation and this situation has not been changed until the 1980s. In the eighties of the twentieth century, the phenomenon of "cultural turn" in translation studies offered a new area of study for scholars, namely the feminist translation theory. And then, gender issue, which is regarded as an important aspect in cultural research, provides a new perspective for translation studies. The emergence of feminist translation theory gives new definition to source text, translated works, author and the position of translator; the unequal status of those four under traditional translation theory were subverted. Western feminists challenged and questioned "fidelity" as the supreme standard in translation, they encouraged "treason" and subjectivity in translation practices. Radical means such as supplementing, hijacking, prefacing and footnoting were applied in translation practices by western feminists to promote their subjectivity and creativity. There was a stirring of interest for "treason" in translation studies and the subjectivity of translator gradually wins much recognition.Western feminism was introduced to China in 1980s, but has not earned enough attention among Chinese translators until the beginning of this century. Although western feminist translation theory has exerted tremendous influence on the research of Chinese translation theory and translation practices, due to the different historical and cultural background, the characteristics of Chinese feminist translation theory and that of the western ones are not exactly the same. However, on the issue of translator's subjectivity, there is striking conformity between two.Based on the research of feminism and feminist translation theory, this thesis mainly focuses on discussing the new illustration and contribution that feminist translation theory has made to translator's subjectivity. Meanwhile, this thesis also conducts a brief analysis on the influence of western feminism upon China, hoping to arouse more attention from domestic academy to research on the topic of translator's subjectivity in feminist translation theory and thereby advance the development of this theory.