On The Translator’s Subjectivity In The Translation Of The Peony Pavilion-from The Perspective Of The Interpretive Theory

Tang Xianzu (1550-1616), with a high esteem in the literature world, was a renownedplaywright in the late Ming Dynasty. His artistic achievements are mainly embodied in hisplays, especially The Peony Pavilion, his masterpiece which consists of55scenes. Theplay depicts the extraordinary love between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei and attacks thesuffocating atmosphere in the late Ming Dynasty that restricts the full development ofhumanity and advocates the freedom of man. Both the mysterious and complicated plotsand the uncountable allusions and the refined poems procurable everywhere in the playaccelerate translators’ difficulty in the rendering of The Peony Pavilion. Meanwhile thetranslator’s subjectivity is a hot topic in translation studies upon which no unifiedconsensus has been reached. Therefore research on the translator’s subjectivity in theEnglish versions of The Peony Pavilion would be a first try.Developed in the late1960s in Paris by the Interpretive School, the Interpretive Theoryoffers a new perspective—the Interpretive approach for translation studies, especially forthe study of translators’ subjectivity. The theory’s two concepts applicable in the exertionof translators’ subjectivity are the sense theory and the theory of translation process.According to the Interpretive School, sense is the target of translation. Instead of beingfettered by the linguistic signs of the source text, the translator should strive to transfer thecommunicative meaning of the author. Translation process consists of three steps: tocomprehend, to forget the source language (de-verbalization) and to re-express. Translatorsshould understand the text fully to grasp the subtle differences of sense (to comprehend),and then retain what has been comprehended while let go of the linguistic forms(de-verbalization), and finally re-express the sense grasped in idiomatic target language (tore-express).The thesis intends to analyze the translator’s subjectivity in the translation of The PeonyPavilion from the perspective of the Interpretive Theory, attempts to prove that thetranslation process proposed by the theory can help the exertion of translators’ subjectivityand hopes to emphasize the application and guidance of the interpretive theory in literarytranslation from a practical angle. Considering the great difference between Chinese andWestern cultures, this thesis holds that the translators should not be fettered by thelinguistic forms of the original text in the process of translation. With a complete understanding of the source text, and through literal translation, liberal translation and thecombination of the two (or annotation when necessary), the source text can be adequatelyrendered and the whole translation process cannot go without the translator’s subjectivity.This thesis analyzes the English versions of The Peony Pavilion in the light of theInterpretive Theory, which has profound significance for the exertion of the translator’ssubjectivity. It is hoped that this thesis can enlighten the translation and study of theChinese classic literary works.