A Comparative Study Of Translation Strategies In The Two Versions Of Gone With The Wind

This study bases on the domestication and foreignizaton strategy of Lawrence Venuti and the related results of the translator’s subjectivity studies. Through a review of the origin, definition and debates of the two strategies, and a comparative study of the novel of Gone with the Wind, the author finds that Fu Donghua’s version is more like an edit-translated work. For the author read the words in the preface of his version 《飘》(Gone with the Wind),"as to translate this book, I have a request to the readers for a little right of freedom." From his words the author thinks that the translator himself knows clearly his version is not a translation in the traditional sense. In his version, Fu Donghua fully demonstrates the translator’s subjectivity. Generally speaking, the translator’s subjectivity involves three unique features,"initiative","egoism" and "receptiveness".Before "linguistic turn", a major development in Western philosophy during the early20th century, the translation theory paid much attention to the translator’s ability to master the language and skills to translate. The translator had much freedom and a domestication was a dominate strategy in translation. While after the "linguistic turn", the translation theory pays much attention to the "equivalence" and "faithfulness" to the original text. The translator then is only regarded as a "matchmaker" or a "tongue man". The translator status is belittled and a foreignization strategy becomes a new tendency.In1980s, the translation theory witnessed another important turn,"culture turn", which presents a new horizon for the translation study. Susan Bassnett and Andre Lefevere published "Translation, History Culture:A Source Book"According to the book the translation practice should be subjected to a specific social cultural background to study. And "translation" is actually some kind of a "rewriting" which is constrained by the ideology, patronage, poetics and manipulation. And this thesis takes these constraints as "translator’s purpose","readers’reception" and the "social culture". And through a study of the conditioning factors of the choice of translation strategy and a comparative case study of the strategies in the two versions of "Gone with the Wind", this thesis finds that the translator should choose different strategies for different target readers, a specific social culture is a very important conditioning factor, and the translator’s purpose can be a critical one; foreignization is still a dominant strategy in the current translation practice, the domestication strategy functions as an important supplementary.