Hermeneutical Perspective Of Translator’s Subjectivity In Translations Of “Yi” In The Analects

The Analects represents not only the essence of Confucian thoughts but also Chinese culture. Since the British priest Marshman first translated the whole text of The Analects in the16 th century, retranslation of The Analects has continued. The refined language, profound philosophy and abundant core concepts, such as “Ren”, “Yi”, “Li”, “Zhi” and “Xin”, have drawn the attention of numerous scholars and translators. However, since there are no exact or fixed definitions in The Analects about these concepts, openness and subjectivity in translation has given The Analects an enduring attention that has attracted many translators. These Confucian philosophical concepts, which shine with oriental wisdom, continue to pose a great challenge to translators.Traditional translation studies concentrate principally on the ‘accuracy’ of the source text or the target text. The active factor or subjective variable—the translator—has been neglected to a large extent. However, manipulation and feminist school offer theoretical support for the status of the translator. Andre Lefevere, Susan Bassnett and Theo Hermans, representatives of manipulation school, hold that literature translation is a process during which translators make choices and manipulate the source text(Tu Guoyuan & Zhu Xianlong 2003). Feminist translation studies emphasize the reality of the translator’s existence and effect, through their possession, power and manipulation over the source text(Han Jiaming 1996). These perspectives have tremendous impact on translation studies. As a result, the subjectivity of the translator has become a noteworthy research focus, although scholars in translation studies have not yet reached a consensus on the definition of translator’s subjectivity. In the light of the work of Tu Guoyuan and Zhu Xianlong(2003), translator’s subjectivity refers to a translator’s subjective interpretation of a text during the translation activity, as influenced by peripheral subjects, the external environment and the translator’s own horizon, in aiming to meet the needs of the target language culture. Translators possess independent, autonomous characteristics, including imitativeness, intentionality and creativity.Hermeneutics is the theory exploring the understanding and interpretation of sense. In1975, George Steiner put forward “understanding as translation”, combining hermeneutics with translation and creatively dividing the translation process into four steps — trust, aggression,incorporation and restitution. In considering Steiner’s translation motion theory, this thesis refers to six translations of The Analects, written by James Legge, Ku Hung-ming, Ezra Pound, Din Cheuk Lau, Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont and Tze Yau Pang, on the basis of the time of its publication, translator’s nationality and readers’ acceptance of the translation. Taking thetranslation of twenty-four “Yi” in The Analects as the specific research focus, this dissertation discusses how translator’s subjectivity is manifested in the translation of “Yi” and analyzes the main factors that affect translator’s subjectivity.This research shows that in Steiner’s trust stage, the translator’s initial trust in translating“Yi”, recognition of the value of The Analects and translator’s language ability play a significant part; in the aggression stage, translators only interpret the meaning that they think is useful; in the incorporation stage, translators’ ideology and their consideration of the social ideology are important manifestations and in the restitution stage, the translators add annotations to reach the balance of source text and target text.