On The Subjectivity Of Zhang Ling Fthe Perspective Of Feminism

Zhang Ling is a famous translator in China. She is a member of the TranslatorsAssociation of China, of Chinese Writers Association and of Thomas HardyAssociation in Britain, as well as an honorary adviser of Dickens Museum in London.She is the author of The Great British Novelist Dickens、Comments on Hardy. Hertranslation works include Scenes of Clerical Life, A Tale of Two Cities (combinedtranslation)、Pride and Prejudice(combined translation), The Well of Loneliness and soon. As a female translator, Zhang Ling has her distinct feminism. She tries to voice herminds and aspirations through literature translation, opens up a channel for women toexpress their self-will by combining writing with translation, so as to realize women’sself-awareness、self-awaking and identity recognition.“Life of Ma Parker” and “The Stranger” are selected from the Chinese versions ofScenes of Clerical Life by Zhang Ling. She translated the representative works of eightBritish female writers in the19thcentury. Most of the great female writers have astrong sense of feminism, and Katherine Mansfield is one of them. Although Mansfieldis reluctant to accept the concept of feminism, her personal struggle, her keen insightinto female life as well as her unique female writing style all reflect her feministconsciousness.“Life of Ma Parker” and “The Stranger” can fully prove it. The story of“Life of Ma Parker” describes the unfortunate life of Ma Parker by describing detailsof her daily life, which is a mirror of the poverty and great suffering of people of lower class;“The Stranger” unveils men’s selfishness and hypercritical characteristics underthe unreasonable marriage system.As a female translator, Zhang Ling constantly resonates with some female writersin the translation process. She thinks that human society is mainly composed of twogenders, which is an objective phenomenon. Female’s request for equal rights does notmean to replace man-centered society with women-centered society. It is a coherentand cooperated relationship between two genders that female intends to pursuit. Incomparison, the western feminists focus more on creative treason of translators in thetranslation process while highlighting the subjectivity of the translator. Westernfeminists hold that only female translators can successfully translate works of femalewriters, and they emphasize on rewriting and manipulating original works intranslation process. However, this opinion overemphasizes the subjectivity of femaletranslators, or even leads to misinterpretation of the original works. Zhang Lingconsiders that women and men are equal, and no one side can be above the other. Whatwomen require is equality between male and female, instead of forming awomen-centered society. This different view of opinion between Zhang Ling and thewestern feminists is one of the key points of this thesis. At present domestic researcheson Zhang Ling is not much; thus to a certain degree this thesis can enrich domesticstudies of the subjectivity of feminist translators, therefore having a certain practicalmeaning. The thesis, from feminist perspective, studies Zhang Ling’s standard ofselecting translation materials, the prefaces of her translation works, her translationmethods as well as the feminist consciousness of the original writers, and takes theChinese versions of “Life of Ma Parker” and “The Stranger” by Zhang Ling asexamples, aiming to explore Zhang Ling’s feminist consciousness and the embodimentof her subjectivity in translated works.The thesis is composed of five chapters. Chapter One is an introduction. ChapterTwo introduces the definition of feminism and its influence on translation, proceedswith Zhang Ling’s biography, then analyzes Zhang Ling’s feminist consciousness.Chapter Three discusses the subjectivity of the translator, gives a detailed analysis ofZhang Ling’s subjectivity in translation process from three aspects. Chapter Fourbegins with an introduction of “Life of Ma Parker”,“The Stranger” and the originalwriter, elaborates Zhang Ling’s subjectivity under her feminist consciousness in the two translated works, and finally discusses similarities and differences between ZhangLing’s feminist consciousness and western feminism. Chapter Five makes a conclusionthat Zhang Ling’s feminist consciousness, different from western feminists, has itsunique characteristics. Under the influence of such feminist consciousness, she thinksthat translator’s subjectivity is reflected through her cooperation with the originalwriters, and in such a manner, the original writers can voice their minds and expresstheir thoughts.