Between Writer And Translator

Eileen Chang is one of the most famous female writers in the history of modern Chinese literature. She has written and published a great number of works which include novels, prose, film reviews and other genres. However, few people know that apart from her outstanding creative writing, Eileen Chang has also translated many Chinese and English literary works and even self-translated some of her own works. In the research of Eileen Chang, people mainly focus on her literary works and pay less attention to her translation practice, let alone her unique identity as a bilingual writer and translator.The thesis mainly studies Eileen Chang’s double identity as both a writer and a translator and her achievements in writing and translation, self-translation in particular. The thesis uses the English version of Jinsuo Ji (The Golden Cangue) as a case study to introduce the conception of "self-translation," discusses the translation strategies she applies, and tries to find out why the English version she has self-translated has failed to gain the desired acceptance in the west.The author of this thesis has found that Eileen Chang has introduced her unique writing style and aesthetic consciousness into her self-translation. This is evidenced in many of her self-translated works, especially in her dealing with the linguistic and cultural aspects with distinct Chinese characteristics. As for the unpopularity of the English version of The Golden Cangue, three major factors may explain-cultural differences, ideological conflict, and linguistic limitation. The author hopes that through an overall evaluation of Eileen Chang from both her strengths and weaknesses, this thesis may provide a new perspective to the present study of this outstanding bilingual writer.