A Study Of Translator’s Subjectivity In The Translation Of Yumi From The Perspective Of Hermeneutic Motion Theory

Translation generally includes the stages of comprehension and expression, and the translation study always makes light of the former and emphasizes the latter. Translator is the subject of comprehension and interpretation, and an accurate comprehension is always the precondition of an adequate expression. The comprehension and expression of the translator belong to the study of translator’s subjectivity. However, translator’s status and subjectivity have long been neglected in the history of translation study, and the situation has not been changed until the “cultural turn” prevailed in the translation study in the 1970 s. The author chooses the translation of Yumi(Three Sisters in English) as the case of this study, in respect that the novel and its English version own great honor and readership around the world. The translators, Howard Goldblatt and his wife Sylvia Li-chun Lin, have already translated many excellent modern Chinese literary works to English successfully and won many great translation related awards. To study and analyze the subjectivity the Goldblatts exerted in the process of translating Yumi is of necessity and value in the translation studies.The author first introduces the background of the study and reviews the role and status of the translator dynamically in the translation study, thus presents an overall picture of the study of translator’s subjectivity in the translation study field. Then inspired by the previous studies, the author attempts to analyze the translator’s subjectivity from the perspective of George Steiner’s Hermeneutic Motion theory. The author brings the fourfold translation steps, “trust”, “aggression”, “incorporation” and “compensation” into studying how the Goldblatts exerted their subjectivity in the process of translating Yumi.