On The Translator’s Subjectivity Of Two English Versions Of Chen Zhong De Chi Bang--from The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

Traditionally, translators are treated as servant or translating machine. When translating, they have to follow the faithful principle and have no room to exercise their subjectivity. Modern translation studies shift the focus from translation skills to translation as a cultural phenomenon. Since the Cultural Turn from the late 1970s, translators have been defined as "free dancers" instead of "fettered dancers" and their status has been elevated from the peripheral to the center. Studies on translation’s subjectivity have been promoted to agenda and translator’s subjectivity thus becomes a hot and major research topic.The Cultural Turn in translation studies foregrounds the manipulation school which is represented by Andre Lefevere who held that translation is not only the simple transfer of language, but also the rewriting by the translators at the cultural level. He focused on the role of translated text in the target culture and paid special attention to some target cultural constraints on translation, providing a new angle for translation studies.The definition of translator’s subjectivity varies from translator to translator. In essence, translator’s subjectivity refers to the subjectivity of the translator reflected in the translating process in order to achieve his translating purpose. The translator’s subjectivity is the conscious manifestation of translator’s personality awareness and his/her creative consciousness in the translation process which is largely influenced by the following factors such as his or her personal language and cultural capability, life experience, cultural and aesthetic attitude, ideological power, ethical and moral value, translation motivation, and target reader, etc.Translator’s subjectivity is determined by personal and social elements. The former includes translator’s bilingual and bicultural competence, translator’s attitudes, etc. while the latter involves ideology, poetics and patronage, etc. By comparing the two versions of Chen Zhong De Chi Bang by Gladys Yang and Howard Goldblatt in terms of translator’s subjectivity, the thesis explores the operational dimensions of translator’s subjectivity under the manipulation of the above elements.Chen Zhong De Chi Bang is a reform novel by Chinese female writer Zhang Jie in 1981 and won the second Mao Dun literature Prize in 1985. Upon publication, the novel elicited strong international reactions and was translated into different languages in 13 countries including Germany, England, France, Denmark, and so on. Its English versions Leaden Wings, published in 1987, translated by British translator Gladys Yang, and Heavy Wings, the other version published in 1989, was translated by the famous sinologist Howard Goldblatt.Comparison of the two versions of Chen Zhong De Chi Bang leads to the conclusion that in terms of individual factors, both of them display their bilingual and bicultural competence, only Howard Goldblatt has a more serious attitude than Gladys Yang. In terms of social factors, the choice of the original novel by the two translators is in line with the then ideology and also reflects their own personal preferences. As to poetics, Gladys Yang’s version is more flexible, literal and concise, while Goldblatt’s is more faithful and rich in the use of vocabulary. Under the manipulation of the patrons, the two translators also exerted different translators’subjectivity.