Transference Of Translator’s Identity In Eileen Chang’s Self-translation Of The Golden Cangue

Self-translation is a special kind of translation phenomenon which integrates the identities of a translator and a writer together. Eileen Chang, as one of the most famous female writer and translator during modern times in China, devotes her time to writing and translation. During that time, she self-translated The Golden Cangue, Little Finger Up, Shame, Amah! and so on. In the process of her self-translation, her subjectivity is exhibited under the influence of her identities. It is concluded that translator’s identity plays an important role in her self-translation.The paper tries to explain the underlying reasons for the major characteristics in Eileen Chang’s self-translation. These identities of a self-translator will change according to the social-cultural context. Changes of translator’s identities will influence the choice of translation strategies in the self-translation. So in self-translation, the translator is treated as the center in a given social environment and the self-translator’s adaptive transference has influence on the self-translation.The paper consists of six chapters. Chapter one is about purpose of the research, significance of the research, methodology of the research and structure of the thesis. Chapter two is literature review. Chapter three is the theoretical framework. The identity of a self-translator is subdivided into cultural identity, gender identity, translator’s subjectivity and ideology. In Chapter four, the author makes a list of Eileen Chang’s self-translated works and analyzes the main characteristics of Eileen Chang’s self-translation. In Chapter five, the author analyzes the transference of translator’s identity during her self-translated works The Golden Cangue. The Chapter six is the conclusion of the study.From this research, it is concluded that in Eileen Chang’s self-translated work The Golden Cangue, because of the differences in exterior surroundings, the identity of the translator has changed a lot. First, social surroundings have a great influence on translator’s personal thoughts and ideas. The translator tends to treat herself as the researcher and finds out the deep meaning of these expressions and retells it in another way. Secondly, the gender characteristics of the self-translator make her self-translation more feminine. During her self-translation, her translator’s identities are mixed with her gender features. Then translator’s subjectivity is the main factor for her complicated identities in her self-translation. Different translation objects also affect the translator’s subjectivity. Last but not the least, the translator’s ideology is also one of the main elements in her self-translation. Her inherent ideology makes her understand the meaning of these two different cultures and express it in an appropriate way. In all, the characteristic of the translator tends to be more complicated. And also because the identity of the self-translator has changed a lot, the translation work is also different from the original work in some aspects.Eileen Chang’s The Golden Cangue is a long novel which contains many Chinese traditions. The sentence structures and language are totally different from English. Eileen Chang transfers her translator’s identity according to different contextual environment. She is a writer, a translator, a creator and a recreator. She integrates her cultural identity, gender identity, subjectivity. She also transfers her identities by adaptation.