A Survey Into Venuti’s Hermeneutic Model In Translation Studies

The hermeneutic model of translation studies is the theoretical backbone of Translation Changes Everything, Venuti’s latest collection of essays. It regards translation as interpretative acts which will change the source text in form, meaning and effect. Different from the German hermeneutic tradition that stresses the disclosure of the essential meaning in source text, the hermeneutic model denies the existence of invariants and acknowledges the various possibilities of interpretation. It defines the interpretative attribute of translation, adopts new concepts such as inscription and interpretant, involves the formulation of translation ethics and criteria for evaluating translation and comes down in one continuous line with Venuti’s former thinking. Research into the hermeneutic model is prerequisite to understanding the essence of translation as well as grasping the new trend in Venuti’s thinking.Yan Fu’s translation of A History of Politics by Edward Jenks was produced in special social- historical background and thus its translation was subjected to various factors such as social needs, readers’ expectation and translators’ preference characteristic of that time. Given that the hermeneutic model lays particular emphasis on non-linguistic factors that influence translation, an analysis of Yan Fu’s translation of A History of Politics based on the hermeneutic model proves appropriate in perspective and useful in testifying the model’s explanatory power.This research conducts a detailed investigation into Venuti’s hermeneutic model and then carries out a case study of Yan Fu’s translation of A History of Politics. Firstly, the hermeneutic model’s theoretical source, basic concept, theoretical significance and connection with Venuti’s former thinking are analyzed so as to acquire a full understanding of the model itself. Thereafter, key terms in the hermeneutic model, inscription and interpretant are utilized to analyze the interpretative inscription in Yan Fu’s translation of A History of Politics, probe into the underlying reason why Yan Fu made certain inscription, and investigate certain interpretants’ function in specific context as well as their influence upon the receiving culture, based on which an ethical evaluation on Yan Fu’s translation is made.This thesis justifies the assertion that translation as interpretative inscription is bound to change the source text and translation shifts are the inevitable outcome of translator’s interpretative labor. Consequently, evaluation on Yan Fu’s translation should be based on full consideration of the social and cultural context’s influence so as to fully recognize its foreignizing potential. However, the hermeneutic model may provoke controversy for it denies the authority of the source text and thus blurs the distinction between translation and original writing.