A Study On The Translation Of The Three-body Problem From The Perspective Of Feminist Translation Theory

Feminist Translation Theory emerged in the 1980 s when the feminist movement spread to the field of literature and translation.As for recently related literature research,the study on the Feminist Translation Theory mainly focuses on its basic concept,development process,or translation strategies,while only a few studies on its practice based on texts can be found.The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin,is a classical science fiction,which has been translated into English by Ken Liu in 2014,making a difference to western sci-fi world.Previous studies on The Three-Body Problem mainly focus on its literary values and significance for China’s science-fiction development as a fictional novel and few studies on it translation,especially from a gender view.After studying the source text and the target text of The Three-Body Problem,the author discovered that the translator Ken Liu failed to effectively convey the feminist consciousness implied in the original text and successfully show western readers Chinese women’s traits under the impact of China’s Cultural Revolution.Therefore,from the perspective of the Feminist Translation Theory,this paper probes into and analyzes the deficiency of Ken Liu’s translation of The Three-Body Problem in conveying the feminist consciousness underlying in the source text.Some typical and convincing examples are cited in this paper to show Ken Liu’ failure in highlighting women’s unique characteristics,shaping positive female images,speaking for women’s rights,downplaying men’s strengths and overstating men’s weaknesses,so as to form an objective evaluation on Ken Liu’s translation of The Three-Body Problem.During the research,the literature research method and comparative analysis method are employed to scientifically discuss the Feminist Translation Theory in terms of its history and development,main contents and translation strategies.In addition,the theory-related practice method is also used to interpret and expound these quoted examples,so as to explore whether Ken Liu’s translation has effectively conveyed the feminism implied in the source textAs for the study,there are three major findings: first,the source text The Three-Body Problem indeed delivers a relatively strong sense of feminism,especially in highlighting the visible social influence of Chinese women,but Ken Liu’s translation has a failure in conveying such feminist sense;Second,under the guidance of the Feminist Translation Theory,the author finds the inappropriateness of Ken Liu’ translation mainly lies in five aspects,namely,highlighting women’s unique characteristics,shaping positive female images,speaking for women’s rights,downplaying men’s strengths and overstating men’s weaknesses;Finally,the Feminist Translation Theory has made a difference to evaluate Ken Liu’s translation of The Three-Body Problem,improve its quality and emphasize Chinese women’s traits in China’s Cultural Revolution.The Feminist Translation Theory has provided a new perspective for the study on Ken Liu’s translation of The Three-Body Problem;These case analyses on the deficiency of Ken Liu’s translation in this paper fully illustrate the concrete application of the Feminist Translation Theory,widens its practice range,and offers precious reference to other literary translation practices;Finally,the research boasts a positive significance to improve women’s status in literature as well as their visibility in whole society.