A Comparative Study On Translator's Subjectivity From The Perspective Of Feminist Translation Theory

Translator's subjectivity is one of the important topics in the field of translation studies,which set its focus from various perspectives,such as the definition of translator's subjectivity,the improvement of translator's status,and the full play and constraints of translator's subjectivity.All these highlights the important and guiding role of translator's subjectivity in the translation process.Studying the subjectivity of the translator will not only help translators realize how to properly exert their subjective initiative in translation practice but help the target readers to obtain a more precise understanding of the translated text.As an important branch of the “cultural turn” in translation studies,feminist translation regards translation activities as a kind of political means to strive for the power of discourse for women.Feminist translation theory argues against and redefines the essence of the “fidelity” principle advocated by the traditional translation theories.It emphasizes the importance of translators' subjectivity and gender awareness in the translation process.Translator's subjectivity was highly stressed and and translator's feminist consciousness was fully recognized under the feminist perspective.The thesis takes four Chinese versions of Mrs.Dalloway as research objects.Within the theoretical framework of feminist translation theory,the thesis adopts quantitative and qualitative research methods,using corpus as an assistant tool and makes a comparative study of the four Chinese versions of Mrs.Dalloway in the aspects of language features,translation strategies as well as depiction of female images.The thesis aims to explore the influence translators' subjectivity exerting on their translation and expound the different manifestation of translators' subjectivity from the perspective of feminist translation theory,hoping to provide reference for better translating feminism in literary works.The research shows that: 1)As for language features of the translated texts,there is a tendency of gender parody for the male translators,whose language shows the same features as female languages which is more formal,elegant and cooperative.2)In termsof feminist translation strategies,the thesis finds that the male translators mainly adopt the strategy of prefacing and footnoting to help readers better understand the novel while the female translators prefer to use the translation strategy of supplementing and hijacking to better depict the essential traits and mental activities of the female characters.3)In the depiction of female images in Mrs.Dalloway,the female translators use more respectful terms to address women and adopt a bold and straightforward translation method to translate the sex-related expressions.They beautify and shape positive female images,expressing more respect and sympathy for the female group and committed to winning them more power of discourse while the male translators remain neutral,showing no obvious inclination of praising or despising toward women.Viewed from the perspective of feminist translation theory,the thesis finds that for better conveying feminism of the source text,female translators mostly take advantage of their physiological and psychological experience as women from the emotional perspective instead of just confining themselves to the traditional principle of “fidelity”in the translation process,while the male translators prefer to adopt the method of gender parody in the linguistic level by imitating the writing habits of the female or resorting to the translation strategies advocated by feminist translators.