On The Rationality Of Retranslation From Perspectives Of Differance And Translators’ Subjectivity

Scholars have been advocating faithful translation both at home and abroad. Hence,many translators have retranslated to the same classic and many classics have beentranslated into more than100versions in pursuit of this criterion. As for thisphenomenon, scholars hold different views： some scholars deem it as a waste ofresources, but others comment it is necessary and rational. After consulting relevantliteratures, the author finds that few researches have been conducted from theperspective of deconstruction.Translators’ subjectivity from the perspective of deconstruction claims thatdifferent translators interpret the original text according to their own standards.Translators are active creators rather than passive receivers for the meaning of theoriginal text. Their aesthetic values, personal attitudes and values would be blended intothe translated text consciously or unconsciously. The original text is translated based ontranslators’ own interpretation. Hence, different information will be derived from theirtranslation versions. Translators will make their personal comments and interpret theuncertain elements of the original text. Furthermore, the later translators will constantlydevelop their interpretations of the original text with the change of times. Différancetheory believes that the meaning of symbols is just temporally fixed in the text. Themeaning will also keep on changing and produce all kinds of new possibilities with thechanges of the space and time. In this sense, meaning is not fixed and ultimate. Due tothe uncertainty of word meaning, the meaning of sentences and texts are not fixed. Inother words, there exists no authoritative version for the original text. Although it isdifficult to find out the regular meaning of the text, translators can trace the Presence tofind out the temporary meaning of the text. Thus the retranslation activity can bringopportunities for digging out much more meaning of the original text.Under the theoretical framework of Différance theory and translators’ subjectivitytheory, this thesis carries out case study and contrastive research on the English versionsof Invitation to Wine in an attempt to provide a new perspective for retranslation study.Besides, this thesis also makes a comparison between Xu Yuanchong’s version andStephen Owen’s version in the semantic, syntactical and cultural dimensions. Thus itdemonstrates that different living environments, education backgrounds and values oftranslators would result in different interpretations of the original text. Hence,retranslation is conducive to fully convey the information of the original text. Due to the Différance of time and space, the meaning of some words has already changed.Retranslation is rational and necessary for the sake of changing time and target readers’reading habits.This thesis not only provides another new perspective for retranslation, but alsobrings certain enlightenment for further literature translation.