On The Translator’s Subjectivity Manifested In The Garlic Ballads From The Perspective Of Hermeneutic Motion Theory

Since the emergence of “cultural turn” in the field of translation studies in the 1970 s,the translator’s marginalized status has been improved,thus a series of extensive and in-depth researches on the translator’s subjectivity have been conducted in academic world.Among various different schools,hermeneutics is a theory and philosophy that understands and interprets the meaning of materials and texts,which has a natural and inseparable origin with translation.As one of the important figures in the history of hermeneutics,George Steiner put forward hermeneutic motion theory,making hermeneutics more connected with translation.He divides the process of translation into four steps: trust,aggression,incorporation,and compensation.Each step fully demonstrates and strongly supports the translator’s subjectivity.Tian Tang Suan Tai Zhi Ge,written by Mo Yan based on what actually happened in 1987,is regarded as the magnum opus that reflects the intellectual’s social conscience.It is also the first book when Mo Yan and Goldblatt became like-minded friends.Goldblatt’s subjectivity is fully reflected in his treatment of culture-loaded words,political terms,and religious words during his translation process of The Garlic Ballads.Therefore,based on hermeneutic motion theory,this thesis takes Tian Tang Suan Tai Zhi Ge and The Garlic Ballads as study objects,and adopts the literature research method and the comparative study method,hoping to reveal the internal relation between hermeneutic motion theory and the translator’s subjectivity from a theoretical perspective,explore the translator’s subjectivity during his translation process of the novel from a practical perspective,and provide some enlightenment for literary translation in order to facilitate Chinese culture“going out” and promote intercultural communication.Through analysis,the author draws two major conclusions.One is that The Garlic Ballads fully displays Goldblatt’s subjective initiative,that is,the translator’s subjectivity is reflected in each step of George Steiner’s four steps of hermeneutic motion theory.In the first step of “trust”,out of his admiration for Tian Tang Suan Tai Zhi Ge,Goldblatt decided to exert his linguistic talent and literary accomplishment to complete the translation of the novel.Then in the second step of “aggression”,he invaded the original text out of his cultural awareness and linguistic consciousness to capture the core meaning of the source text.Next,in the third step of “incorporation”,he adopted the strategies of foreignization and domestication to deal with the alien and abstract source text and took the linguistic differences between the two languages into consideration.Finally,in the step of“compensation”,he took an initiative in compensating for the inevitable imbalances resulted from aggression,so that the target language can better convey the style of the source language and achieve the purpose of interpretation.According to what is described above,it proves the feasibility of hermeneutic motion theory on the study of the translator’s subjectivity.The other is that the success of the overseas translation and introduction of The Garlic Ballads benefits from the display of the translator’s subjective initiative.The study shows that the successful overseas translation of The Garlic Ballads provides reference for Chinese literature to gain widespread acceptance in overseas markets: the translator should be proficient in bilingualism and cultural connotation,exert his subjectivity to apply appropriate strategies to balance strangeness and readability,and promote effective communication between the Chinese culture and Western culture.