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Reanalysis of Fu’s Version from the Perspective of the Translator’s Subjectivity

Author: HeWei
Tutor: LiuJunPing
School: Wuhan University
Course: English Language and Literature
Keywords: subject subjectivity hermeneutics version Fu Donghua
CLC: I046
Type: Master's thesis
Year: 2005
Downloads: 704
Quote: 6
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Abstract

Gone with the Wind, written by an American writer Margaret Mitchell, is one of the world’s bestsellers. Due to such great popularity, a film with the same title was made in 1939 which swept almost all the major Oscar awards. For more than 70 years, the novel, as well as the movie, has been making records and legends.This movie was first introduced into China in Shanghai in 1940 and soon made a hit. Immediately after the miraculous success of the movie, Mr. Fu Donghua, a famous translator and writer of his time, was invited to translate the novel and made it known to more Chinese people. Later on, the novel has been retranslated for many times. Of all the versions, Fu’s can be the most influential, and it has also generated heated discussions in the circle of translation.The criticism of this version usually argues that too much domestication blocks the communication between two different cultures and thus loses the flavor of foreignness. Furthermore, some parts concerning the war and psychological parts of the novel are cut out with an aim to avoid boring the readers. Such deletions don’t conform to the traditional criterion of faithfulness proposed by almost all translators or translation critics as the first and foremost principle to follow. Time witnesses more and more versions coming out and Mr. Fu’s version seems to be "gone with the wind". Is it fair to this version?As is known to all, since the late 1970s, the translation study has turned to be culture-oriented, which brings about new approaches and dimensions. Translation is regarded as a cultural transfer more than a linguistic one. A number of translation critics thus focus on the "macro" factors involved in the whole translation process.Many target culture-oriented translation theories and schools are formed during this "cultural turn", among them the most influential ones are the Skopos Theory represented by Hans J. Vermeer, the Polysystem Theory represented by the Itamar Even-Zohar and Gideon Toury, and the Hermeneutics represented by Hans-George Gadamer and Hans Robert Jauss. The characteristics of these new translation theories can be concluded into two points: firstly,the translator is an active participant; secondly, the focus has been moved from the meaning itself to the meaning-producing field. Therefore, the translator’s subjectivity as well as his cultural and aesthetic tendencies has become necessary and important research subjects for translation researchers. On the other hand, these literary theories offer a substantial theoretical basis for describing and explaining the translator’s subjectivity.This dissertation aims to give a proper relocation to Fu’s version in the translation history, from the perspective of the translator’s subjectivity based on the theories. It is composed of 6 chapters.First the author gives an introduction of a translator’s subjectivity. The retrospection of the gradual recognition of translator’s subjectivity is also included. Then she briefly presents the important theoretical bases, esp. the Hermeneutics, for illustration of the translator’ subjectivity in the second chapter. She also gives some information about the translator’s translation career and the content of the novel Gone with the Wind. In the fourth chapter Fu’s subjectivity manifested in the version is illustrated in different aspects. In the fifth chapter factors restricting or influencing Fu’s subjectivity are listed, which in fact give more space for a translator to perform his subjective role. Based on what have been discussed above, the author draws the conclusion in the last chapter. The existence of different versions of the same source text has its own justification and value. While criticizing a certain version, we should pay more attention to constitutive factors shaping the translating process, not only to whether the version is faithful to the original text or not.

Reanalysis of Fu’s Version from the Perspective of the Translator’s Subjectivity

Abstract

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