（英语语言文学专业论文）浅析译者的主体性对文学翻译的影响——《红楼梦》中对薛宝钗形象描写的两种英译比较.pdf

ii 论文摘要论文摘要 红楼梦是中国古典文学中最重要的经典名著之一，是中国古代小说艺 术的巅峰之作。 红楼梦的无以媲美的艺术成就使它成为无可争议的中国文化 的代表作。多年来，不少中外翻译家一直致力于对红楼梦的翻译及其翻译研 究。红楼梦为不同的译者提供了发挥各自智慧、才干和审美艺术的空间。每 位译者都通过各自的翻译创造出了不同的新译本。其中，以杨宪益与其英国妻子 戴乃迭的译作 a dream of red mansions 和大卫霍克斯与其女婿约翰闵福德的 译作 the story of the stone 最为著名。 在过去一段很长的时间内，翻译，曾被视作次等艺术，甚至不是艺术，而 不受人们的重视，翻译的创作者，执行翻译活动的译者，也一直未受到应有的重 视，一些译者也以“译匠”自嘲。实际上，译者的劳动不仅艰辛，而且充满了创 造性，译者主体性的发挥直接左右着译文的质量，直接影响着一部作品在异国的 传播及其地位。本文意在对红楼梦这两个英文译本进行对比分析，特别是对 比译者对小说中的薛宝钗形象描写的不同翻译来挖掘译者主体性对译文的影响。 薛宝钗一直是文学批评中具有争论性的形象，她不是小说中的主角，却在反映作 者意图上占据了非常重要的地位。因此，对于薛宝钗形象的不同的英译的研究更 具有典型意义。 薛宝钗在两部译文中的形象描写从多个方面展现了译者各自的主体性。本 文作者希望通过对该人物在两个英文译本中不同形象描写的对比， 能够引发越来 越多的读者的兴趣关注该人物以及红楼梦这部巨作的英文译本的研究，并希 望本文能够为翻译批评研究起到添砖加瓦的作用。 关键词：关键词：译者主体性，形象描写，美学，创造性，文化 iii abstract hong loumeng is one of the most important classics in chinese classical literature and enjoys a universally acknowledged reputation as peak of the art of the novel in ancient china. its profound and unparalleled artistic achievements made it also a magnificent representative work of splendid chinese culture. and many chinese and western translators have devoted themselves to its translation and studies. hong loumeng is such a book that gives different translators opportunities and scopes to bring into full play their wisdom and aesthetic tastes in translating. each translator can give the novel a new version out of his own interpretation and creation just as there are different chinese versions. in various english versions of hong loumeng, there are two most famous ones which refer to a dream of red mansions by yang hsien-yi and his british wife gladys yang and the story of the stone by david hawkes and his son-in-law john minford. in the past, translation was once held in slight esteem and viewed as a derivative and inferior art and even viewed not belong to art for a long time. the translator, the creator of the translation culture, the very person that carries out this activity of translation, has long been ignored and obscured. many translators mocked themselves as the translation-smith. actually, translators work doesnt only bear the hardships but also have full creativity. the exertion of translators subjectivity will directly give influence to the quality of the version, and the prevalence and status of the works in foreign countries. and this thesis attempts to conduct an comparative analysis of these two versions of hong loumeng, and explore both translators subjective decisions on the selection of the character xue baochais image description. the image of xue baochai in hong loumeng has always been a dispute in literary critics. this character is not the leading actress in the novel but she possesses a very important status for reflecting the authors intention. therefore, the research on different english versions xue baochais description has more typical significance. these two versions on xue baochais image description clearly present the two translators subjectivity from many aspects. by introducing and comparing the study iv of the translators subjectivity to the description of xue baochai in the two english versions of hong loumeng, the author of this paper hopes to attract more readers to be interested in the study of this character and the english versions of this great novel. the author also hopes that it will duly help and shed some light on the research of translation criticism. keywords：translators subjectivity, image description, aesthetics, creativity, culture 上海交通大学上海交通大学 学位论文原创性声明学位论文原创性声明 本人郑重声明：所呈交的学位论文，是本人在导师的指导下， 独立进行研究工作所取得的成果。除文中已经注明引用的内容外，本 论文不包含任何其他个人或集体已经发表或撰写过的作品成果。 对本 文的研究做出重要贡献的个人和集体，均已在文中以明确方式标明。 本人完全意识到本声明的法律结果由本人承担。 学位论文作者签名：刘卓荦刘卓荦 日期： 年 月 日 上海交通大学上海交通大学 学位论文版权使用授权书学位论文版权使用授权书 本学位论文作者完全了解学校有关保留、使用学位论文的规定， 同意学校保留并向国家有关部门或机构送交论文的复印件和电子版， 允许论文被查阅和借阅。 本人授权上海交通大学可以将本学位论文的 全部或部分内容编入有关数据库进行检索，可以采用影印、缩印或扫 描等复制手段保存和汇编本学位论文。 保密保密，在 年解密后适用本授权书。 本学位论文属于 不保密 不保密。 （请在以上方框内打“” ） 学位论文作者签名：刘卓荦刘卓荦 指导教师签名：毛荣贵毛荣贵 日期： 年 月 日 日期： 年 月 日 shanghai jiaotong university m.a.thesis 1 chapter 1 introduction 1.1 brief introduction on the two versions of hong loumeng and its translators hong loumeng, which was written by the famous writer cao xueqin in qing dynasty in the 18th century, is one of the most important classics in chinese classical literature and enjoys a universally acknowledged reputation as peak of the art of the novel in ancient china. its profound ideological significance and unparalleled artistic achievements made it also a magnificent representative work of splendid chinese culture. the whole book paints the society realistically and reflects various social issues with concise but precise language. the encyclopedic novel which presents readers a panorama of social history of ancient china is a microcosm of the world of its time, revolving around the love between jia baoyu and lin daiyu and xue baochai. the host of personages and events converge on, link and restrict each other to make the plot develop smoothly in a chain of cause and effect, as the tragedy moves dramatically and inexorably to its climax. the world of hong loumeng is as rich, complicated, deep and natural as life itself. many renowned scholars and literary critics have spoken highly of the work. the book has been published for more than two hundred years. now studies and criticism concerning it since its first appearance have crystallized into a specialized branch of study, known as redology or hongology and investigations of which have been carried out into every aspect of the novel. many translators have devoted themselves to its translation and studies. it is hard to imagine the difficulties to translate such a famous novel into english. the translator is a sociable human being in the sense that he lives in a certain community of certain belonging and intricate complex of religious beliefs, feelings, cultural background, peculiarities, mental and psychological constraints, special language, dialect and etc. he is, therefore, under all kinds of pressure. different translators will inevitably have different interpretations of the original, and employ different approaches in reproducing the meanings and messages to the target language. in literary translation, shanghai jiaotong university m.a.thesis 2 the biggest challenge confronting the translators is how to understand the authors original intention of writing the book, and how to interpret the hidden messages in the original. in other words, the different interpretation of the authors intention, and the meanings and messages implied in the original will result in different translation approaches taken by the translators. hong loumeng is such a book that gives different translators opportunities and scope to bring into full play their wisdom and aesthetic tastes in translating. each translator can give the novel a new version out of his own interpretation and creation just as there are different chinese versions. as far as i am concerned, there are more than ten kinds of versions of hong loumeng in which two versions is regarded to have the highest reputation. the two english versions refer to a dream of red mansions by yang hsien-yi and his british wife gladys yang and the story of the stone by david hawkes and his son-in-law john minford. and this thesis attempts to conduct an analysis of these two versions of hong loumeng, and explore their subjective decisions on the selection of the character xue baochais image description. david hawkes and his student, john minford finished translating the book in 1974 and yang hsien-yi and his wife, gladys yang in 1978. both of the two english versions are universally acknowledged as the complete translations in the real sense, each having its unique characteristics and merits. their success is principally owed to their high proficiency in both languages and partly owed to the numerous researches on the novel by both chinese and foreign scholars in succession. david hawkes and the yangs are both famous translators. they are erudite masters of english and chinese language and literature. yang hsien-yi once majored in foreign literature and language and gladys in chinese literature in oxford university. the well-matched couple enjoys distinguished fame in the chinese academia especially in the field of translation. whereas hawkes, the british sinologist at oxford university, took his postgraduate courses in beijing university. they both have profound translating practices and experience and translated many excellent works. these experiences prepared them fully for the required linguistic and cultural competence in the translation of the renowned chinese classic. either shanghai jiaotong university m.a.thesis 3 translator has his own strong points in his translating points. the two versions of hong loumeng present to the readers completely different translating styles because of their different translating purposes, motivations and also different aesthetic standards. 1.2 significance or purpose of the dissertation translation is one of the human activities that have a centuries-old history whose effect has obtained the confirmation from people. there is no doubt that cross-cultural communication and translation make cultures get rid of the parochial regional limitation, expand peoples spiritual view and enhance the communication between different ideologies as reference. it is also propitious to the peaceful coexistence for peoples all over the world and promotes the succession, development and the prosperity of human civilization. translator as the reader of the source text may produce discrepancies with the author from understanding to information transference because of their different backgrounds and experience. the british translating scholar susan bassnett confirms the functions of translation and emphasizes translators dominant status in translating process in her representative work “translating studies”, which makes her opinion step a stride further than the other theorists in translating studies field. in bassnetts opinion, the exertion of translators subjectivity will directly give influence to the quality of the version. as is mentioned above, hong loumeng is such a book that gives different translators opportunities and scope to bring their wisdom and aesthetic tastes in translating into full play. each translator can give the novel a new version out of his own interpretation and creation just as there are different chinese versions. there appear numerous articles and academic dissertations in this emerging field. some have made the research of cultural comparison of the two versions, or some dissertation refers to study of the characters image building from discourse analysis theory. however, up to now as the author of this paper gathers, few articles or dissertations probe into either of the two english versions from the perspective of the shanghai jiaotong university m.a.thesis 4 translators subjectivity, needless to say such research on the character xue baochais image description. the image of xue baochai in hong loumeng has always been a dispute in literary critics. this character is not the leading actress in the novel but she possesses a very important status for reflecting the authors intention. i think her quality is not only typical to reflect the requirements in the feudal society but also fit for the modern world. xue baochai has complicated image in this novel. there are various analyses on her image from both positive and negative sides. the author expresses his aesthetic ideality on this character. she was a typical figure of fair maiden in the feudal society, and many merits can be found from this personage, such as intelligent by nature, charming on appearance, understanding and reasonable, elegant and poised and so on. however, she had been atrociously injured by feudal orthodox ideology, system and etiquette. it was her outlook of life and social moral principles that made her inevitable tragedy fate and a victim of feudal system and etiquette. actually, these two versions on baochais image description clearly present the two translators subjectivity from many aspects. by introducing the study of the translators subjectivity to the study of xue baochai in the two english versions of hong loumeng, this paper will attempt to enlarge and deepen the study on the english versions of this great novel. the author of this paper believes that it will duly help researches in each individual field and also shed some light on translation criticism. i hope my thesis will be of some help for redology and translating research. shanghai jiaotong university m.a.thesis 5 chapter 2 literature review on translators subjectivity in literary translation 2.1 characteristics of literary translation translation especially literary translation is not a simply and mechanical replication of the source text. it is generally accepted that literary translation has its own characteristics that are determined by that of literature. rich in content and almost covering all the aspects of human lives, literature, as one of the basic patterns of culture, has the characteristics of its own, which is entitled as “literariness” by means of artistic usage of language. compared with the language used simply for communication and message-exchange in daily life, literary language contains multi-layer meanings through an organic system that constitutes the meaning of the whole text by its particular form as well as cohesion and coherence between words, paragraphs and contexts. for that reason, literary language possesses more potential meanings that enable readers to imagine to their content and thus create special artistic effect compared with other kinds of languages. meanwhile, literary language also transfers a sort of aesthetic messages that offer readers a sense of beauty apart from the general messages. the more aesthetic messages a literary work contains, the more wonderful it is. as to the translation of literary work, the characteristics of literature mentioned above are also required in the translated text, that is, a literary translation must be of artistic and aesthetic values in addition to faithfully transmitting the original messages as possible. it is closely related with translators instinct imagination, experience and ideologies and so on. when the translator makes a conversation with the text in the process of understanding the source text, he always comes into the text with his own experience and cognitive style. while different experience and cognitive styles will definitely make different translators, or even the same translator at different times have different comprehension. for example the blank of text may produce different meanings on the basis of the translators expectation and deciphering methods and cause multi-elucidations consequently. therefore, literary translation is not just a piece of cake but a painstaking process in which translators should try their best to shanghai jiaotong university m.a.thesis 6 achieve equivalence not only on the level of language but also on the levels of culture and aesthetics. 2.2 definition of translators subjectivity now that the translator is the subject of translation, then, what does the translators subjectivity mean? and to carry out research on the subjectivity of the translator, first of all, we must have an understanding of the translating process. translation is not merely the simple transfer between the source text and target text. the formula must be like this: the author- the source text-the translator- the target text- the readers. in the whole process, firstly the translator is the reader of the source text who tries to construct a mental conception of the source text, but he is not an average reader who reads for reading sake, or for mere appreciation and enjoyment. a translator is supposed to do much more than that. as a translator of literary works, he reads in order to produce, decodes in order to re-encode, so to certain extent, the saying that translating is more or less a creative writing is no exaggeration. now lets look at the connotation of subjectivity in philosophical sense. in the philosophical sense, subjectivity refers to the essential quality of the subject which is revealed in his objectified activities. specifically speaking, subjectivity is the externalization of the subjects innate capacity in his objectified activities, the distinctive feature that the subject possesses to actively influence, alter and control the object and to enable the object to serve for the subject. the connotation of the subjectivity mainly includes ones purposive, independent, active and creative roles. in short, it is the subjective initiative, of which the creativity is the highest form. however, it doesnt mean that the subject can play his initiative without any limit or constraint. the subject in his objectified activity, acting upon the object, is inevitably restrained and limited by the object. meanwhile, the full play of the initiative is limited by the objective environment and conditions. therefore, the subjectivity also contains passivity, which is the inherent base of the initiative. passivity is reflected not only in the dependence of the subject on the object but also shanghai jiaotong university m.a.thesis 7 in the restrictions of the object on the subject. another important feature of subjectivity is the purposiveness, which reveals the purpose of the subjects activity. therefore, the subjectivity is the dialectic unity of the initiative, passivity an