论文总字数：29057字

摘 要

《金锁记》是张爱玲的代表作品，也是她主题挖掘及艺术创造最深刻，最丰厚的作品。在现代文学史上，张爱玲占有重要地位，是一位极富传奇性的作家。《金锁记》自从出版以来一直很受欢迎，其英文译本也是由张爱玲自译，这成为了翻译历史上一个特殊的现象。译者主体性是近年来翻译界关注的重点之一，传统的翻译观忽视了译者的主体地位和主观能动性，在文化转向出现后，译者的主体性得到了认可。然而，近些年来对自译的研究发展很快，但是却缺少了对核心自译者的专门研究。在自译过程中，作者承担了翻译的重任，这是自译有别于其他翻译的特点，所以本文选择对张爱玲自译小说《金锁记》中译者主体性进行研究。与其他翻译者相比，张爱玲在翻译中作为自译者享有很多改写的自主性，能够能动的完善不合理的地方，进而反映出自译者独有的主体性。本文通过对译者主体性的内涵、特征及表现的探讨，扩充了对译者主体性的认识，为研究译者主体性提供了新的方向。最后，在翻译活动中译者既要有创造意识又要有克制意识，以促进翻译实践和翻译研究的发展。

关键词：译者主体性,张爱玲,《金锁记》

Contents

1. Introduction 5

1. Literature Review ......6

2.1.Introduction of Eileen Chang 7

2.2.Brief Summary of The Golden Cangue 8

2.3.A General Reviewof Translator"s Subjectivity............................... ..9

3. Analysis of Translators" Subjectivity in Eileen Chang’s Translation

Work The Golden Cangue.................................................................... 11

4. Conclusion 15

Works Cited 16

1. Introduction

" The Golden Cangue" selected the first half of the 20^th century in Shanghai as the background, leading character Cao Qiqiao lived in a feudal aristocratic family, her character was freakly developed , showing a human nature in gold chains, being twisted and battered under the pressure of the imnormal environment . " The moon" as a image not only shows throughout the novel, but also represented a symbol of the fate of the leading character.

Self-translation in China didn’t start until 1920s.Lin Yutang (1895-1976,Between Tears and Laughter), Eileen Chang (1920-1995, Naked Earth,The Rice Sprout Song, The Golden Cangue), Kenneth Hsien-yung Pai (1937-present, Taipei People); Xiao Qian (1910-1999, The Spinners of Silk, Under the Fence,Chestnuts) and Yu Guangzhong (1928-present,The Night Watchman) have drawn increasing attention as self-translators,while such self-translated works as In Liu Village by Yu Lihua (1932-present) and Fragment from a Lost Diary by Yang Gang (1905-1957) haven’t been taken into account.

In recent years, the translators" subjectivity became one of the hottest topic of the Chinese translation circle. The study of the translator"s subjectivity has important significance to the nature of translation.In traditional translation,we emphasize methods,purposes and skills.However,translation becomes a simple imitation and reproduction of the original text.The development of translation theory and practice is closely related with the development of translators" subjectivity study . Person is the main body of literary translation , and the original text and the translation is the object of creation.In this process, the translator is in a central position, plays a active role. Study of translators" subjectivity, can accelerate the exploration of the translation process. The translator is the executor of the translation and the main object of translation studies .But in the self-translation, the translator plays the role of translator and the author at the same time.This article aims to analyze the translator’s subjectivity in Eileen Chang’s C-E Self-Translation of The Golden Cangue .

Literature Review

2.1. Introduction of Eileen Chang

First ,we should know about the life of Eileen Chang. Eileen Chang (1920-1995), born in Shanghai, her primitive name was Chang Ying. Eileen Chang had extremely sensitive to color, notes, and words,which are reflected in her works; At the same time, her character gathered a lot of contradictions. What’s more, Eileen Chang is one of the few people in the Chinese history of literature in the 20th century that can use the bilingual writing expertly, and win a reputation in both kinds context .Chinese and English readers both like her works. In Chinese and English writing at the same time, Eileen Chang also engaged in translation work, her translation can be roughly divided into the Chinese translation of foreign literary masterpieces, their Chinese-English translation, and adaptation of three parts. Her translation of Hemingway"s The old man and the sea, Washington Irving’ The story of sleeping hole, Rawlings yearling’ American poems, “Owen small selected, the headless knight", "Selected works of the United States", "Selected works of Ralph Waldo Emerson," The story of sleepy hollow ", etc. And their chinese-english creation is mainly refers to the works of" yangko ", "naked", "the" May 4th "tian", "hatred" the four Chinese translation of the English novel, as well as the "gold lock" and so on translation of novellas. Eileen Chang on translation of his work, adhere to the translation, reflects her on the English level of confidence, is also considering only have yourself to more fully appreciate its original flavor, aptly put it at all.

2.2Brief Summary of The Golden Cangue

The Golden Cangue was written by Eileen Chang in 1943.It describes a woman called Cao Qiqiao’s life,she was born in a small businessman’s family.She had been tortured for 30 years,and under the oppression of desire formed her pathological character,which ruined her children’s happiness.She married a disabled man called Zhong Ze,but she did not love him,she loved his brother Ji Ze.She wanted love but can’t love.It made her lived like a madman.Later,under the wealth desire and sexual oppression,her personality became distorted,her behavior turned soured.Then she destroyed her son’s marriage,leaded her daughter-in-law tortured to die,also she broke up her daughter’s love.

In this book,Eileen Chang showed the basic connotation of modern social gender psychology.In Eileen Chang’s age,her work didn’t has any avant-garde ideas,but it still showed us the veil of the sexual world.Eileen Chang thought Cao Qiqiao was the only “hero”in her novel world.Cao Qiqiao had a madman’s prudence and wit,in order to revenge the society which hurt her,she used the most morbid way.

2.3.A General Review of Translator"s Subjectivity

According to Mr.Cha Mingjian’s point of view,the translator subjectivity refers to that the translator as the subject of a translation first should show respect to the translation object , then they emerge subjective initiative to achieve translation purpose in translating activities. Its basic features are the translation subject’s consciousness of humanities character ,cultural and aesthetic creativity.Translators" subjectivity is not only embodied in the translator"s understanding and interaption of the original text and language transformation of artistic creation, but also reflected in the translated text’s choose, cultural purpose of translation,translation strategies ,and so on.Translators should not only convey the basic information of the original content, but also to convey the original aesthetic connotation. In the self-translation works, the translator plays the role of translator and the author, reflects the most obvious of translator"s subjectivity in the translation process, it’s also what the current researchers explore most in respect of translators" subjectivity.

In recent years, the western philosophy language theory’s steering and the "cultural turn" of translation has opened up a new perspective of translation study for us, make us realize that translation process is a process of constant choice of language, the translator plays the most active role in the translation process .Translation subjectivity studies received extensive attention of western scholars, the French professor Berman says that translation criticism theory must be based on the translator as the main starting point, and put forward the slogan of "towards the translator". In China, the study of translators" subjectivity is the focus of translation studies, translators write a lot of academic articles on translator"s subjectivity , definition and thinking on the position of the subjectivity of the translator.For example,Yang Wuneng first discusses the literary translators’s personality psychology, thinks that the main body of translation is also a person, also the writer, translator and reader. The original text and the translation,are their tools and carrier between communicate thoughts and feelings , are all the object of their creation. In the whole creative activity, translators are in central position, plays a positive role.Xu Jun believe in in the process of "Understanding, interpretation and creation" translation activity cycle, "the authors and translation, readers " formed an activity which a variety of factors both have interaction, and in this field, from the traditional author’ longly and an unlimited explan of readers , to the active communication between the author, the translator and the reader, and the translator is in the center of the activity. Other scholars also made a more detailed explanation from different angles . Research perspectives and key are starting turn to the translator. The status of the translation subjectivity gradually being comfirmed.

With the arrival of the structuralism, translators" subjectivity gradually get rid of the awkward position and received more and more attention. Since the mid - 1960 - s, structuralism translation theories’s influence growing in the west world, has a huge impact on traditional translation theory, Delhi’s deconstructive translation improved the position of the translator and the translation. Delhi thought that translation is actually a series of different chain of meaning. This is said that deconstruction thought all the text is "Intertextuality" ,and writing itself is a form of copy each other’s process. Therefore, "intertextuality" denied the authority and creativity of the author , even don"t acknowledge the copyright. In this way, and you can"t distinguish the original text and the translation ,which improved the position of translators and translation.

We learn from the previous discussion of different dimensions on translation and draw the conclusion that the translator enjoys much freedom in the translation process. The translator, as the subject of translation, plays an important role in the translation process; being responsible for realizing the purpose of translation. But translation is still restricted by several factors. But if the significant role of the translator is overestimated and exaggerated，the translation will become mistranslated. While on the other hand, if the translator’s subjectivity is underestimated, the translation can’t achieve its goal. Nida pointed out that no one can translate in vacuum and thus be bound to be restricted by the social cultural environment of his own time(2001 315). A series of factors should be considered on the basis of translator’s subjectivity: the source text, the self-constraint of the translator, the cultural and social factors and the restriction of the target readers．

Translation is a creative activity, a re-writing process. Therefore, the translator should have a full understanding of the original text, the background information, the social experience, the purpose of the original writing and the literature style，which will help the translator to grasp the author’s purpose and theme. The translator does not speak in his own voice, but the voice of the original author. The translator does not convey to the target audience his own ideas, meanings, arguments, and images (Douglas Robinson 2001:21). It means that the translator can enjoy full freedom in his translation when it is also constrained by the original text．The translator should pay more attention to the spirit and essence of the original text, the styles and the main features of the language. A good translator ought to be conscious about the purpose of the source text. He is more constrained by someone’s words when he translates than when he writes articles or books or posting something to the audience(Douglas Robin 2001:2)．

The translator is the subject of the translation and plays a very important role in the translation process, which means that the translator will affect the translation with self-constraints. The quality of the translation will be definitely affected by the translator’s comprehension of the original text, his bilingual competence, his own characteristics, values, knowledge, experience, and even mental conditions. The language competence of the translator is also a very important element in translation. The translator must have the abilities to handle the source language and the target language before starting the translation．If the translator has not mastered the source language, he will misunderstand the original text，which will eventually lead to the misinterpretation. A good translator is a person who can write and translate smoothly. A complete comprehension of the original text is not enough for a translator; he should also know how to deliver the ideas to the target reader accessibly and acceptably. The language proficiency of a translator，to a large extent, determines the final quality of the translation．

Translation occurs in a given cultural and social environment which poses many constraints on the activity and its result. Nida (2001:82) claims that for truly successful translation, bicultural is more important than bilingualism, since words only have their particular meanings in terms of the culture．

Chinese scholar Wang Zuoliang holds that translation involves not only linguistic issues but also cultural ones. The translator should be familiar with the two different cultures. In the process of translation, the translator sometimes will encounter some cultural barriers which will bring some difficulties to the translation．In order to get rid of the cultural gap, the translator should have adequate knowledge about the two cultures. Translation is a cross-cultural activity so the translator is required to have the knowledge about both of the target culture and the knowledge of his own culture. Only when the two cultures are balanced, can the translator manage to achieve his translation purpose. If not, the translation cannot succeed in some degree．

Nida once claimed that “judging the validity of a translation can’t stop with a comparison of corresponding lexical meanings, grammatical classes, and rhetorical devices. What is important is that the extent to which the audience or readers correctly understand and appreciate the translated text”．

The target reader also constrains the translator’s subjectivity. Translation is the bridge between the author and the target audiences, for that the target audiences usually know little about the source text．The main purpose of the translation is making the source text accessible to the target readers. So, only when the readers accept the translation and fully understand the ideas of the source text, can the translation be a successful one. The life of a translation is the readers’ recognition. The readers should be taken into consideration, because that they can influence the choice of the target language and the translation methods．

In one word, there are many factors and elements that affect the translator’s subjectivity. They can be problems in translation, requiring the translator to go to great lengths to deal with all these elements, performing his subjectivity under the consideration of all these factors.

Literary translation is not only a cross-cultural language transformation activity, but also a recreation of art. Literary translation is can be called as a kind of creative activity, the root because is in the process of translator"s subjective initiative. This is the origin of literary translation subjectivity problem. Self-translation is the translator uses creative methods to make original intentions extended and spread, make the primitive culture and translation cultural exchange, so that the original text’s life lives in different time and space. Self-translation is a rewriting of original text , reflects the thinking change of the translator"s inner world.

Rewrite and self-translation applied together, fully embody the consciousness of the subjectivity of the translator in self-translation works. As a writer and translator, in Eileen Chang’s whole life, in the process of literary creation and translation, reflects the conflicts between translator in the translation process and the consciousness of the writter, it highlighting her creation feelings , especially in her self-translation .

3. Analysis of Translators" Subjectivity in Eileen Chang’s Translation Work The Golden Cangue

In the process of translating The Golden Cangue , Eileen Chang uses a variety of translation strategy, mainly the translation variation. Now I will analyze Eileen Chang’s subjective consciousness as a translator through her translation strategies. First of all, Eileen Chang understands China culture and Western culture very well, in the process of translation, she is good at dealing with the differences between Chinese culture and Western culture, and she tries to protect and make target readers can understand the source language culture at the same time. Under these circumstances, she often uses paraphrasing method and amplification method to make the target language readers better understand the source language culture. For example:

1. 玳珍道:“当心你那水葱似的指甲，养得这么长了，断了怪可惜的!”

“Be careful of those nails of yours, as slender as scallions. It would be a pity to break them when you"ve grown them so long,”said Dai-zhen.

1. 酸梅汤沿着桌子一滴一滴朝下滴，像迟迟的夜漏——一滴，一滴....一更，二更.....一年，一百年。真长，这寂寂的一刹那。

Drop by drop, the sour plum juice trickled down the table, keeping time like a water clock at night-one drip, another drip-the first watch of the night, the second watch-one year, a hundred years. So long, this silent moment.

In the above two example, when translating "scallions" and "water clock at night" , Chang takes the amplification method to translate, adds "slender" to emphasize the characteristic of scallion, the long nails, makes it easier for readers to understand. However, "water clock at night" is particular to China, Chang adds "keep time" to describe it and make the meaning clearer.

It also reflects that Chang’s subject consciousness in order to maintain and develop Chinese culture. Because of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures and the different language features, it is sometimes difficult to maintain the original characteristics. Even successfully maintained, the form of language will be very long or very verbose, resulting in the readers of the target language difficultly understanding the version. To avoid this , Chang often uses the paraphrasing method, which can pass the original text, so as to accurately express the meaning of the original and make the translation acceptable to the target readers. For instance：

1. 小双抱着胳膊道：“麻油店的活招牌，站惯了柜台，见多识广的，我们拿什么去比人家？”Little Shuang said, holding her own elbows,“Why, she was the big attraction at the sesame oil shop, standing at the counter, and dealing with all kinds of customers. What have we got to compare with her?”

The original text of the “living shop sign”, is a metaphor of Qiqiao"s image, proving that Qiqiao lures shoppers into the store. In the process of Eileen Chang’s translation, she does not directly translate it as the "living shop sign" with Chinese analogy, but she rewrites this metaphor to add the inner meaning of the "living shop sign" here in her translation, making readers more clearly understand the translated text and the article read more smoothly and more natural.

At the same time, Eileen Chang uses the translation strategy in dealing with the characteristics of strong symbolized Chinese words, not only making the target language readers understand the connotation, but also spreading the Chinese culture to them, which embodies Eileen Chang"s deep understanding of the differences between Chinese and Western cultures and her professional skills as a translator. Example:

1. 长馨想着送佛送到西天，自己再热心些，也没有资格出来向长安的母亲说话，只得央及兰仙。

Chang-hsing thought she should finish her good deed but, however enthusiastic, she was not qualified to speak to Chang-an’ s mother. She had to beg Lan-hsien.

When Eileen Chang translating "Send Buddha to India", she does not directly translate it like this, but expresses the meaning and transfers it to "finish her good deed but, however enthusiastic", which differs from her usual retention of idioms image translation strategy, not only making the target language readers understand the Chinese culture, but also reflecting that Eileen Chang is good at using variable translation strategies. Another example：

1. 后来七巧认真得了病，卧床不起，越发鸡犬不宁。

Later Qiqiao got seriously ill and took to her bed and there was more fuss then ever.

Translation theorist Newmark considers that translation of idioms is the representation of source text information, but also makes some small change in the meaning of the original text. Eileen Chang does not adopt all this method, but adopt the transcription strategy in translation.

1. 七巧道:“那还有个为什么? 男人的心，说声变，就变了。他连三媒六聘的还不认帐，何况那不三不四的歪辣货?......”

“What’s so strange about that? Men’s hearts change faster than you can say change. He didn’t even acknowledge the one who came with the three matchmakers and six gifts, not to say the hussy that’s neither fish nor flesh...”

Although the English idioms are not semantically equal to the Chinese source texts, sometimes in English-Chinese translation, in order to make the target language readers better understand the meaning and culture of the source language text, the translator can adopt corresponding English idioms in translation. Therefore, in the process of translating "The Golden Cangue", Eileen Chang also uses this translation strategy.

In above example, translation of "不三不四" highlights that situation. In Chinese, "不三不四" is used to describe those who are "rude, clumsy", however, in English, "neither fish nor flesh" is an abbreviated version of "neither fish, flesh nor good red herring", means “difficult to determine and classify or blurred". Eileen Chang does not literally translate “不三不四” as "impolite" or "brattish", but translates it with equivalent English phrases according to its meaning in the context, so that the target readers can understand the meaning of the text and the original meaning get transmitted. In the translation of "The Golden Cangue", Eileen Chang not only uses the above translation strategies, at the same time, in order to better disseminate Chinese culture, she also uses the method of paraphrasing in variation:

1. 七巧道：“怎奈这丫头天生的是扶不起的阿斗，限得我只嚷嚷:‘多咱我一闭眼去了’，男婚女嫁，听天由命罢!”

“But this girl was born an Ah-tou* that can’t be propped up. I get so angry I keep yelling: ‘Oh, for the day that I shut my eyes and am gone!’--her marriage will then be in the hands of heaven and left to fate.”(*the inept heir of LiuPei, founder of the Shu Han kingdom during the Three Kingdoms period)

The "Ah-tou" is a Chinese historical figure, but is used here be a metaphor for people without motivation. It is difficult to understand the meaning for the readers not knowing the history of China. Therefore, Eileen Chang does not literally translate it as "A Dou", but uses the paraphrasing method to make the target language readers to understand the history and culture of China, which also reflects Eileen Chang’s subjective consciousness of spreading Chinese culture.

4. Conclusion

Since self-translation first appeared, whether it is genuinely translation always has been doubted. Self-translation is different from other forms of translation, because the author plays the role of translator, this make the author can tranlate in his own way.With the development of translation studies and the arrival of the cultural turn, we need to realize that self-translation is a special genre in translation studies.

Different from other ordinary translators,Eileen Chang played the role as the author and translator at the same time,she had the autonomy,she chould change wherwever she thought was inappropriate,which showed the subjectivity of translator.

Overall, while Eileen Chang was translating The Golden Cangue, she use a variety of translation strategies, in order to make the target language readers to understand the purpose of the Chinese culture, also it reflected the subject consciousness of the Chinese culture that she wanted to spread. There is no doubt that she is the ideal translator of The Golden Cangue, because no one had the experience that not only lived in the United States engaged in English translation for ten years, but also could deeply understand the meaning of the article and the characters of the novel. In the process of translation, the self- translation activities make great senses for the translator and the author , and it’s necessary for the reflection of the translators" subjectivity in the translation of the research , so that the triple identity of the translator can reflect more.Then they can choose the appropriate translation strategies, and translate according to the specific situation. What’s more, they can borrow from other areas or use intertextuality to make the translation more vivid.It will guide our translation research and practice.

Works Cited

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