论文总字数：34138字

摘 要

女性主义翻译理论主张通过翻译表达女性的意志，反映女性的思想，重塑女性的社会价值。《德伯家的苔丝》是哈代的代表作品。本文将通过对比，研究不同性别的译者在翻译同一文本时采取的不同方法。本文从肖像，语言，行为，心理等角度分析了《德伯家的苔丝》两个中译本，探求在翻译过程中，译者性别意识的显现，进而从女性主义翻译理论视角探讨译者主体性。

关键词： 译者主体性；女性主义翻译理论；《德伯家的苔丝》

Contents

1. Introduction 1

1.1 Research background 1

1.2 Research purpose and significance 2

1.3 Research methodology 2

1.4 Organization of this thesis 3

2. Literature review 3

3. Introduction to Hardy and Tess of the d’Urbervilles 7

3.1 Introduction to Hardy 7

3.2 Introduction to Tess of the d’Urbervilles 7

3.3 The feminist consciousness in Tess of the d’Urbervilles 8

4. A comparative study of two translations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles 8

4.1 A comparison of translations based on feminist translation theory 9

4.2 Manifestation of the translator"s subjectivity 14

5. Conclusion 14

Works Cited 16

1. Introduction

1.1 Research background

The “Feminism” in the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English refers to a series of principles and activities in which women strive for the same rights and opportunities as men. Feminism movement was rooted in Western Progressivism at the end of the 18th century. It did not undergo a period of rapid development until the 20^th century, which substantially affected social development.

At the end of the 19th century, the first wave of the women"s liberation movement focused on the equality of the two sexes. It also required citizenship and political rights. The most important goal was to strive for equality in social labor and political rights. The second wave of feminism began in the 1960s and 1970s, which emphasized the inequality of the division of labor between the sexes. It also led to feminist academic research on gender studies.

In the 1980s, the cultural turn in translation theory marked the decline of traditional translation theories. Subsequently, translation theory began to intersect with other disciplines, including feminist translation theory, which affirmed the subjective initiative of the translator, emphasizing the influence of gender differences on the translation

In 1996, Shirley published the book Gender in Translation: Cultural Features and Political Politics, marking the birth of Western feminist translation theory. It is pointed out that the translator integrates his or her own consciousness into the content on the basis of the original text, which is a kind of "re-creation" of the original text. This "re-creation" does not violate the original intention, and there is a continuation between the translation and the original text（Simon 168）.

Tess of the d’Urbervilles is Hardy"s classic work. So far, there are many different versions of translations on the market, such as the translation of Zhang Ruogu and Sun Fali"s translation published in the 20th century. In recent years, there are more and more Tess’s translations, such as Wu Di’s translation, Li Jingjing"s translation and Huang Jianren"s translation, etc. Among these translators, Li Jingjing, Huang Jianren are female translators, and Zhang Ruogu, Wu Di, Sun Fali are male translators.

Since Sun Fali was born in the old society with a low status of women, he was inevitably influenced by masculinity. While China just began to reform and open up in the youth of Huang Jianren, so she was relatively influenced by feminism. Therefore, the translations of the two have a distinct style that is conducive to the study of feminist translation theory

All in all, after contrasting and selecting, the two Chinese translations of Huang Jianren and Sun Fali are taken as the comparative corpus on the basis of feminist translation

1.2 Research purpose and significance

In Western countries, due to the booming feminist movement, feminist works that were once neglected began to receive the attention of researchers and have been extensively studied. Since the 1970s, gender differences have become the focus of Western feminist translation theories, and many famous feminist scholars and their masterpieces have emerged. In China, more and more research on feminist translation theory has been conducted in recent years.

In this thesis, the Chinese translations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles are mainly compared and analyzed on the basis of feminist translation. The author is to study the effect of translators of different genders on their respective translations. By comparing the two Chinese translations, translators can learn from and choose the appropriate translation strategy in English-Chinese translation. Feminist translation concept, which is from the perspective of gender, discusses some problems in translation, and emphasizes the translator"s subjectivity and difference. When translating a book about feminism, it can make the translation more suitable for the content that the original text wants to express, and will contribute to the female culture and translation practice.

1.3 Research methodology

Comparative study based on textual analysis is used in this paper. What’s more, the vocabulary and style in different translations are analyzed.

1.4 Organization of this thesis

The first chapter is introduction, in which the research background, purpose and significance of the thesis are introduced. The second chapter is literature review, which gives a detailed introduction to the research on feminist translation theory and briefly introduces current situation of translation studies of Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The third chapter introduces Hardy and Tess of the d’Urbervilles and the feminist consciousness in Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The forth chapter is the analysis of two Chinese translations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles under the guidance of feminist translation theory from the perspective of portrait, language, action, psychology, etc, The fifth chapter is a summary of the paper, indicating the main findings of the paper, expounding the limitations of the research and making recommendations for future research.

2. Literature review

In the first stage of feminism, attention was paid to the differences in social attributes caused by physiological differences between the two sexes. In the second and third period, the inequality between the two sexes in society was studied. After the "cultural turn" appeared in the 1980s, the traditional translation theory was questioned, and the principle of equivalence was no longer the premise and purpose of translation. A number of translation schools have emerged, including feminist translation theory.（Gatrell amp; Simon 245）

According to the traditional translation theories, faithfulness is one of the most important criteria in translation, Therefore, the subjectivity of the translator has been greatly restricted (Chang 342). The root of the traditional translation theory"s discrimination against translators and translations is the binary opposition model. This pattern of opposites, which is often used to describe the relationship between men and women, emphasizes the absolute control of men and the subordination of women.

Influenced by the trend of deconstruction and post-colonialism, the translation community was aware of the imperfections of the original ideas, and different understandings of different readers of the original text. The translator"s subjectivity has begun to receive widespread attention, which directly contributed to the combination of feminist translation theory and translator"s subjectivity, and opened up new research fields.

Translator"s subjectivity is the basis of feminist translation theory. It highlights the status of translations, and disregards the translation as a copy of the original work, which has great limitations. This inequality in status, which is similar to the discrimination against women in traditional society, has been comprehensively rethought by feminist translation theorists （Bassnett 142）. Feminist translation theory recognizes the relative differences between the original and translations, but fundamentally negates the original author"s authority on translation. On the one hand, feminism needs to seek opportunities for expression. On the other hand, translation is the best tool to express emotion and value orientation. As a scientific activity, translation should have an objective reflection of the facts.

The application of feminist translation theory in translation practice is mainly reflected in the interpretation of the original work with female perspectives and values, and the re-creation of the original works. Through this re-creation, the translator"s subjectivity in feminist translation theory can be fully exerted, expanding the meaning of the original work and enriching translation studies. ( Bassnett 34).

In 1981, feminists gathered in Toronto for research on feminism and translation, and subsequently, a large number of outstanding female translators appeared. In 1996, Professor Simon published her book called Gender in Translation--Cultural Identity and Political Transformation. A year later, a book named Translation and Gender--Translation of the Female Age was published by Professor Louis. In 1999, Susanne published The Body Bilingual People: Translating as Feminine Rewriting. The books of these three female writers have established Canada"s dominant position in feminist translation studies, and have also greatly promoted feminist translation theory (Showalter 3).

Its representative figures include Sherry Simon, Louis von Flotow, Barbara Godard, Susanne de Lotbiniere-Harwood and Lori Chanberlain, etc. They hoped to study how to translate the female image in the original work by studying feminist translation theory, and explored the way to reproduce or create the feminist spirit in the original work, in order to better conform to the mainstream of contemporary thought. Therefore, they have done a lot of theoretical and practical work.

With the deepening of research and practice, feminist translation theory has also produced many branches; the most famous is the ecological feminist translation theory. At the same time, many new research objects and ideas have also been proposed, for example, the feminist language concept and translation practice. Feminist demanded not to emphasize the male-centered consciousness and highlight female consciousness. They tried to overthrow the inherent concept of inequality between men and women, and claimed that the translation is at the same level as the original (Showalter 34). These new ideas also provided unique insights into the standards of translation and the translator"s subjectivity and creativity. In short, it made translation a way to liberate women and translators.

In China, feminist translation studies have just started. In 2000, the effect of feminism on translation was firstly introduced by Professor Liao Qiyi in Journal of Sichuan Foreign Language College. In 2003, conversations between Chinese feminists were recorded by Professor Mu in Translation and Women"s Literature. In 2004, Chen Ling published A Review of Canadian Translation Theories in the Past Ten Years, and Geng Qiang published Chinese and Western Discourses on Feminist Translation Studies in the same year. In 2006, Li Xiaofei traced the gender metaphors in the translation studies of East and West from the perspective of cultural studies in Rewriting of Female Translators from the Perspective of Feminism. She also reviewed the feminist translation strategy and focused on "rewriting" and cultural appropriation.

The main research directions of feminist translation theory in China are comprehensive research, translator"s subjectivity, gender awareness and translation strategies. Pan Xuequan divided the practice of Western feminist translation into three stages: women"s participation in social and cultural activities through translation, elimination of sexism in language through intervention in translation, and prominence of female experience through translation. Flotow summarized the ways of translation practice as follows: prefacing and footnoting, supplementing and hijacking.

The style of Chinese feminist translators is relatively mild compared to Western feminist translators. However, in order to make them visible, they sometimes break through traditional translation techniques and use strong language（Venuti 43）.

The translation and research of Tess reflects Hardy"s unique literary charm, and his literature profoundly reflects the social conditions of his time. At the same time, it also reflects the continuous improvement of the understanding of morality and humanity in the Chinese literary and translation circles. Readers of different eras have different understandings of classical literature, while classical literature reflects the unique understanding of readers of different nationalities.

The first Chinese translation of Tess of the d’Urbervilles was published in 1984 and translated by Zhang Ruogu. The famous translations include Wu Di"s translation, Sun Fali"s translation, Sun Zhili"s translation, Huang Jianren"s translation and Li Jingjing"s translation.

In 1984, Zhang Ruogu"s translation opened up the study of Tess. There are more and more papers on this novel, which mainly discuss topic discussion, style review, character analysis and research perspective.

In 2002, two translations of Tess were compared Professor Li Hong from the perspective of foreignization. The author believed that Zhang Ruogu’s translation was mainly domestication while Sun Fali’s version tended to foreignization. When the two translators processed cultural barriers, foreignization was adopted. They all added some explanations to the translation, which not only preserves the style of the original text, but also allows readers to appreciate the culture and customs of foreign countries.

What’s more, Wang Xin carried out a comparative research on the different translations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles from the perspective of hermeneutics. Fang Yanyu studied the reproduction of the meaning of conversation in the Chinese translations based on translation standards. Lei Muye explored the image interpretation of Tess from the perspective of eco-feminism. Du Suxia compared two Chinese translations of Tess and analyzed the translation strategies adopted by the translator.

As a brand new school in translation studies, there are few books on translation studies from the perspective of feminism in Chinese translation community. By comparing four Chinese translations of Pride and Prejudice, Song Yanhong discovered the male-central consciousness implied in the translation. Two of the translators are male and the two translators are female. In summary, in order to see whether the translation reflects the male consciousness, or to see whether the translation of the female perspective is critical, the feminist theory and contrast of the original and the translation is needed (Mu 39).

3. Introduction to Hardy and Tess of the d’Urbervilles

3.1 Introduction to Hardy

Hardy was born in Dorset, England in 1840. He began his literary creation in 1862. After the publication of Far from the Madding Crowd in 1874, Hardy officially became a full-time writer. Later, Hardy published a number of novels, including The Woodlanders, and Tess of the d"Urbervilles and Jude the Obscure.

Most of Hardy"s novels, including Tess, took place of where he lived - Dorset, a county in the south of England. He used this place as a geographical background. Due to his deep understanding of life, customs, and social struggles in rural England, he can keenly observe the root causes of poverty of peasant. The theme of Tess is contrary to the upper system of the era in which he lived. Hardy slammed the hypocritical morals of the time and praised the women who bravely pursued themselves.

3.2 Introduction to Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Tess, the protagonist of Tess of the d’Urbervilles, was eager for the colorful world, but suffered misfortune. Tess worked as a servant for the family"s livelihood in a relative’s home, but she was tempted by her cousin because of her ignorance. Later she fell in love with Claire, but was abandoned by the fiancé at the wedding night. As a result, she missed happiness. Due to a high sense of family responsibility and self-sacrifice, Tess once again became the mistress of Yare, and finally, Tess killed Yare, and was sentenced to be hanged.

All these tragic experiences were all attributed to the social forces under the patriarchal rule, hypocritical ethics and unfair social order. From the perspective of feminism, the novel narrates the tragic fate that was destroyed by Feudalism and Capitalism. At the same time, and the image of women who yearn for democracy and harmony has similarities with the identity of Hardy for women.

3.3 The feminist consciousness in Tess of the d’Urbervilles

As a writer living in the Women"s Liberation Movement, Hardy always paid attention to the female image. The novel focuses on the independent personal dignity and female consciousness.

Tess was originally a pure girl, but the violence of Yare made her lose her chastity. This was a devastating hit in the morality of that time. However, Tess was not afraid of the cruel facts, still dared to love and hate. In order to prove her innocence, she eventually killed Yare. Tess is a woman with awakened sexual consciousness. On the one hand, she has been guilty of the fact that she was raped. On the other hand, she still loved Claire. Meeting again with Claire evoked her passion for love, but she hid her emotions in her heart. She knew that love was an irresistible force. After suffering double torture, she finally killed Yare. The awakening of Tess"s sexual consciousness is also the reason why this book has been very popular. Hardy regarded Tess as a pure woman. There is no doubt that this is a protest and irony of the social moral standards of that time.

4. A comparative study of two translations of Tess of the d’Urbervilles

The translator is the subject of translation. Practice has proved that the translation of classic works makes us realize that the styles translated by different translators are different. This difference reflects the translator"s subjectivity（Liao 8）.

This paper compares the Chinese translation of Tess from a male translator(Sun Fali) and a female translator(Huang Jianren) from the perspective of feminist translation theory, studies the translation of Tess’s image from the perspective of portrait, action, language and psychology, and examines whether the translations are influenced by feminist translation theory, and whether they truly reproduced what Hardy wanted to describe.

4.1 A comparison of translations based on feminist translation theory

4.1.1 A comparison of portrait descriptions in two versions

Portrait description refers to the depiction of a person"s face features, including the figure, appearance, costume, disposition, manner, habits and so on. The purpose of portrait description is to portray a person"s character and reflect his or her inner world.

In the novel, when Tess first appeared, Hardy described her appearance like this:

Example 1:

She was a beautiful and dignified girl - perhaps not more beautiful than other girls - but her mobile peony mouth and a pair of large and pure eyes added eloquence to color and shape. She wore a red ribbon on her head, and was the only one of a person who can boast of an eye-catching decoration in the white dress girl.

Translation 1（女）: 这是一位漂亮端庄的姑娘——也许并不比别的姑娘更漂亮——但她艳若牡丹富于表情的双唇，一双大而纯真的眼睛使她更为光彩照人，风姿绰约。她头上扎着条红缎带，在这队白衣女郎中能以惹眼的装饰自夸的人。(Huang 9)

Translation 2（男）: 她是一个娟秀俊俏的姑娘——同有些别的姑娘比起来，也许不是更俊俏——但是她那生动的艳若牡丹的嘴，加上一双天真无邪的大眼睛，就为她的容貌和形象增添了动人之处。她的头发上系一根红色的发带，在一群穿白色衣服的队伍里，她是唯一能以这种引人注目的装饰而感到自豪的人。（Sun 11）

Because male translators and female translators have different physiological characteristics and different social expectations, they are destined to have different observational perspectives, way of thinking and aesthetic orientation. The author of Translation 1 is a woman. The rhetoric of the metaphor was used to vividly depict the face of women，for example“漂亮端庄”“艳若牡丹”. She also made good use of the four-character word. The male translator used more verbs, and his language is more colloquial. Therefore, the female’s translation is more delicate and euphemistic. In traditional translation theory, being faithful to originals are considered to be the most successful translations, prompting faithfulness become the standard for evaluating translations. However, according to the feminist translation theory, faithfulness means absolute control over the equal rights consciousness. On the basis of the translator"s subjectivity, feminist translation theory redefines faithfulness and rebellion, highlighting the power of discourse of feminist in the distribution of power. This example reflects the subjectivity of female translators in translation and the relationship between faithfulness and rebellion according to the feminist translation theory.

4.1.2 A comparison of action descriptions in two versions

Action is a direct way to express the character"s ideological nature. Therefore, the character"s action description should be good at grasping the typical movements of the characters, reflecting the character"s personality traits, emotional traits, and mental state, thus creating a distinctive personality image.

Example 2

Tess"s face was buried in the chair. She was kneeling in front of the chair, her hands clasped her head, and the laces of the dressing gown and the nightgown were dragged behind her. Without the socks, the slippers had slipped and stretched out on the floor. The unspeakable desperation is from her mouth.

Translation 1（女）:苔丝的脸正埋在椅子上，她跪在椅子面前，双手紧紧抱头，晨衣和睡袍的花边都拖在身后，没穿袜子的双脚，拖鞋已经滑落，伸在地板上。那无法形容的绝望呻吟就是从她嘴里发出的。(Huang 340)

Translation 2 (男) :她似乎跪在椅子面前，脸伏在桌子上，双手交叉放在头顶。晨衣和睡袍的蕾丝部分拖在身后的地板上。她没穿拖鞋，未着袜子的双脚也翘起在地板上。她唇间发出一种难以形容的绝望的低语。（Sun 351）

This paragraph is a description of Tess’s action when she was in a low mood. The verb used by female translator Huang Jianren were “跪”，“埋”，“抱头”，“伸”，“滑落”，These words are obviously softer. The male translator Sun Fali used“伏”，“交叉”，“翘”，the words is tougher. Relatively speaking, women"s psychological endurance is weaker than that of men, and female translators use relatively soft words to describe the same gender to show the heart of compassion. This shows that female translators can better understand women"s inner feelings in the process of translation and properly reshape women"s images according to the translation strategies of feminist translation theory.

4.1.3 A comparison of language and wording in two versions

Language and wording are important methods of depicting characters. Language descriptions include the monologue and dialogue of characters. Monologue can reflect the psychological activities of a person. A conversation can be communications with several people.

Example 3:

“And then my dear, dear husband came home to me, and I did not know it! And you had used your cruel persuasion upon me, you did not stop using it - no - you did not stop! My little sisters and brothers and my mother"s needs - they were the things you moved me by and you said my husband would never come back - never; and you taunted me, and said what a simpleton I was to expect him! And at last I believed you and gave way! And then he came back! Now he is gone. Gone a second time, and I have lost him now for ever... and he will not love me the littlest bit ever any more - only hate me! O yes, I have lost him now - again because of - you!" In writhing, with her head on the chair, she turned her face towards the door, and Mrs. Brooks could see the pain upon it; and that her lips were bleeding from the clench of her teeth upon them, and that the long lashes of her closed eyes stuck in wet tags to her cheeks. She continued: `And he is dying - he looks as if he is dying! And my sin will kill him and not kill me! O, you have torn my life all to pieces... made me be what I prayed you in pity not to make me be again! My own true husband will never, never - O God - I can"t bear this! - I cannot!”

Translation 1（女）:

现在我那亲爱的亲爱的丈夫回来找我了……我却一点也不知道呐！……都是你残酷地欺骗了我……你欺骗我的话从来都没有停止过——没有——你没有停止过欺骗我！我的弟弟妹妹，还有我的母亲，他们需要帮助——你就靠这些来打动我……你说我的丈夫永远也不会回来的——永远不会的；你还嘲笑我，说我多么傻，老等着他！……后来我相信你了，听了你的啦！……可是刚才他回来了！现在他又走了，第二次走了，现在我是永远失去他了……从现在起，他是一丝一毫也不会再爱我了——只会恨我了！啊，是啊，我现在又失去他了，就是因为——你！”她在椅子上痛苦地扭一动着，把头朝向了门口，布鲁克斯太太看见了她脸上的扭曲表情；她的嘴唇已被牙咬出了血，看见她闭着眼睛，长长的睫毛被泪水打湿了，沾在脸上。她又继续说：“他快要死了——他看起来快要死了！……我的罪孽没有要了我的命，却要了他的命了！……啊，你把我的生命彻底毁了……我哀求过你，要你可怜我，不要毁了我，可你还是把我毁了！……我真正的丈夫永远永远也不会——啊，上帝啊——我受不了啦——我受不了啦！”（Huang 334-335）

Translation 2（男）:

“我亲爱的，亲爱的丈夫回来了......我却不知道！...... 你残酷地劝说我......你一直在欺骗我 - 不 - 你从没停过！我的兄弟姐妹以及我母亲的需要你的帮助 – 这就是你要挟我的借口......你说我的丈夫永远不会回来 - 永远不会; 你嘲笑我，并说我想的简单！ - 最后我相信你了！......现在他回来了！又走了。我现在永远失去了他......他不会再爱我了 - 只恨我！......是的，我现在已经失去了他 - 再次因为 - 你！她在扭动着，头靠在椅子上，她把脸转向门口，布鲁克斯太太可以看到她脸上的痛苦;而且她的嘴唇因为咬牙切齿已经破了，她闭着眼睛，眼泪打湿了长长的睫毛。她接着说：“他快死了 - 他看起来好像要死了！......我的罪恶会杀了他而不是杀了我！...哦，你把我的生命全部撕成碎片……我哀求过你，要你可怜我，不要毁了我，可你还是把我毁了！......我自己真正的丈夫永远不会 - 永远 - 上帝 - 我无法忍受！ - 我不能！”（Sun 342 ）

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