摘要:本文旨在揭示女性主义翻译理论与传统翻译理论的不同.女性主义翻译理论对翻译研究的主要贡献之一就是为翻译的主体性研究开辟了一个全新的性别视角,它要求在翻译的过程中译者处于“主体者”地位. 传统翻译理论认为在翻译过程中译者相对于原作者只能处于“从属者”地位.这是女性主义翻译理论与传统翻译理论的重要区别.女性主义翻译理论的理论目标和实践手段带有鲜明的性别特征.女性主义翻译理论为传统翻译理论建立了新的哲学基础,它为反思译作和原作的关系,译者和作者的关系提供了新的思路.
关键词: 女性主义翻译理论; 译者主体性; 性别; 重写; 政治活动
Abstract:This paper aims at an exploration of differences between traditional translation theory and feminist translation theory. The creed and the principle of traditional translation theory are different from feminist translation theory’s creed and principle. Feminism brings the aspect of “gender” into translation theories, broadening the studies of translator’s subjectivity. Feminism establishes the philosophical basis for translation theory from the perspective of language, the ethics of translation, and the relationship between the source language text and the target language text. Feminist translation theory gave fresh impetus to the cultural turn of translation studies for its political discourse. Through probing into the subjectivity of translator from the female-image perspective, you can see that feminist translation theory is based on the gender equality theory. Among the differences between two theories, aim is the most difference. This paper will go into detail the differences between traditional translation theory and feminist translation theory.
Key Words: feminist translation theory; subjectivity; gender; equality
1.Introduction:
From two thousand years ago until now, the image of women in the western culture has been distorted. In the Shakespeare eyes, women are to be called women just because they are short of some good characters. Protagors(1804) said that the code of kindness created order, light and men, whereas the code of evil created the disorder, dark and women. Augustine found that women must be combined with the mind of men so as to become complete figure. In the East and West translation studies and practices, author is called man, playing a positive role. While translator is called woman, playing a negative role. In the evaluation of culture, women are subordinate to men. This is an eternal doctrine. Because they are necessarily “defective,” all translators are “reputed females.” In this neat equation, John Florio (1603) summarizes a heritage of double inferiority. Translators and women have historically been the weaker figures in their respective hierarchies: translators are handmaidens to authors, women are inferior to men. This forced partnership finds responses in Nicole Word Jouve’s statement that the translator occupies a “(culturally speaking) female position.” (Jouve 1991:47). And Sisanne de Lotbiniere-Haruoved’s echoing self-definition: “I am translating because I am a woman” (de Lotbiniere-Haruovd 1991:95). In her view, women are equal to translator. This view shows women are the weaker, and manifests the status of translation. There exist great differences in the East-West culture but there also exist enormous similarities on the status of translation. Translation is subordinate to original. In our country’s old classics “Zhou Yi.”, “Qian” stands for the men and positive role while “Kun” stands for the women and negative role. Roman Jacobson had said: Even such a category as grammatical gender, often cited as merely formal, plays a great role in the mythological attitudes of a speech community. In Russia the feminine can not designate a male person, nor the masculine specify a female. Ways of personifying or metaphorically interpreting inanimate nouns are prompted by their gender……the widespread Russian superstition that a fallen knife presages a male guest and a fallen fork a female one is determined by the masculine gender of knife and the feminine of fork in Russian. (Jacobson, 2000:117)