文学翻译的流派

IV. Contemporary Hermeneutics1. Hans-Georg Gadamer●Hans-Georg Gadamer's hermeneutics is a develop-ment of the hermeneutics of histeacher, Heidegger.●Under the influence of Heidegger, German famous philosopher, Hans-Geog Gadamer,developed hermeneutics into a systematical modern hermeneutics of philosophy.●He emphasized historicity and limitedness of theory, and pointed out understandingmade mean-ing subjective.●For him, one could only interpret text from his perspective.Hans-Georg Gadamer●Meaning existed in language while understanding went on with language.●Language was the origin and end of hermeneutics research, but its openness andtransparence were limited, relative and temporary.●Reader’s understanding changed as his reading advanced;therefore the finalunderstanding must be different from the initial.●Though it was the final understanding, it would be different for different readers and indifferent time, since text under hermeneutics was open and dynamic, not closed and stationary.●Interpreter faced a closed door behind which was a different road.●What he needed to do was open the door, choose his own roads, pass by many crosses,and get to his destinationGadamer asserts that methodical contemplation is opposite to experience and reflection.●We can reach the truth only by understanding or even mastering our experience.●Experience according to Gadamer isn’t fixed but rather changing and always indicatingnew perspectives.●The most important thing is to unfold what constitutes individual comprehension.●Gadamer points out in this context that preju-dice is a (nonfixed) reflection of thatunfolding comprehension, and is not per se without value. Being alien to a particular tradition is a condition of understanding.●Gadamer points out that we can never step outside of our tradition; all we can do is tryto understand it.●This further elaborates the idea of the hermeneutic circle.Hermeneutics in sociology●In sociology, hermeneutics means the interpretation and understand-ing of social eventsby analyzing their meanings to the human participants and their culture.●It enjoyed prominence during the sixties and seventies, and differs from otherinterpretative schools of sociology in that it emphasizes the importance of the content as well as the form of any given social behavior.central principle of hermeneutics•It is only possible to grasp the meaning of an action or statement by relating it to the whole discourse or world-view from which it originates•For instance, putting a piece of paper in a box might be considered a meaningless action unless put in the context of democratic elections, and the action of putting a ballot paper in a box.•One can frequently find reference to the 'hermeneutic circle': that is, relating the whole to the part and the part to the whole.•Hermeneutics in sociology was most heavily influenced by German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer.What is “Wahrheit und Methode” ?●“Wahrheit und Methode” by Gadamer in 1960 argued that understanding was historicaland should be creative, not a passive copy.Importance●Disputes of later thought depended on this book. Initiated, and pushed to the summit byHeidegger, modern philosophical hermeneutics became mature, and it was the resource of many later thought.Process of interpreting a text●He describes the process of interpreting a text as the fusion ofone's own horizon with the horizon of the text.Definition of horizon●The totality of all that can be realized or thought about by a person at a given time inhistory and in a particular culture.Interpreter’s “prejudice”●Interpreter’s “prejudice” was essential constituent of his under standing.●As far as the meaning of a literary text was concerned, it was not sth that could beextracted from the text b ut sth that depended on reader’s interpretation.Importance to translation●Gadamer’s view on “legitimate prejudice”, “fusion of horizons” gave the essence oftranslation.●He revealed the nature of translation, esp. literary translation and explainedtranslation phenomena, such as reinterpretation and misinterpretation.●Gadamer’s generality, historic significance and creativity of understanding in historicalhermeneutics are equally important to translation theories.●Language itself is medium of understanding while understanding goes on asinterpreting.●Translation happens within two languages; therefore, it would be seen as the mosttypical example of hermeneutics.●Hermeneutical philosophers’ statement on translation is indispensable part of westerntranslation theory.●There are a lot of scholars who do researches on translation from the perspective ofhermeneutics or draw on modern hermeneutic translation.2. George Steiner●Steiner is in fact a direct successor of Friedrich Schleiermacher in translation theory.●Schleiermacher discusses the relations between language and thinking, while Steinercarries forward Schleiermacher’s research and makes it a systematic hermeneutic translation theory.●His famous work “After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation”in 1975 makes astudy of translation theories and process systematically since 18th century and is considered as monumental work in the research of contemporary western translation.●Over the 30 years, the work has been republished over and over again which has broughtworldwide reputation for Steiner●As the key advance of hermeneutics of translation, the book was said to be “the firstsystematical investigation of the theory and process of translation since the 18th century.”●With Heidegg er’s hermeneutical view as its founda tion, Steiner advances that“understanding as transla tion” and endows translation with a more extended significance.Hermeneutics of Translation●In the book, Steiner described hermeneutics of translation as “the act o f elicitation anappropriative transfer of meaning.”●Based on a conception of translation not as a science but as “an exact art”, Steiner sawthe process of translation as the hermeneutic motion which consisted of four stages -- initiative trust, aggression, incorporation, and reciprocity or restitution.●It is acknowledged that Steiner is a representative of hermeneutic school amongcontemporary western linguistic and translation theoristsPurpose of the Author●Influenced by Walter Benjamin and Hans-Georg-Gadamer, the translation theories in theearly 1960s returned to the problem that translation is understanding.●Steiner oppugned the concept of literal translation and liberal translation of traditionaltranslation theories and advanced re evaluating the role of translators and readers●He “attempts to map a new field, a new space for argument. ”●Because “There had been no ordered or detailed attempt to locate translation at theheart of human communication or to explore the ways in which the constraints on translatability and the potentialities of transfer between languages engage, at the most immediate and charged level, the philosophic enquiry into consciousness and into the meaning of meaning.”Decipher and Translate●He said in After Babel●“To underst and is to decipher. To hear significance is to translate.●Thus the essential structural and executive means and problems of the act of translationare fully present in acts of speech, of writing, of pictorial encoding inside any given language.”●In the same way, readers are interpreting the translated versions when reading andtranslators are interpreting the original when translating, therefore, it is absolutely impossible for the translators to put all the meanings of the original into the translated versions.Structure of the Book●In the book the author casts back history of linguistic studies in the west from theancient to modern times and applies philosophy, linguistics, poetics and cultural history to the interpretation of languageThree Historical Periods●In the first period, translation theory comes from the experience in translation and“translators should not translate word for word” was popular.●In the second period, translation theory was greatly influenced by linguistic philosophyand the representative is Schleiermacher in the 19th century.●The third period starts from the late1940s when some scholars analyze translation fromthe perspective of linguistic theory and some devote themselves to the study of machine translation.How do you u nderstand the word “Babel” in the book？●Steiner says “although we ‘translate’ at every moment when speaking and receivingsignals in our own tongue, it is evident that translation in the larger and more habitual sense arises when two languages meet.●That there should be two different languages, that there should have been, at a roughestimate, more than twenty thousand spoken on this small planet, is the Babel-question.”Chapter V●Steiner illustrates the process of interpretation.●According to Steiner, from understanding the original to expressing it in anotherlanguage, a translator experiences “the fou r-beat model of the hermeneutic motion in the act of translation” .●“‘initiative trust - aggression- incorporation - reciprocity or restitution’—makes no claimto ‘theory’”●The translator should trust that the original is meaningful or significant.●When understanding and expressing the original, the subjectivity of the translator willinevitably “aggress” the original.●The purpose of the “aggression” is to incorporate/ import.●But in the process of incorporation/ import, the true quality of the source language islost, therefore, the fourth motion “restitution” is necessary, which is put at the last but it should impenetrate the entire process of translation.Fourth Motion●Steiner thinks that “Each human language maps the world differently.●There is life-giving compensation in the extreme grammatical complication of thoselanguages whose speakers dwell in material and social contexts of deprivation and barrenness.”●In the process, the translator will inevitably merge his own experience, cultural andhistorical back ground with the original and make the translated version recreation of the original.Antoine Berman●French translation theorist Antoine Berman’s “Translation and the Trials of the Foreign”showed great influence of modern hermeneutics on translation theory.●French translator, historian and theorist of translation.●To be specific, he is a famous contemporary French theorist, Latin American literary andGerman philosophical translator, famous for his consistent philosophical stand in the field of translation.●He insisted on excluding the ethnocentricity in translation and opposing naturalization bymeans of deformation and recomposition.How do you understand“the trials” here?●One is that the target culture may experience the trials of the foreign when it deals withforeign words and texts.●The other is that the foreign texts may experience the trial of existence in the newenvironment.Main ideas in the article "Translation and the Trials of the Foreign"●criticizes traditional translation for their inhibition of the foreign and their naturalization●suggests that the aim of translation is just “accept the foreign as it is●describes in detail the "deforming ten-dencies" inherent in the act of translation●says that the system of textual deformation exists in every translated version and blocksthe acceptance of the foreignAnother term for the trials of the foreign●the analytic of translationMeaning●two layers: one refers to the detailed analysis of deforming system as Descartes has done●The other refers to psychoanalysisDeforming system Analytic of translation●the deforming system, which shows a series of tendencies or forces leading to translationdeviating from the original aim, is unconsciousness●to find the forces with the scientific spirit of psychoanalysisAnalysis of deformationpaying attention to translated versions and hypertextual translations dominated by ethnocentricity and annexationismNegative analysis●no translator can avoid the influence of these forces, even if he doesn’t want to def ormor recompose the original. He sums up 12 deforming tendencies in translation exemplified by translations from novels of Latin-AmericaLiteral translation●the translation on letter which means the range of signifying possibilities in the TL.Berman thinks that an excellent translated version should show its respect to “the foreign” of the linguistic cultures in the original.Features of Berman●combines the philosophical thinking and translation methods and has a style of his own Berman’s influence to Venuti●Lawrence Venuti, an American translation theorist, has used Berman's concepts to writea genealogy of translation in an Anglo-American context to introduce the "foreignizing"strategy that is ignored in translationHomework●Presentation and an article on advantages and disadvantages of translation theory /iesas well as in which way it can be improved, or it’s inspiration to us。