ⅱ. Criticism What such a theory of translation based on equivalency ignores is the extreme difficulty in translating meaning because of the importance of co-textual (formal) and contextual( 上 下 文 ) relationships.
Here, translation theory rejoins feminist textual theory( 女 性 主 义 文 本 理 论 ) in emphasizing the polyphony(多音) of the translated text in that it foregrounds the self-reflexive elements( 自 省 元 素 ) of the translator’s/rewriter’s discourse and flaunts its work, its texuality(文本性).
Quotation The repetition of the words of others, quotation can only be the simulacraphantasm(幻象) in the Platonic system of mimesis (模仿), the impure form(不纯形式) and not the icon-copy(图像拷贝), or the pure form, a resemblance and not the truth(1979: 125).
Ⅲ. Feminist Translation
ⅰ. The Role of The Translator In translation theory, pragmatics understands the translator to be an active reader first before becoming a writer. ⅱ. The Nature of Translation The result, according to Octavio Paz, is ‘translations of translations of translations…Every translation, up to a certain point, is an invention and as such it constitutes a unique text’ (Bassnett-McGuire, 1980: 38) …It is not transparent with respect to the original’ but as ‘transformation’ works upon the original to decentre it (Meschonnic, 1973: 307; my translation).
Theorizing Feminist Discourse/Translation
女性主义话语/翻译的理论阐释
Outline
Ⅰ. Introduction Ⅱ. Criticism on Equivalence ⅰ. Poetics of Transparency ⅱ. Criticism ⅲ. Breakthrough Ⅲ. Feminist Translation ⅰ. The Role of the Translator ⅱ. The Nature of Translation ⅲ. Translation as Rewriting ⅳ. Summary Ⅳ. Perspective ⅰ. Several New Concepts ⅱ. Conclusion
Ⅰ. Introduction
In this, feminist discourse presents transformation as performance as a model for translation. Transformation of the text is conceived within the axioms of topology(拓扑学： 是近代发展起来的一个研究连续性现象的数学分 支 ). However, this is at odds with the long dominant theory of translation as equivalence grounded in a poetics of transparence(透明诗学).
Quotation & Parody Both quotation and parody concern themselves with interdiscursive(互为话语 的) repetition, repetition considered to be a thing in itself, a fact of language. The value of the repetition is a supplement of meaning.
Parody Like quotation and other modes of repetition, parody is a mise-en-abyme( 图 像 的 图 像 ), a ‘mirroring’ of the origins of the process of realistic figuration(现实成形) and consequently has a meta-fictional(元小说：有关小说的小说) function(Payant, 1980: 29). Like translation, parody consists of two text-worlds, those of parodist and target, received by the reader at another time and place and based on two connected models o communicatmanhandling the text in translation would involve the replacement of the modest, selfeffacing translator. Conclusion The feminist translator, affirming her critical difference, her delight in interminable re-reading and re-writing, flaunts the signs of her manipulation of the text. The feminist translator immodestly flaunts her signature in italics, in footnotes-even in a preface.
ⅲ. Breakthrough Equivalence is located between the codingdecoding operations of two text systems(文本系 统) rather than between the contents or words of two messages. As Bassnett/McGuire frames this: Author-Text-Receiver=Translator-Text-Receiver 原文作者—原文—原文读者=译者—译文—译文 读者.
ⅳ. Summary In light of this rewriting, the concept of translation is enlarged to include imitation, adaptation, quotation, pastiche, parody-all different modes of rewriting: in short, all forms of interpenetration( 渗 透 ) of works and discourses. When translation is concerned not only with the relationship between two languages but between two text systems(文本系统), literary translation becomes a text in its own right so that the traditional boundary set up to separate original works from their translations collapses. As a corollary, there is a reassessment of the status of the source text overvalued in theories of translation which are blind to the ideological implications of their textual manipulations.
Perspective
Difference Though traditionally a negative topos in translation, ‘difference’ becomes a positive one in feminist translation. As feminist theory has been concerned to show, difference is a key factor in cognitive processes and in critical praxis. Meaning discerned and assigned by the translator becomes visible in the gap or the surplus which separates target from source text. (Brisset, 1985: 207).