Though there were no radical women’s movements in China, feminism also took up a battle field in China.Since 1980s,Western feminist thoughts poured into China and exerted great influence on the literary field. Most of our country’s scholars began to study feminism, but their academic papers only focus on the study of the feminist translation theory. Although there are some scholars having paid attention to the vital factor-the gender of translators also has influence on translation, in 2002, our country’s scholars truly started to analyze the feminist translation theory all-round.
The author chooses to study feminist consciousness in Eileen Chang’s translation work from feminist translation theory due to the following reasons.In theory, feminist translation theory justifies translators’ feminist consciousness and emphasizes the equal status between the male and the female.Being an outstanding woman writer in the history of Chinese literature, Eileen Chang attracted immediate attention of the critics when she first appeared in literary circle.However, there is a surprisingly neglected field:analysis of Eileen Chang’s translations.Up till now most of the studies about the feminist translation have been the theoretical introduction of the origin, development and influence of the entire theory system in the West. This research tries to study the feminist translation in the context of China. This article intends to analyze feminist consciousness in Eileen Chang’s translation works from the perspective of feminist translation theory, and find out how translators’ feminist consciousness is expressed in her translations by using some female-favored translation strategies. In the following passage, the author will analyze in detail how the female-favored translation strategies adopted by Eileen Chang to display her feminist consciousness.
2. Literature Review
2.1 A Review of Eileen Chang’s Personal Experience and Several Translation Works
It was Eileen Chang’s special life experience that she becomes one of the most legendary writers in female literature history. The background of her family and experience of her education are the two most important factors deeply influence her personality and led to her feminist consciousness.
Eileen Chang was born in a noble family, her grandfather Zhang Peilun, who once was an important person in the end of the Qing dynasty. And Eileen Chang got feudal patriarchal maltreat instead of father’s love from her grandfather. Her grandmother Li Juou, was the daughter of Li Hongzhang. Her father, Zhang Tingzhong ended up as an opium addict,though well educated by classical Chinese literature. Her mother is the granddaughter of Huang Yisheng. And she advocated western culture. Eileen Chang’s mother turned to be a fashionable “new female” under the influence of New Culture Movement. She longed for new lifestyle and independence from male. When Eileen Chang was four years old her mother went abroad and got rid of the bound from this unsatisfying marriage. From that moment on, Eileen Chang and her mother became more and more remote. The estranged relation with her mother made Eileen Chang always questioned human nature; it made her novel writing style indifferent and lonely. Eileen Chang proposed that female should get rid of the bound of family and female should fight for social status and rights and show their talents in every field just as what male do.