Abstract:
Spanning over more than forty years, Eileen Chang’s Chinese-English translation (1920-1995) constitutes an extremely important part of all of her translation activities. Her Chinese-English translation began in 1952, right after she had arrived in Hong Kong as an exile from the Chinese mainland. After three years’ sojourn in Hong Kong, she emigrated to the United States of America, and her Chinese-English translations there afterwards could be seen as part of her endeavours to become a successful English writer. Changing residence from one place to another, Chang led a migratory life in America. This exerted a profound influence on her translational undertakings ¬– her Chinese-English translations produced during different periods of time and in different places display markedly different characteristics, and readers will find from her translations that she kept on reflecting on and searching for her own cultural identity, especially in her later days. Hence, Chang’s Chinese-English translation activities should be regarded as a vital reflection of her life. An in-depth study of Chang’s Chinese-English translations is, therefore, indispensable if a comprehensive picture of this writer-translator is to be pursued. However, compared with researches on Chang’s creative writing and her English-Chinese translation, the study of her Chinese-English translation has been regrettably scarce and inadequate. The present research project seeks to remedy the situation. Here, the researcher sees Chang as a diasporic translator and aims to interpret her Chinese-English translations from a postcolonial feminist perspective.
About the Speaker:
Julia, Wang Xiaoying is a PhD graduate in Translation at Hong Kong Baptist University. She has published extensively on Postcolonialism and translation studies. Her research interests include Chinese Discourse on Translation, Postcolonial Studies, Gender and Translation.