The Feminist Translation Theory
The Summary of Translation and Gender
Abstract: First of all, the development, main representatives, the purpose, the significance and the
application of the feminist translation theory will be introduced briefly. Then the three theory
foundation and their strength and weakness will be summarized generally in this paper. My personal
view about the feminist translation theory and feminism will be the ending.
Key words：Feminist translation theory; Feminism; Sherry Simon；Luise Von Flotow；Barbara
Godard；
1. Introduction
1.1 Brief introduction of the background: Feminist translation rose in the process of “cultural turn” proposed by Bassnett Susan and Lefevere at the end of the 1970s and in the early 1980s, it was the product of the latest advances in translation theory and the vigorous development of the feminist movement that first launched in Canada by some outstanding Canadian translators, like Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, Barbara Godard and Kathy Mezei.(Susan 1990) A strong movement of French-language feminist experimental writing in Quebec stimulated their desire to promote and to theorize activities of literary mediation. Since then, some feminist theorists came up and made a lot of critics about the feminist translation theory, the most typical and influential ones are: Sherry Simon’s Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission; Luise Von Flotow’s Translation and Gender : Translating in the Era of Feminism; and Barbara Godard’s Views on feminist translation studies. The purpose of feminist translation theory is firmly opposed to placing women in the lower social class and making translation subsidiary to literature. They are against that, as John Forio summarized:“translators are handmaiden to authors, women inferior to men.” This is the core of feminist translation theory, which seeks to ‘identify and critique the tangle of concepts which relegates
Abstract: First of all, the development, main representatives, the purpose, the significance and the
application of the feminist translation theory will be introduced briefly. Then the three theory
foundation and their strength and weakness will be summarized generally in this paper. My personal
view about the feminist translation theory and feminism will be the ending.
Key words：Feminist translation theory; Feminism; Sherry Simon；Luise Von Flotow；Barbara
Godard；
1. Introduction
1.1 Brief introduction of the background: Feminist translation rose in the process of “cultural turn” proposed by Bassnett Susan and Lefevere at the end of the 1970s and in the early 1980s, it was the product of the latest advances in translation theory and the vigorous development of the feminist movement that first launched in Canada by some outstanding Canadian translators, like Susanne de Lotbinière-Harwood, Barbara Godard and Kathy Mezei.(Susan 1990) A strong movement of French-language feminist experimental writing in Quebec stimulated their desire to promote and to theorize activities of literary mediation. Since then, some feminist theorists came up and made a lot of critics about the feminist translation theory, the most typical and influential ones are: Sherry Simon’s Gender in Translation: Cultural Identity and the Politics of Transmission; Luise Von Flotow’s Translation and Gender : Translating in the Era of Feminism; and Barbara Godard’s Views on feminist translation studies. The purpose of feminist translation theory is firmly opposed to placing women in the lower social class and making translation subsidiary to literature. They are against that, as John Forio summarized:“translators are handmaiden to authors, women inferior to men.” This is the core of feminist translation theory, which seeks to ‘identify and critique the tangle of concepts which relegates
Bibliography: [2] Luise Von Flotow. 2004.Translation and Gender: Translation in the Era of Feminism[M].Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press. London&NewYork: Routledge, 2001. [6]简 奥斯丁. 傲慢与偏见[M]. 雷立美译. 北京:燕山出版社. 2003. [7]简 奥斯丁. 傲慢与偏见[M]. 孙致礼译. 南京:译林出版社. 2008. [8]简丽丽. 2012.从女性主义翻译视角谈圣经的翻译[C]. 华中师范大学.2012:1-27.