Translating in the Era of Feminism----Feminism in the Rewriting Translation of Bible 英语毕业论文.doc

Abstract Translation has long served as a trope to describe what women do when they enter the public sphere. The work of translation influenced by feminist thoughts has had an acute effect on translation practices.Take the Bible for instances, feminist translators have made many changes in the rewriting translation of Bible in era of feminism, through which we can have a deep understanding of the characteristics of the feminist translating.Key words:translation ;feminist; rewriting ;Bible OutlineThesis Statement:This paper is to catch a glance to the fact that feminist thought have brought great change to the translation practice through analysis the rewriting translation of Bible in the era of feminism and give a deep explanation of the characteristics of feminist translating .1An Acute Effect on Translation Practice in the Era of Feminism2Feminism in the Rewriting Translation of Bible A :Brief Introduction to Rewriting Translation of Bible B:Two Examples in the Rewriting Translation of Bible Revealing feminism 1.Rejection the Use of Words "Man"or "Mankind" to Include Women. 2.Rejection the Use of Words "the Father" or "He" to Describe God3Characteristics of Feminist Translating. A. Asserting the Translating Identity B. Achieving Political Visibility Translating in the 'Era of Feminism'-Feminism in the Rewriting Translation of Bible Introduction Feminism as the social movements,has influenced the translation in many aspects.In the era of feminism ,the work of translating can apparently reflect the changes brought by feminist thought .Bible ,as the origin of western civilization ,can not avoid such influence. Through analysis of the rewriting translation of Bible in era of feminism ,we can get a deep understanding of the characteristics of the feminist translating. Many research in this field have been done from different perspectives such as Le.Deuxieme.Sexe (1949) by Simonede Beauuoir, a French scholar .and Divided Heaven-A sacrifice of Message and Meaning in Translation' (1984)authored by Koerner.Charlotte. However, research to date mostly concentrate on the translation of literary works under the influence of feminism. The primary focus of this paper is to rewriting translation of Bible ,through which we can know relationship between feminism and translation well.1An Acute Effect on Translation Practice in the Era of Feminism Translation has long served as a trope to describe what women do when they enter the public sphere, Interest in gender and translation has developed in to many more direction since these texts appeared. It now ranges from issues in translation practice to translation history and criticism ,to new idea in translation theory. The work of translating in an era of feminism ,in an era powerfully influenced by feminist thought ,has had an acute effect on translation practice. First ,translators have sought out contemporary women's writing in order to translate in into their own cultures.Because of the experimental nature of this work ,they have had to deal with enormous technical challenges in the translations .Second ,because the women's movement has defined language as a powerful political instrument ,many women working in an era of feminism also face issues of intervention and censorship in translation .And third ,the interest in a lineage of important women writers and thinkers has created an impressive corpus of translated work .Due to the fact that these texts have only now been recuperated ,the work of the translator moves well beyond traditional bounds of translation and incorporates annotation and criticism.2Feminism in the Rewriting Translation of Bible A :Brief Introduction to Rewriting Translation of Bible Several sets of Biblical texts have been re-translated as a result of feminist pressure ,The examples here are from two English versions, although similar work has also been done in other European languages. The English rewritings are Joann Haugerud's The Word for Us (1977), a translation of John and Mark ,Romans and Falatians, and An Inclusive Language Lectionary (1983), a collection of texts from the Bible compiled as a cycle of readings for use over the church year. Both retranslations are accompanied by prefaces ,footnotes and appendices, marking and explaining the translators'motivations and interventions. The most striking aspect of these re-translations is the focus on what is termed inclusive language. Earlier versions of the Bible are full of make-biased language ,make imagery, and metaphors couched in such language"that people can scarcely avoid thinking of God as a male person"The effect of the "ponderous weight of masculine pronouns"and the metaphorical language that casts both the history of the Jews and the teachings of Christ in make terms has been to exclude women from full participation in Christian belief .Thus both translations are prefaced with remarks that emphasize the inclusive nature of Christian teachings :"All persons are equally loved ,judges ,and accepted by God ,And in the word for Us Haugerud asks When Jesus called Peter ,Andrew James and John and invited them to become 'fishers of men ' ,did Jesus mean that they would set out to catch male humans only?Or were women to be included? If the former ,then Christianity is really for men only and women would do well to shun it. But if Jesus meant to include all people in the invitation to a new way of living ,and there is ample evidence that he did ,then the correct contemporary English translation of these words is ' fishers of women and men' Note that Joann Gaugerud refers to the ' correct contemporary English translation ' here, thus acknowledging and responding to the fact that the contemporary cultural context ,upon which feminist thought has had some influence ,determines the rereading and rewriting of such core texts as the Bible .A similar point is made by critic Paul Ellingworth ,who emphasizes that the purpose of ' inclusive translation ' is "to meet the needs of the intended readers"the intended readers might be described as people who are sympathetic to the egalitarian ideals espoused by feminist thought and are irritated by the clearly patriarchal bias of traditional Bible translations Feminist revisions of the Bible do not seek to change the content of the text,they are concerned with the language in which this content is expressed. Yet by revising the language, these versions change the tone and meaning of the storied considerably .The more problematic areas and meaning of the translators'approach to the Bible's conventionally patriarchal language. B:Two Examples in the Rewriting Translation of Bible Revealing feminism 1.Rejection the Use of Words "Man"or "Mankind" to Include Women.Haugerud rejects the use of words such as 'man' or 'mankind' to include women. The translators of the Inclusive Language Lectionary support this position ,stating that "Women have been denied full humanity by a pattern of exclusion in English usage" and that "in this lectionary all readings have been recast so that no masculine word pretends to include a women"Here the verb pretends is surprising ,since it describes 'masculine words' as deliberately fraudulent imposters and is a strong indictment of the traditional language of Bible translations. The recasting of masculine language takes several forms :terms such as 'brethren' or 'king' which have exclusively make referents have been replaced with more specific inclusive terms such as 'sisters and brothers' or more general terms such as 'monarch' or 'ruler'. The phrases 'women and men ' or words such as 'people' or person' replace the generic 'man' depending on the context. Similarly the 'ponderous weight' of the masculine pronoun has been weakened . The following verse from the Revised Standard Version of John gives an example of the effect of predominant masculine pronouns: Jesus said to them ,'I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.; and him who comes to me I will not cast out.Joann Haugerud translates: Jesus said to them :I am the bread of life ; anyone who cimes to me shall not hunger, and anyone who believes in me shall never thirst .; and those who come to me I shall not throw out. Haugerud's solution is to use neutral and plural pronouns in order to eliminate make bias. Another solution used whenever possible in both translations is to repeat a name rather than employ the masculine pronoun' he'. 2.Rejection the Use of Words "the Father" or "He" to Describe God A further point addressed in both translations is the language used to describe God In the past it has been heavily masculine 'God the Father', 'the Lord our God'. The exclusive use of the pronoun 'He' and so on. In these inclusive translations no pronouns or metaphors are used which might confine God to one sex :"Gone are the lords, fathers, kings, and kingdoms" "since God is beyond sex ,just as God is beyond race or other limiting attribute"Instead ,the Inclusive Language Lectionary uses phrases such as:'God the Sovereign One' ,or more dramatically ,'God the Mother and Father',where 'the Mother' is bracketed in order both to emphasize the addition ,and make it optional in church communities unable to accept such innovation. The argument given in the introduction for this 'Mother and Father' translations is that the relationship which the Father/son imagery of the New Testament seeks to describe is that "of Jesus being of the same substance as God". Thus If God the Son proceeded from God the Father alone this procession is both a make and a female action , a begetting and a birth . God is the motherly father of the child who comes forth. The introduction goes on to cite the orthodox dogmatic tradition which '"speaks boldly of God 's bisexuality": According ti the Third Council of Toledo ,it must be held that the Son was created ,neither out of nothingness nor yet out of any substance ,but that he was begotten or born out of the father 's womb,the is ,out of his very essence, The phrase 'God the Mother and Father' is thus an attempt to remove make bias from the descriptions of God and to express the belief that Jesus is the Child of God ,a child that was not created, but given birth to.It is an interesting contradiction that the phrase 'the Father's womb.considered a sexist elision of women's reproductive labour in contemporary Cuban poetry ,here serves to justify a more gender-conscious translation of Biblical texts. 3Characteristics of Feminist Translating. A. Asserting the Translating Identity Feminist influence on translation and translation studies is most readily visible in the metatexts .In these texts a noticeable work is the developing sense of self exhibited by translator ,increasingly aware that their identities as gendered rewriters enter into their work. Translations published in a cultural context affected by feminism are remarkable for the metatexts that draw attention to the translator-effect ,the mark each translators who identify themselves as feminists ,These texts display a powerful sense of the translator's identity.The feminist translating subject"is explicitly present ,affirming feminine and feminist values". Translator sees herself as co-author of the new translated work.Their own voice and feminist conscience clearly make themselves heard.What is important is the woman translator's repeated reference to herself ,her gender and her cultural context as influences on her work. They want recognition of the work and recognition of the translator,individuality and are willing to move their work into the "light of accountability and responsibility" B. Achieving Political Visibility Feminist translators working in a context and culture conducive to feminist writing are this likely to produce work that is politically congruent with their time. Translators who work in an era of feminism making their translations perform what the source text does in the source culture. Their work wants to disrupt acceptable ,mainstream reading and writing and understanding ,it wants difference. Further, it wants to draw attention to women translators' work to the translator-effect. It is logical then for feminist translation to stress difference, deterritorialization (the fact that the text has been taken out of its territory),displacement(the exile of the text into another culture) and contamination (the confluence of source and translating languages)rather than fidelity or equivalence.These factors in a translated feminist text stand for women's understanding across barriers of language and culture .they also demonstrate feminists' refusal to opt for one sole meaning ,and therefore emphasize multiplicity . Conclusion This paper has discussed the great change in translation practice brought by th Feminist thought ,through analysis of the rewriting translation of Bible in the era of Feminism ,we can gain a deeper understanding of the characteristics of the feminist translating ,Gender studies and translating studies are both interdisciplinary academic field .Binding them is important to our field of scholarship through which we can raise new issues ,add diversity and render feminist work on translation.