A Study of Arthur Waley’s The Nine Songs from the Perspective of the Translator’s Subjectivity

Abstract: The Nine Songs: A Study of Shamanism in Ancient China by Arthur Waley is a combination of translation and re-search of Jiuge, a collection of ancient Chinese poems created by Qu Yuan. As literary translation is a subjective process, this study aims to analyze The Nine Songs from the perspective of translator’s subjectivity. It probes into the performance of the translator’s subjectivity in the translation process and expounds subjective factors, such as translators’ cultural positions, translation intentions, aesthetic views, etc., which will exert much influence on the translator’s choice of the source-text, translation strategies and methods. It reveals that the translator’s personal and socio-cultural interpretation will filter the language, context and style of the source text.

Key words: translator’s subjectivity; Arthur Waley; The Nine Songs

YU Yesheng VOLUME 1 APJHSS.pdf