A Study of Imagery Expression in The Handmaid’s Tale under Feminist Translation Theory

Visual communication design, Jianghan University, Wuhan, Hubei, 430101, China

^* Corresponding author: sariel13@uok.edu.gr

Abstract

When translators carry out translation practice, they will be affected by multiple factors such as cultural differences, differences in translators’ subjectivity, or auditing systems. It might lead to a deviation in the meaning of the imagery as it is conveyed. This paper takes Chen Xiaowei’s translation of The Handmaid’s Tale as an example. Case studies and meta-analyses are conducted from the viewpoints of feminist translation theory, which interprets the text from an extended perspective, including the portrayal of characters, the depiction of natural ecology and the shaping of space environment. After analysis, it concludes that the translator collectively uses a foreignizing translation strategy and a literal translation method in her works. The translator mostly follows the feminist translation theory overall. Nevertheless, there are also a few translations that depict female characters less accurately. By analyzing the imagery expression in The Handmaid’s Tale under the feminist translation theory, it devotes promoting every translator to practice the feminist translation theory, raising women’s awareness and constructing women’s discourse rights.