The development of hermeneutical studies of literary translation in China

Abstract

Hermeneutics, the art of understanding and interpreting texts, which has a long history, is considered one of the most important philosophical concepts today. It is also frequently mentioned in interdisciplinary studies, including studies of literary translation. Th is paper focuses on the development of hermeneutical studies of literary translation in China, statistically analyzing more than five hundred articles and dissertations published in China over the past twenty years, exploring Chinese researchers’ interest in different subfields. In conclusion, the western hermeneutical theories, especially those of Hans-Georg Gadamer and George Steiner, have made positive influences on the noted studies in the past few decades. However, at the same time, this study also reveals several problems, such as the lack of research on language pairs other than the Chinese-English language pair, as well as the lack of theoretical innovation. At the end of this article, numerous propositions are made, suggesting that researchers analyze more diverse types of texts in different languages, put forward their own innovative ideas, and build a unique theoretical system for hermeneutical studies of literary translation in China.