Crossing Cultural Borders:On The Translation And Reception Of Modern And Contemporarv Chinese Fiction In English-Speaking Countries

With the translation and reception of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction in English-speaking countries as its research subject,this dissertation demonstrates that the translation and reception of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction is to a large extent an issue of cultural translation.Translation of fiction from Chinese into English is a transition from one cultural space to another,involving cultural changes.The two cultures conflict,negotiate,and finally blend into one with a new horizon.The travel concludes with the original text successfully gaining an afterlife.This is a dynamic process that takes on various forms,such as a type of ferrying,cultural diaspora,and foreignization balanced by domestication.Among the various cultural concepts of translation studies,the static concept of cultural translation has been receiving much attention.However,it is difficult to fairly and justly evaluate the translation process and the reception of the translation.Only a dynamic process can guide the translation and reception of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction.Cultural compatibility,as the kernel and standard of a dynamic cultural perspective,serves as a steering wheel.The ultimate destination is one of perfect harmony between the original and the target texts and cultures.Proper reception occurs in accordance with the diverse purposes of translation through proper aesthetic judgment.China boasts numerous eminent modern and contemporary writers with a great number of masterpieces emerging.This dissertation intends to proceed from the most classical writers in order to reveal how the fiction succeeds in crossing the border,thus enabling a dynamic understanding of the picture of the transmission of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction across cultures.With the transmission of Lu Xun,Mu Xin and Mo Yan’s fictions as an example,the dissertation explores the guiding principles of translation and the cultural strategies adopted by each translator as well as the reception of their works in English-speaking countries.The works of these three writers belong to the canon.They perfectly display both national characteristics and the values that are universally applicable,expressing thought-provoking ideas and aesthetic values.This inherent canonicity is crucial to their cultural travel despite the constraints of time and space.Under guidance of the concept of dynamic cultural translation,taking many factors like strategic choices and marketing tactics into consideration,the translators’ goal is to transfer the meaning of the original,disseminate Chinese culture,and reproduce the canonicity of the work,finally arriving at the harmony of the original text and the target one.In so doing,the original text gains an afterlife.The charm and artistry of the original work appears in a new culture.The success of the translation of the three writers’ masterpieces points a way to the successful translation and dissemination of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction.This dissertation consists of five chapters.Three chapters explore the translation and introduction of the works of Lu Xun,Mu Xin,and Mo Yan.The remaining two chapters serve as the introduction and the conclusion.The introduction proposes the concepts of culture and cultural translation.It puts forward the view that the concept of dynamic cultural translation should be the guiding principle for the translation and introduction of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction.The current situation of translation and reception of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction as well as the status of these areas in domestic and overseas research are investigated in this early part of the dissertation in order to introduce methods,identify significance,and present innovation.The introduction also points out that,as diverse cultures are interwoven with each other and as the translation and reception of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction is prospering,only with dynamic cultural translation can cultural strategies be discussed.These strategies are harnessed by translators during the cultural transmission,and they are discussed objectively here.The influence of the translation in the English-speaking countries is tracked and historic,social,and cultural factors leading to certain results of translation are analyzed.The question of how further to facilitate the internationalization of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction can be better answered in this manner.Herein lies the significance of this dissertation.Chapter One deals with the transmission of Lu Xun’s short stories to the English-speaking countries.Lu Xun’s works have been translated into English by various translators over the years.This translation process has resembled a ferrying:a ferryman transports the work across the vast sea that links the original and target cultures.Thus,the dynamic nature of culture is manifest in the form of a ferry,and a translator is likened to the ferryman,the two languages being his oars.The starting point of the ferrying is the canonicity of the work,so this chapter first explores the canonicity of Lu Xun’s works.The enduring artistic charm of Lu Xun’s works is due to the integration of national characteristics and the values that are universally applicable and to thought-provoking ideas and aesthetic values.Next,with"ferrywoman" Julia Lovell’s translation as the major object for analysis and with Mr Yang Hsien-yi and his wife Gladys Yang’s as well as William A.Lyell’s translations used for comparison,the chapter explores the ferrying process through careful comparison of the original texts and their translations.The goal is to see how the ferrymen adopt cultural strategies to transfer the cultural meaning of the original.Meanings change,as do the translation strategies employed by translators at different times.Through dialogue with the author,previous translators of the original work,and readers,the ferryman is devoted to grasping the canonicity of the original work and adjusting his translation strategies constantly to reach the other bank and thus to transform the original work to a text that is accessible to the readers.As this dissertation indicates,Julia Lovell’s version conveys the canonicity of the original text in a much better way.Her translation enjoys great popularity among readers and is hence regarded as the most successful translation of Lu Xun’s works.The second chapter attaches special importance to the transmission of Mu Xin’s works to the English-speaking countries.Diaspora,just like ferrying,is another form of dynamic cultural translation.The cross-culture transfer of Chinese fiction to English-speaking countries is also a sort of diasporic transmission of Chinese culture.The diaspora aims to create "a greater language",whereby at least two cultures and two languages are involved.The translator should first be fully aware of the differences between his home culture and the target culture,and should then recreate the source culture in the target culture using the target language and transnational characteristics.Toming Junliu concludes his translation standard as "difference,replacement,travel and art".To be specific,the standard suggests that the translator should understand the "differences" between the two cultures and then flexibly carry on with "replacement" of messages from one language to the other,since translation is both "transmission" of culture and reproduction of the original work’s artistry as well as the delivery of its ideas through maintaining its literariness,especially in literary translation.This chapter takes the translation of An Empty Room as an example,exploring the perspective of diaspora to investigate how the translator wielded the standard discussed above to produce a translation that pursues both national and world features,successfully concluding the cultural travel;a new cultural horizon is thus created in the English-speaking countries.The third chapter probes the process of transmitting Mo Yan’s fiction to English from four angles:canonicity and cultural context of the original text,Howard Goldblatt’s idea of cultural translation,foreignization balanced by domestication,and the harmony of the original and the target culture.In translating Mo Yan’s fiction from Red Sorghum to Sandalwood Death,Howard Goldblatt changes his cultural concept of translation from the target culture to the source culture.During the translation process,Goldblatt takes both the original culture and the target culture into consideration and endeavors to select appropriate strategies of cultural translation according to the purpose of translation in light of the readership in order to recreate the style of Mo Yan’s fiction.His intent is to reproduce the artistry and charm of the original,and,eventually,to promote harmonization across the original and target culture.The conclusion of this dissertation summarizes the cultural travel that modern and contemporary Chinese fiction undergoes in the process of translation.It analyzes the dilemmas and corresponding solutions in the internationalization process of modern and contemporary Chinese fiction,clarifies a few concepts,casts light on research significance,and identifies avenues for further development.