On The English Version Of Shengsi Pilao From The Perspective Of Translator’s Subjectivity

Recently, contemporary Chinese writer Mo Yan has gained a high reputation in the international community. The sales performance of his works increase constantly, especially after his winning of2012Nobel Prize in Literature. Howard Goldblatt, as the translator responsible for English versions of all Mo Yan’s works, plays an important role in the popularity of Chinese literature in the West. Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out, as Mo Yan’s latest work translated by Goldblatt, has drawn great attention from international media and won Hongloumeng Award and Newman Prize for Chinese Literature. However, present researches on this book are mainly limited in literature, and few studies have been made on its translation. Meanwhile, translation studies have long been overwhelmed by source-text-oriented theories and translators always pursue linguistic faithfulness and equivalence. Not until the emergence of cultural turn did translator’s subjectivity begin to receive its due respect.Under the framework of functionalist theory and manipulation theory, this thesis makes an in-depth exploration of how translator’s subjectivity manipulates the text and is manipulated in Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out. The findings are illustrated as follows:firstly, Goldlbatt’s subjectivity is reflected in his selection of the source text and translation strategy. The former is decided by his own aesthetic taste and his awareness of reader’s aesthetic taste; the latter is reflected in his employment of both foreignization and domestication. Secondly, translator’s subjectivity is constrained by various factors, such as patronage, ideology and poetics. However, different from Goldblatt’s early translation works, Life and Death is more restricted by economic factor and poetic factor than political factor. In general, Goldblatt has accurately captured and reproduced the charm of the source text, but his Life and Death also has its own limitations, due to translator’s bilingual competence and his pursuit of exoticism. Finally, this thesis intends to shed some light on the study of Howard Goldblatt and the transmission of Chinese literature through an elaborate analysis of abundant examples.