An Analysis Of Readers' Reception Of Howard Goldblatt's Translation Of Wolf Totem From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

This thesis is the case study of Howard Goldblatt's English version of Lang Tu Teng with the Reception Aesthetics as the theoretical framework.Reception Aesthetics affirms the important role of readers in the works existence and meaning construction,and the realization of the translation's values rests on readers' reception.The author,through the research methods of case study,utilizes three key concepts of Reception Aesthetics,horizon of expectation,aesthetic distance and appeal structure,to illustrate readers' reception of Goldblatt's translation.The translation activity involves two receptions,the translator's reception to the original,and the target readers' reception to the translation.The first reception is the translator's reception,and this paper discusses Goldblatt's horizon of expectation from such three aspects as practical language application,reading experience and literary knowledge.The second reception is target readers' reception,and the author probes into target readers' reception to the translation from the perspective of Howard's consideration of readers' horizon of expectation,formation of aesthetic distance and constitution of appeal structure.From the analysis above,this thesis gains the major findings as follows:in terms of the translator's horizon of expectation,Goldblatt's solid foundation for Chinese,wide translation experience,and extensive reading ensure the high quality of the first reception.In terms of the translation of Lang Tu Teng,Goldblatt,taking readers' horizon of expectation into account,makes some omissions,or applies free translation method,etc.,to the contents in conflict with the cultural background,political background,language code and appreciation habits of the target readers,which renders the translation easier to be accepted by readers;to beguile the readers with exotic atmosphere and culture,Goldblatt keeps the aesthetic distance in the original text as much as possible at the phonological level,semantic level,syntactic level and cultural level;to stimulate target readers' imagination,Goldblatt retains the appeal structure in the original by means of either applying the source language expressions or replacing the expressions with corresponding target language expressions,so as to assure the aesthetic value of the translation.In consequence,the successful reception of Goldblatt's Wolf Totem is attributed not only to his mastery of Chinese and English languages and culture,but also to his evaluation of target readers' reception ability,his satisfaction of the readers' aesthetic requirements,by way of forming the aesthetic distance and appeal structure to maintain the artistic and aesthetic value of the original work.