A Study On Translation Strategies Of Mo Yan’s Novels From The Perspective Of Skopos Theory

The cross-cultural communication between countries is becoming increasingly frequent.Against the backdrop,literary works,as the important medium of cross-cultural communication between countries,have great value and space to study in translation.Among the writers in China,Mo Yan is the first to win Nobel Prize in Literature.He has produced plentiful novels with his distinctive style.After winning the prize,Mo Yan and his novels have attracted more readers’ attention.The translator is a significant factor for Mo Yan to win the prize.The American Sinologist,Howard Goldblatt is known as “the chief translator of Chinese modern and contemporary literature”.Over the years,a large number of Mo Yan’s novels have been translated and introduced to English readers by him.He has made a great contribution to “going global” of Chinese culture.It is understood that the translation is vital to dissemination of literary works.Studies on Mo Yan’s novel translation have great value.A Late Bloomer is Mo Yan’s first collection of novels after he won the Nobel Prize,by telling 12 stories,joy and sadness,absurdity and realism are all contained.The novel is of relatively high research value and it has not been translated into English yet.Under the guidance of Skopos Theory,the thesis selects the novella Torch and Whistle from the collection for translation practice and theoretical study to discuss translation strategies of Mo Yan’s novels.The emergence of Skopos Theory can be traced back to Germany in the 1960 s and the1970 s.It is believed the purpose of the total translation action is the most important in the translation process.The recipient of the translation is vital among the factors that determine the translation purpose.So it is pivotal to choose appropriate translation strategies and achieve communicative purpose with the consideration of the readers’ experience and expectation.Skopos Theory includes the skopos rule,the coherence rule,and fidelity rule.Under the guidance of the three principles in Skopos Theory,the thesis takes Torch and Whistle as the practice text and conducts in-depth research on translation strategies of Mo Yan’s novels.This thesis consists of six parts.The first part is the introduction,including the research background,research purpose and significance,and the layout of the thesis.The second part is the literature review,combing the studies on Skopos Theory and Mo Yan’s novels,as well as the studies on translation of his novels at home and abroad.The third part is the theoretical framework,focusing on the background,development,and main principles of Skopos Theory.The fourth part mainly analyses the features of Mo Yan’s novels.The fifth part discusses the selections of translation strategies in Torch and Whistle based on Skopos Theory.The sixth part is a summary of the full text,including the main findings and limitations of the thesis.It is found in the study that by adopting the translation strategies of literal translation,free translation,combination,and omission under the guidance of skopos rule,the readability and acceptability of the translation can be improved.And the better communicative purpose can be achieved.It is proved that Skopos Theory can be applied to Mo Yan’s novel translation.At the same time,it is hoped to provide some experience for further studies in this field and to provide some reference for promoting the dissemination of Chinese literary works by the thesis.