On Reader’s Factor In Howard Goldblatt’s Translation Of Wolf Totem From Perspective Of Aesthetics Of Reception

Literary translation is not only a transformation activity of different language, but also a kind of artistic recreation. It carries an activity of cross-cultural communication, which is responsible for the mutual exchange of culture. Lang Tuteng written by Jiang Rong has aroused a great reflection on both reading and comment since it was published in2004in China. In2008, the English version Wolf Totem translated by Howard Goldblatt, an outstanding scholar and translator for contemporary Chinese literary in America, has been issued in110countries and regions. Due to his successful translation, Wolf Totem won the first Man Asian Literary Prize. The studies of Wolf Totem have been increasing these years, but most of them focus on the text and the translator, while ignoring the readers.With the Aesthetic of Reception as the theoretical framework, this thesis manifests Goldblatt’s view on translation in Wolf Totem firstly, and then analyzes them from the readers’perspective. The author compares it with the original from the readers’culture, language habits, comprehension abilities, and aesthetic requirements. It points out that Goldblatt considers the target language readers in his translation, getting rid of the bondage of the original form and deleting a great amount of contents that involves some comments and descriptions. In addition, he adjusts the structure in some parts of the novel and made a great number of creations in translation. It concludes that the readers’ factor could influence on Goldblatt’s choice of translation object, translation strategies and language expression.