A Study Of The Folklore Translation In Tales Of Hulan River From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

Xiao Hong, an outstanding Chinese female writer, is regarded as the Goddess of the Luohe River in the1930s. Her works boast splendid sentiment, delicate strokes, and profound thoughts. Her famous masterpiece is Tales of Hulan River that helps the readers to understand the folk culture of Northeast China. The popularity of Xiao Hong’s work in the international community is attributable to Professor Howard Goldblatt who introduced Xiao Hong to the western world as early as1970s. Since then he has been studying Xiao Hong for40years and won the prize for the Studies on Xiao Hong. Tales of Hulan River marks the beginning of Professor Goldblatt’s journey of translating Chinese works.The manipulation theory represented by Andr6Lefevere came into being in the1990s. Lefevere proposes that translation research should not only focus on words and sentences, but also take into consideration of cultural factors. He believes that translators are influenced by their patronage, ideology and poetics.This thesis aims to review the folklore translation in Tales of Hulan River, analyze the influence of patronage, ideology and poetics on professor Goldblatt’s translation method and strategy, and summarize the manipulation factors that he encountered whiling translating thenovel. The thesis concludes that the influence of the three factors led to the rewriting of the original text, and such rewriting made it easier for foreign readers to accept the work. As the sole English version, Tales of Hulan River plays a unique role in the dissemination of the Chinese literature. In recent years, the academic research mainly focuses on Mo Yan’s works translated by Professor Glodblatt. This thesis hopes to explore a new perspective for the translation study of Professor Glodblatt’s works and contribute to the dissemination of Chinese literature.