On Goldblatt’s English Version Of Red Sorghum

Andre Lefevere, the representative of Manipulation school, puts forward thattranslation is not only the conversion between two different languages, but also therewriting of the original text by the translators from the cultural perspective. Allrewriting, no matter consciously or unconsciously, reflecting specific social ideologywhich the target language, and related sponsors belong to and poetic view and otheraspects of cultural manipulation to a great extent for the purpose of ensuring that thetranslation can be accepted by the target language audiences or readers.The English version of Hong Gaoliang Jiazu was translated by H.Goldblatt andpublished in America in1993; entitled Red Sorghum and this book quickly became abest-seller in the Western countries after its publication. Compared with the Chineseversion, people can clearly see that the English version Red Sorghum is notcompletely faithful to Mo Yan’s originnal book to a great extent, and there exist bigdifferences between the two versions. H. Goldblatt’s English version is the translator’srewriting of the source text to a certain degree. So, based on Andre Lefevere’s theoryof rewriting, this paper tries to analyze the differences between the two versions.From the above-mentioned analysis, we can draw the following conclusion:translation, to some extent, is a kind of rewriting of the source text. And the reason forthe rewriting is the constraint of the ideology, poetics and patronage factors which inthe target language culture. The most fundamental reason for the rewriting is thedemand of the present literature and art as a cultural industry production is restrictedby market or its receptors. Manipulation theory or translation rewriting is just toclarify the basic principle of market manipulation. At the same time, the author alsopoints out that the rewriting in translation, though enslaved by the translator’s socialideology, poetics idea, sponsors, as well as other cultural factors, still does not deviatefrom limits of the original text. So basic image, such as “red sorghum”, culturalgeographic space and context of the Chinese Anti-Japanese War era chapter’s relationships, emotions, social customs, ethics and other various aspects, all theseboth retain and embody the Chinese unique cultural implication. This is the veryreason why the aesthetic implication of original text appeals to the Western readers, sodoes the translated version.