On Cultural Misreading In The English Translation Of Honggaoliang Jiazu(Red Sorghum)

For years, Chinese literary works have not been able to find Western audience. Along with Mo Yan’s winning of the Nobel Prize, his translator, Howard Goldblatt, has received considerable attention. However, a reading of Goldblatt’s translation can find a lot of cultural misreading. This thesis analyzes the cultural misreading in Red Sorghum, Goldblatt’s translation of Mo Yan’s Honggaoliang Jiazu, and probes into the causes of the misreading and the effects it produces based on the theoretical framework of the reception theory. The research sheds some light on how to use cultural misreading to effectively deliver Chinese classics abroad. However, this does not mean that the translator can use cultural misreading without restraint. What he should do is to strike a balance between misreading and fidelity.