Fidelity And Compensation

Howard Goldblatt, who has translated more than 50 works for almost 30 Chinese writers over the course of his 40-year translation career, is regarded as the most trustworthy translator of Chinese literature. Ever since Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2012, many scholars of the translation community have been discussing the impact of Goldblatt’s translation style on “Chinese Literature Going Abroad”.In recent years, however, some translation critics at home and abroad argue that “translating plus rewriting” features the translation style of Howard Goldblatt. Wolfgang Kubin, a German sinologist, believes that Goldblatt hasre-created an“Overseas Mo Yan” by deleting, rewriting and editing sourcetexts. By contrast, some Chinese scholarsthink the fidelity rules of traditional translation theory is out of date, and propose that his“translating plus rewriting”proves to be the best way to bring the Chinese literature to the world. In answer to such comments, Professor Goldblatt himself has replied that to be faithful to the author’s meaning is his obligation while word-for-word translation will neither do justice to the original texts nor to readers or authors.In order to settle all these disputes, the present author deems it necessary to examine the source of his“translating plus rewriting” style, the relationship between fidelity and rewriting, and the developmental characteristics of his translation style over his 40-year-long career.This thesis comprises five chapters. Chapter One is a literature review of related studies on the translation style of Howard Goldblatt at home and abroad, and lists the present author’s major contributions. Chapter Two discusses Goldblatt’s 40-year translation career and his unique personal characteristics. Chapter Three sums up Goldblatt’s views on translation: i) personal preference and market interestdetermine his choice of source texts; ii) translation means faithfulness to the author’s meaning rather than words or sentences; and iii) a translator should translate for target readers. Chapter Four studies three most representative English translations by Goldblatt, and explores the relationships between faithfulness and compensation by comparing his translated texts against the original. Chapter Five presents the author’s major findings: Goldblatt’s experiences as an editor is one of the most important factors that shapes his“translating plus rewriting” style; the rewriting style, as an indicator of respect to both the author and source-text,functions as a kind of cultural compensation for target readers; keeping his style unchanged has helped Goldblatt become “the foremost translator of contemporary Chinese literature in the West”.