An Analysis Of Howard Goldblatf’s Translation Techniques From The Perspective Of Feminist Narratology

A Chinese writer has earned the Nobel Prize in Literature in2012. In the following twoyears, Mo Yan’s Nobel Prize award has a significant effect on the field of Chinese literature. Tosome experts and scholars, the success of Mo Yan is not merely a personal honor for him, butan affirmation for modern and contemporary Chinese literature given by the internationalcommunity. Moreover, the translators’ contributions cannot go unnoticed. Mo Yan once saidthat:“Translators are of great importance. My success of winning the Nobel Prize is closelyrelated to the creative work of translators throughout the world.”Most of Mo Yan’s literary works were translated by Howard Goldblatt, a famousAmerican Sinologist as well as an excellent translator. Howard Goldblatt has a strong interest inmodern and contemporary Chinese literature and first started translating Hsiao Hung’s novels inthe1970s. So far, he had translated and published over50novels, making remarkablecontributions to the process of disseminating Chinese literature overseas.The English version of The Field of Life and Death could be viewed as HowardGoldblatt’s debut in translation. Howard Goldblatt had been more interested in this novel due toa female writer’s description about people’s struggling during the Anti-Japanese War period,the fate of this country and women’s living condition. By virtue of his unique love for HsiaoHung and his enthusiasm on modern Chinese literature, he translated and published this novelin Western countries. However, no one in the field of translation has done in-depth andmeticulous research on the English version of The Field of Life and Death. Supported by theFeminist Narratology, the author of this dissertation makes a case study of The Field of Life andDeath to further explore Howard Goldblatt’s translation techniques.This dissertation comprises five chapters. Chapter one mainly states the current status ofthe translation of Chinese literature, Hsiao Hung and The Field of Life and Death, themethodology, and the frame of this dissertation. Chapter two is the literature review of relatedstudies on Narratology and Feminist Narratology home and abroad, current research on HowardGoldblatt and his translation thought home and abroad, current research on The Field of Lifeand Death. Chapter three makes detailed analyses about Howard Goldblatt’s translationtechniques from the perspective of female’s language, behavior and psychological status with examples. Chapter four discusses Howard Goldblatt’s translation techniques in the specifichistorical context through typical examples. Chapter five is a conclusion, in which the majorfindings are listed and the limitations of this dissertation are pointed out.