Concretization Of Indeterminacy In Literary Translation

Wolf Totem ia a semi-autobiographical novel created by Jiang Rong based on his own personal experiences.Featuring complex and subtle connection of human,wolf and nature,this novel is commented as so far the only one masterpiece devoting to the depiction of Mongolian steppe wolf and the search of spiritual feast behind the wolf totem.After being published in 2004,it soon became the best-seller in China,and was then translated into 30 languages and distributed in 110 countries and regions worldwide.The success and worldwide acceptance of Wolf Totem provides constructive implication for the translation of Chinese literary works as how to meet the expectations of western readers and how to promote the export of Chinese literary works.As both Roman Ingarden and Wofgang Iser proposed,indeterminacy is an essential part of literary works.Without its existence and its calling for readers' concretization,the aesthetic value of literary works can never be truly realized.Ingarden defines indeterminacy as 'an object,an activity,an event or a period of time which is not adequately formulated',while Iser refers it as 'suspended connotation,an empty place which both provokes and guides the ideational activity'.Correspondingly,concretization is the act of fulfilling the above-mentioned indeterminacy in the process of reading.In the case of literature appreciation,readers can directly perceive the indeterminate elements and concretize them consciously or unconsciously by their imagination and association.However,the situation with literary translation is more complicated.The indeterminacy existing in literary text is first supposed to be fulfilled by the translator's perception and interpretation established on the basis of the original text,and then the translator's recreation to the needs of the text's new linguistic,historical and cultural environment or the horizons of aesthetic expectations of its target language readers before it actually comes to the readers' appreciation.In the text of Wolf Totem,there are many spots of indeterminacy left purposely or unpurposely by the author in the depiction of characters,scenes,events and in the use of culture-related expressions,which are to be filled in by individual's interpretation through active reading of the work.Howard Goldblatt,as the translator of this work,features in applying 'creative rewriting' in the practice of literary translation.That means he would certainly make full use of his subjective initiative to concretize the indeterminacy arising in the original text of Wolf Totem during the process of translation.Thus,in general,this thesis tries to make a new attempt of introducing the concept of indeterminacy and concretization into the analysis of Howard Goldblatt's translation of Wolf Totem,to get a close look at how Howard Goldblatt concretizes these unavoidable indeterminate spots in the original text and how he reconstructs vivid artistic images to promote readers' aesthetic appreciation.It also attempts to discuss the strategies that Howard Goldblat adopts to actualize the indeterminacy and the factors guiding his concretization,and to further explore the aesthetic effects such concretization may bring out as the icing on the cake for his translation.Finally,the author hopes that this study may contribute to the broadening of perspectives for the Chinese translation studies of literary works,and also may provide certain inspiring and instructive references to help promote the contemporary Chinese literary works to the world stage.