| As a famous contemporary writer in China,Su Tong is one of the representatives of avant-garde writers.Su Tong?s novels are rich in vivid details and lyrical imagination,and controversial themes.His novel The Boat to Redemption is undoubtedly the summary and breakthrough of his aesthetic imagination in the field of “historical narration”.Under the background of true historical events,Su narrates the adversity of Ku Wenxuan and his son,and describes their changing mindset in the process of undergoing,to dig the “history”.This novel reflects the rethinking of the author about historical reflection,and representing the complexity of human nature.In 2009,Howard Goldblatt translated The Boat to Redemption into English and published it that caused wide public concern among the western sinologists.Howard Goldblatt is a translator and sinologist of Chinese literature.He translated more than 50 pieces of work created by famous Chinese writers,including Mo Yan,Xiao Hong and Su Tong.Excellent translation achievements brought him awards like National Translation Award and Guggenheim Fellowships.Because of his unique personal experiences,Goldblatt masters both English and Chinese languages,and totally understands eastern and western cultures.These features allow him to translate Chinese works into English with high proficiency.The theory of Reception Aesthetics was put forward by Hans Robert Jauss and Wolfgang Iser in 1960 s.It plays a great role in the field of translation.Compared with the traditional translation methods,reception theory puts literary works in a dynamic environment.With full respect for content and background of the original work,reception theory takes into account the translator?s “vision” and cultural background,and pay attention to target readers.It believes that in the relationship between the text and readers,readers should be an active factor.At the same time,in translation process,reception theory emphasizes readers? response.Before translation,the translator is a reader firstly.He needs to fully understand and appreciate the original work,and then translate the original work into target language.At this point,both Howard Goldblatt?s translation strategies and the theory of Reception Aesthetics put readers in the first place.Howard Goldblatt?s translation strategy is fully embodied in the English version of Su Tong?s The Boat to Redemption.First of all,he respects the historical and cultural background of the original text.On that basis,he takes full account of readers? acceptance capabilities and cultural backgrounds.Secondly,in the process of translation,Howard Goldblatt properly adds or deletes some original texts,in order to coordinate the original text with target readers,and trying to balance the original work,the author,the translation version and target readers.Based on the theory of Reception Aesthetics,this paper takes the English version of The Boat to Redemption as an example,and compares language phenomena like similes,metaphors,allusions and culture-loaded words in the original work and the translation version,trying to analyze how to apply Reception Aesthetics theory to translation,how to fully represent the artistic charm and cultural connotation in Su Tong?s works by translation strategies,and to promote intercultural communication between literary works with different cultural backgrounds.Through both case study and descriptive study,this paper draws the conclusion that translators must consider readers? expectation,acceptance levels and cultural characteristics,in order to fully represent the culture connotation and characters in the original text to target readers.Secondly,in the process of cultural translation,translators need more initiative.They can use both literal translation and free translation methods,and appropriately add or delete some content in the original text.This thesis is just a superficial study,hoping to provide a little reference for the translation of Chinese literary works. |
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