A Study Of H.Goldblatt's English Version Of Red Sorghum From Sociological Perspective

Red Sorghum,the English version of Mo Yan's masterpiece Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu,is translated by the distinguished American sinologist Howard Goldblatt in America in 1993.The novel consists of the volumes Red Sorghum,Sorghum Wine,Dog Ways,Sorghum Funeral and Strange Death,and is characterized by its vivid language,non-chronological narrative mode and anti-traditional theme.Its English version has gained wide popularity and its reception situation is satisfactory in America with over 20,000 circulations comparing with other translated works of contemporary Chinese literary works.In recent years,the application of sociological theories in translation studies is gaining ground.The sociological studies on translation are not restricted to text itself,but focus on the relationships between translation and social factors.Among all sociological theories,the theory put forward by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and three core concepts—field,habitus and capital are most frequently applied in the translation studies.Therefore,this thesis tends to study the social factors behind the successful translation of Red Sorghum from the perspective of Bourdieu's sociology.Firstly,the position occupied by the translation of contemporary Chinese literary works still remains marginal in American literary field.Post-modernism literature occupies the dominant position in American literary field around 1990s and the theme of Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu just caters to American readers' interest.Then,the capitals possessed by its author Mo Yan and its translator Goldblatt in literary and translation field all contribute to the successful translation of Red Sorghum.In addition,his translation habitus determines that he adopts a flexible approach to translation by combining fidelity and creativity.Meanwhile,mistranslation in Red Sorghum owing to the translator's conscious and unconscious misreading of the original text are also analyzed,which however does not affect its wide acceptance among American readers.