The Study On Goldblatt?s English Version Of Life And Death Are Wearing Me Out From The Perspective Of Manipulation Theory

Traditional translation theories hold that translation is just simple conversion between two or more languages.With the development of translation studies,it gradually pays attention to translation at cultural level.That is,translation focuses on target culture,literature and social ideology.Belgium translator André Lefevere was the first to put forward manipulation theory,which refers to manipulation in the process of dealing with original texts and generating target texts.It can be reflected in many aspects,including selection of materials,translation strategies and spread of target texts,etc.The theory emphasizes three factors of ideology,poetics and patronage.The three factors interact with each other and manipulate translator in the process of translation.As we all know,Mo Yan was the Nobel Prize winner in 2012.His masterpieces are popular at home and abroad.They have been translated into English,French,Swedish,etc.American translator Howard Goldblatt is one of the most successful English translators in translating Mo Yan?s works.He plays an important role in introducing Mo Yan?s works into western countries.Howard Goldblatt?s translation of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out won the American Newman Prize for Chinese Literature in 2008,which is of significance for the spread of Chinese literature works.By analyzing of the English version of the work in this thesis,it is easy to find that the English version is different from Chinese version to some extent.The reason is that the translator was manipulated by ideology,poetics and patronage in his translation process.Based on the manipulation theory and analysis of Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out,this thesis examines the three factors which manipulated translator in the process of translation.Howard Goldblatt?s success can be attributed to his good command of Chinese and English cultures,as well as the support from patrons.The translator reserved some Chinese characteristics and rewrote some parts which might cause misunderstanding to western readers.The thesis clearly describes the manipulation on the translator and summarizes some translation strategies and advantages of the manipulation theory.