Analysis On Howard Goldblatt's Translation Strategies In "Red Sorghum" From The Perspective Of Reception Aesthetics

Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu is one of the representative works of Mo Yan who is the first Nobel Prize winner in Literature in China.It is a novel consisting of five novellas as Hong Gao Liang,Gao Liang Jiu,Gou Dao,Gao Liang Bin,and Qi Si,which tells a heroic story in the context of Anti-Japanese War in the Northeast Gaomi County.In1993,the English version of the novel translated by American well-known sinologist Howard Goldblatt was published,with the title of Red Sorghum: A Novel of China,bringing both Mo Yan and Goldblatt world-wide reputation.Reception aesthetics comes to birth as a literary theory,attaches great importance to the role of readers and shows its unique perspective in the course of its combination with translation research.In addition,its core concept is in line with translation principles of Goldblatt,while there is little research based on the theory.Hence,this thesis aims to delve into translation strategies of Goldblatt in Red Sorghum from the perspective of reception aesthetics to make some conclusions and shed a light on Chinese literature “going out”.Chapter One gives brief introduction to Mo Yan's works to discuss the feature of his works through means of literature review.Besides,pertinent researches about Howard Goldblatt's translation of Mo Yan's works and Red Sorghum are listed to make clear of current research conditions and lay the feasibility foundation for the thesis.The theoretical framework of the thesis is built in Chapter Two,namely the theory of reception aesthetics.The core of reception aesthetics is reader-orientation,and this chapter lays the theoretical foundation for the following parts.Chapter Three elaborates on fusion of horizons between Howard Goldblatt and Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu and fusion of horizons between target readers and Red Sorghum.It reveals that the former fusion of horizons provides the basis for the fusion of horizons between Goldblatt and target readers and the latter fusion of horizons is the outcome to check the effect of the fusion of horizons between Goldblatt and target readers.So this part further serves as the feasibility and precondition for the discussion in the following chapter.Chapter Four is the core of the thesis which delves into translation strategiesof Goldblatt in his dealing with horizon of expectation and response-inviting structure.In a nutshell,Goldblatt flexibly selects his translation strategies in light of consideration of readers' acceptance and the transmission of Chinese culture.When it is necessary to meet with readers' horizon of expectation,he utilizes translation strategies such as free translation,borrowing,conversion,creation,omission and so on for the sake of readers' smooth reading process.In the case of broadening readers' horizon of expectation,he takes advantage of translation strategies including literal translation,amplification,transliteration,coginage,adaptation,mixed strategies and so on in order to convey unique Chinese culture.As for dealing with the response-inviting structure,he adopts ways of concretization,amplification and adjustment to guarantee that readers have similar reading effects.As such,with his translation strategies being included,the thesis aims to shed a light on further researches on Chinese literature translation and Chinese literature “going out”.