Study On The Reconstruction Of Chinese Cultural Image In The English Version Of Red Sorghum

Mo Yan is the first Chinese winner of Nobel Prize for Literature,and Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu is one of his most representative masterpieces.The novel has told a story of three generations of a family in Gaomi Township of northeast China during the Anti-Japanese War period,in which a large number of Chinese cultural elements are depicted.The English version of this novel has been a hot issue for academic researches for years.In fact,scholars abroad focus more on the literary and social value of the translated novel itself;while researches at home covers more aspects,such as translation strategies and methods,translation theories,translation ethics and cultural translation etc.However,little attention is paid on the image reconstruction during the translation process,which needs to be further explored.Therefore,with the guidance of Imagology of comparative literature,the present study selects 28 typical pairs of examples from Mo Yan's Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu and Goldblatt's English version — Red Sorghum as the research subjects.Through such a case study,this research is supposed to answer three questions: 1)What cultural images of China are constructed in Mo Yan's Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu? 2)How does the translator reconstruct these images through translation in the English version — Red Sorghum? 3)What social cultural factors are involved in translator's translation process?In this research,the author has firstly categorized the Chinese cultural images being described in the original text of Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu.Secondly,the selected examples have been analyzed through methods of Imagology—intrinsic and extrinsic textual analysis.Intrinsic textual analysis includes three levels,namely,lexicons,hierarchical relations and plots,being adopted to interpret the translation strategy and methods used by the translator during the image reconstruction course.Extrinsic textual analysis contains two aspects,which are imaginaire social and the translator's personal factors;it is used to explore the social cultural factors that influence the translator during the image recreating process.The research results are displayed in the following three points: 1)in the original text of Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu,Mo Yan has mainly created three categories of Chinese cultural images,including images of Chinese social ideology,spiritual products and the social life of local people.2)The translator Goldblatt has adopted a hybrid strategy in his translation.Besides,various translation methods have been applied to reconstruct the cultural images of China depicted in the source text in the process of translation,such as literal translation,transliteration,free translation,omission,adaptation etc.3)Being influenced by the imaginaire social of hisnative society,the translator is inclined to reconstruct the image of Chinese ideology based on western social ideology;Besides,due to the translator's source of information,he has misunderstood some Chinese cultural elements,which has also caused image variation in the society of the target language.However,because of the attitude of “philia” the translator holds towards China,he has re-enacted the image of particular Chinese spiritual products and folkways authentically in the western world.Based on the research results,the author has pointed out the positive role literary translation has played in constructing Chinese cultural image.And two suggestions are proposed to literature translation: firstly,more Chinese translators should engage in translating Chinese literature works to the world.Secondly,translators should adopt a hybrid strategy in translating Chinese literature works,in order to balance the authenticity of Chinese cultural image and the acceptability of the target readers.The present study has proved the feasibility of imagology applying to translation studies.It is not only a convincing supplement to previous literature translation studies,but also a promising guidance for literature translation practice.