A Study On Howard Goldblatt’s Translation Habitus From Thc Bourdieusian Sociological Perspective

With the cultural turn in translation studies, the strategies adopted and roles played by a translator in the translation activities have been attracting more theoretical concern. Meanwhile, a translator’s invisibility in the history of translation began to be reflected upon. Throughout the sixty years’ translation of Chinese contemporary novels, the American translator, Howard Goldblatt has rendered nearly fifty Chinese modern and contemporary novels into English, amidst which Mo Yan’s series are promoted successfully. Although studies on Howard Goldblatt have increased in recent years, most of them are sporadic rather than systematic and in-depth. Literature review of the related studies shows the following deficiencies:In the first place, some terms are still confusing and there is a lack of diachronic dimension in the studies of translators on the whole. The three terms, namely, a translator’s subjectivity, behavior and role, are overlapping in a translator’s subjectivity and social functions. The diachronic study of interaction between one’s subjectivity and the objective social field is sorely lacking. It poses a problem in the study of Howard Goldblatt as well. In the second place, the studies on Howard Godlblatt center more on his translation thoughts, linguistic features of certain novels, and the rewritings that he made under the manipulation of poetics, ideology and patronage. The less researched areas are the translator’s choice of novels, translation thoughts, changing features of translation over different periods, and the influence he received from other agents. Lastly, Howard Goldblatt’s active part taken in the translation activities to promote the original authors and novels has been less highlighted, and his role is seldom reflected on in the progression of the Chinese contemporary novels translation.In view of the above problems, this study first introduces Bourdieusian sociological tools of field and habitus, indicating the diachronic and interactive relations. Then it delimits the field as the translation of Chinese contemporary novels, and the translator’s habitus as the choice of texts, translation features and thoughts. Next, it divides Howard Goldblatt’s career into three stages according to the changing dominant sponsors. The questionnaire survey on Howard Goldblatt and the comparison of sample novels have been carried on to solicit his choice of novels, translation features and thoughts. Then the data is calculated and literature raked to find the changes of dominating sponsors in the three periods and the influence of co-translators, editors, authors, readers, and critics exerting on the translator in the translation and transmission of the novels. Finally, by analyzing the autonomy he enjoys in choosing novels and the efforts he has made to promote Mo Yan’s novels, it identifies Howard Goldblatt’s possible influence on the field of translation of Chinese contemporary novels.From the above analysis, the following findings have been gained:Firstly, Howard Goldblatt’s translation habitus is thoroughly investigated. His family, war experience and academic career nurtured his inclination for serious literature. His choice of novels to translate was based on his academic interest and political factors from1976to1990, on literary preference as equally as market influence from1991to2000, and more on market consideration than literary preference from2000to2010. In addition, after the comparison of characteristics in the three periods, it is found that he was very faithful to the original before1990, while made more changes to the original after1990. Nevertheless, the foreignization of cultural elements overrode the domestication. His recreation of the original novels’ rhythms, scenic descriptions and lively language in translation remains magnetic to readers throughout the three periods. Meanwhile, Howard Goldblatt has adopted reader principle, target language principle and rewriting strategy.Secondly, the field’s influence on Howard Goldblatt’s translation habitus has been identified. The dominating sponsors in the translation of Chinese contemporary novels have changed from the Chinese government before1976, the Chinese semi-official publishers from1978to1990, to the foreign commercial presses since1991. These changes directly influenced the formation of Howard Goldblatt’s habitual choice of novels and translation strategies. Besides, Howard Goldblatt literary agent Sandy Dijkstra helped him secure certain novels, increase his royalties and promote his reputation. Moreover, in the translation process, his co-translator Sylvia Lin reduced some foreignization of Chinese cultural words. The authors affected the translator in the freedom of choosing translation strategies. In the receiving end, the common readers welcomed the changes in the translation. The literary critics in foreign academic circle tended to applaud and mainstream foreign critics tended to be critical about Howard Goldblatt’s translation and the Chinese authors. Likewise, the translation of the same novels in other languages, the media of film, and literary trend had effect on the choice of novels to be translated.Thirdly, the translator’s translation habitus has possibly affected the field. Howard Goldblatt selected novels according to his own academic interest and literary preference, which accelerated the translation of Chinese contemporary serious novels. As a translator who enjoys relative freedom in the actual translation process and shows his own idiosyncrasies, Howard Goldblatt has adopted a series of effort to expand Mo Yan’s global reach, such as the simplification of Red Sorghum, the strengthening of critical power in The Garlic Ballads, keeping high fidelity to the style of The Republic of Wine, the clarifying the storyline in Big Breast and Wide Hips, and eulogizing the artistic creation of Life and Death are Wearing me Out. With his influence in literature, he went further to nominate Mo Yan as the candidate for Nobel Prize for literature. These efforts contributed to the fact that Mo Yan won the Nobel Prize for literature and accelerated the canonization of Mo Yan’s novels, which may in turn bring positive implication to the field of contemporary novels translation.Fourthly, this study finds that the symbolic capital of Howard Goldblatt and Mo Yan has been constantly building each other up in the literary field. The popularity of Mo Yan’s Red Sorghum laid the foundation for Goldblatt’s translated version to be successful, and Howard Goldblatt’s reputation in literary and translation field in turn lifted the fame of Mo Yan. Furthermore, in a global context, due to the fact that the profit of the publishers is generated from the sales of the translated novels, the publishers have actually brought more Chinese contemporary novels into the horizon of English readers worldwide.These findings prove the use of conceptual tools of habitus and field is productive in translator studies. The formation of a translator’s habitus has been found to be closely related to the given field, which has been ever changing by the participation of newcomers with different habituses. Translation activities remain diachronic and changing because of the internalization and externalization, structuring and structured relationship of field and habitus. Additionally, this study has carried out a relatively systematic and objective analysis of Howard Goldblatt’s translation activities, thoughts and features spanning over thirty years. Moreover, although the translated Chinese literature occupies a rather peripheral position in the target literary system, the case study of Howard Goldblatt shows the translator, authors and sponsors are enhancing one another’s fame reciprocally, which falsifies the idea that the translated literature is under the strict control of ideology, poetic and patronage in target literature system suggested by manipulation school. In addition, the findings of this study can be counted as a literature on studies of Howard Goldblatt. However, this research shows some limitations, for example, in generalizing Howard Goldbatt’s changing translation features across years. Besides, the theory’s suitability still needs more verification from the studies on other translators.To conclude, the present study is a tentative attempt to incorporate sociology into translator study, and hence it is hoped that the strength and weakness of this dissertation can be taken as a reference for future studies in this domain.