| Both the source text Yumi and its translation Three Sisters proved to be greatsuccesses, with Yumi winning the Third Lu Xun Literary Prize, top prize for Chinesenovellas, and its English translation Three Sisters awarded the2010Man AsianLiterary Prize, top award for Asian novels. Disappointingly, there is only onepublished research paper on the Goldblatts’ translation of Bi Feiyu’s works and not asingle paper on the translation of Yumi. Therefore, it turns out to be necessary to carryout a detailed study on the translation of Yumi.Most of the previous studies on Howard Goldblatt and his translations ofcontemporary Chinese literature focus on his manipulation and rewriting of the sourcetexts. In the Goldblatts’ translation of Yumi, however, it is evident that the translatorsmanage to maintain the foreignness of the source language and culture and adoptforeignization as the main strategy. This paper argues that the translators not only paydue respect to the source text and its culture, but also achieve a high readability andfacilitate the reception on the readers’ side. The detailed analyses of the examples inthe latter part of the essay are carried out in light of post-colonial translation studies.Lawrence Venuti, the leading figure of post-colonial translation studies,advocates the strategy of foreignization so as to resist against ethnocentrism andcultural hegemony of the western world and reveal the “otherness†of the sourceculture. However, Venuti lays excessive emphasis on foreignization, oblivious of thereadability of the target text. In the Goldblatts’ translation of Yumi, readability isregarded as an important criterion so as to avoid unnecessary confusion aroused bythe linguistic and cultural differences and better convey the messages to the targetreaders.This thesis first introduces some previous studies on the writer and the translators,as well as their translations of the writer’s works. It discusses the Howard Goldblatt inthe eyes of both media and scholars. The paper also reveals the reception of ThreeSisters among the English readers, which is one of the critical factors in evaluating thetranslation. The main argument of this paper is that the Goldblatts combine foreignization and readability into a harmonious whole. In the last two chapters,through detailed analyses of specific examples, the paper puts forward two majorfindings. First, the Goldblatts adopt foreignization as the main strategy, especially intranslating culture-loaded terms, idioms and Chinese aesthetic concepts. Second, thetranslators take readability as an important criterion of the translation, which isevident in the alteration of book title, narrative styles as well as in the omission andrewriting of certain messages. It is hoped that the findings will spark inspiration forthe translators devoted to the translation of contemporary Chinese literature. |
