A Study On The Translation Of The Novel Big Breasts And Wide Hips

In the end of 1980 s a film of Zhang Yimou “Red Sorghum” garnered international acclaim, that is when Mo Yan was first introduced to the West. The first English translation of Mo Yan's novels appeared in 1988. It was done by acknowledged American sinologist and translator Howard Goldblatt. Until now he is the only English translator of Mo Yan works.In 2012 Mo Yan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for his work as a writer "who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary". That brought international attention to the writer and made his novels one of the most relevant research subjects. Translators made a certain contribution to Mo Yan being awarded the Nobel Prize. Among all the translations, works of Howard Goldblatt are the most influential, because of the international status of English language. That is why most Western readers know Mo Yan through the eyes of Howard Goldblatt.“Big breasts and wide hips” is one of Mo Yan's best-known works. Striking, unique language plays an important role in the novel. Moreover, “Big breasts and wide hips” was influenced by the literary movement The “Root seeking school” that is why it has deep cultural background such as traditions and dialect of Shandong province, Chinese idioms etc. Because of that, preserving Mo Yan's spirit in the translation of the novel becomes a very complicated task for a translator.Novel's feature which is completely lost in the process of translation is dialect. Apart from that translation also lacks most of the Chinese idioms that were used in the original novel. However Howard Goldblatt attempts to recreate the folk essence of the novel by using English idioms in the translation. Mo Yan's unique usage of colors and novel's metaphors are two features that were preserved by the translator. Brutality of the book was kept as well, but Howard Goldblatt slightly reduced the quantity of foul and brutal language.Moreover, Goldblatt edited the name of the novel, changed the order of narration and abridged content of the original.The main reason of all the changes mentioned above is the difference between languages, that makes it impossible to find analogues for most culture-loaded words, phrases etc. However, Howard Goldblatt's personal views on translation also play a big role in the translation of the book. He believes the translator serves not only to the original, but also to the reader of the book, that is why his goal is to create a translation that is readily accepted to American readership.Even though during the translation process, the novel “Big breasts and wide hips” lost one of its main artistic features, Howard Goldblatt managed to keep unique style of Mo Yan's novel.