A Study On Translation And Reception Of Wang Anyi's Works In America From The Perspective Of Communication Studies

Wang Anyi,an outstanding Chinese female writer in the new era,is renowned for her numerous works,broad themes and varied styles in literary field.The translation of her novels began in the early 1980 s and her works have been receiving the attention of Western translators over the past thirty years.With Lasswell's “5Ws” model as the basic theoretical framework,this research,combining macro-description and micro-analysis,analyzes how Ms.Wang's works have been translated and how her works have been spread in America,hoping to provide some inspiration and reference for Chinese female writers' works going global.Ms.Wang's works have been introduced to American readers through three channels,namely,Chinese translators and Chinese publishing agencies,sinologists and Western presses as well as anthologies of contemporary Chinese literary works edited by sinologists.In the early 1980 s,domestic publishing institutions represented by Chinese Literature and “Panda Books” have translated a number of Ms.Wang's educated-youth short stories reflecting Chinese social reality.The translation model is based on the independent translation of Chinese translators or Western translators.After the mid-1980 s,the translation of Ms.Wang's works was mainly driven by sinologists and Western publishers.The majority of publishing institutions are academically-oriented university publishers.Preference was given to Ms.Wang's stories of high literary value,Shanghai-based novels and sex-themed “romance trilogy” series.The translator model represents two types,independent translation or cooperative translation of sinologists.The publication of translations didn't go smoothly when they initially entered into the target culture.Therefore,it is urgent to explore how to give full play to sinologists' advantages to unblock channels for the spread of Chinese literary works in America.American libraries,newspapers,magazines and journals,and universities are three important fields where Ms.Wang's works are spreading in the target culture.The collection of Ms.Wang's works in the libraries of America and European countries implies that her fictions are relatively influential in the Western world.Pure academic journals account for the largest proportion in the publishers.Most reviews were written by professionals who are engaged in Chinese culture or contemporary Chinese literature.In terms of content,professional comments on Ms.Wang's fictions are generally from such perspectives as social and historical significance,literary value and feminist thoughts.In addition,students who majored in Asian languages and cultures,and comparative literature explored Ms.Wang's novels from different perspectives in their dissertations.The survey of comments made by users of Goodreads and Amazon suggests that most of the comments posted are centered on The Song of Everlasting Sorrow with far fewer comments on her other works.In general,Ms.Wang's works have been well embraced in academic studies but not well received among common readers as expected.