A Comparative Study On Two English Versions Of Red Sorghum From The Perspective Of Communication Studies

Mo Yan,s Red Sorghum,first published by Viking Penguin in 1993 in Goldblatt's inspired translation,has sold more than 20,000 copies.It is generally known that Howard Goldblatt is the first translator to introduce Mo Yan to the English world.However,as early as 1989,Mo Yan's novelette Red Sorghum was rendered into English by Deng Shiwu and Yu Dabo.Compared with Goldblatt's translation's positive reception in the West,there is very little attention paid to the first English version of Red Sorghum at home and abroadDrawing on Lasswell's 5W Communication Model theory,this thesis adopts the descriptive and comparative research methods to analyze the dissemination process of two English versions from five aspects——"who","what","in which channel""to whom",and"with what effect",proposes the reasons for the obstacles that the first English version of Red Sorghum encounters in the process of being introduced to the West,explores the factors contributing to the successful circulation of Goldblatt's translation in the West and finally puts forward the implications for promoting Chinese literature abroadMajor findings are as follows:firstly,Deng and Yu's little social and symbolic capital makes it difficult for the first English version of Red Sorghum to gain foreign experts'and readers'recognition,while Goldblatt's immense social,cultural and symbolic capital resulting from his international repute,significant social status,excellent education background and cordial relationship with the author lays a solid foundation for the successful circulation of Red Sorghum in the West.Secondly,when dealing with the culture-loaded expressions and scenery descriptions,Deng and Yu have a tendency on simplification,which gives rise to some problems,like the loss of Chinese culture,while Howard Goldblatt flexibly employs literal translation and free translation,to a large extent reproducing Mo Yan's writing style in his translation Thirdly,the first English version of Red Sorghzum is published by only one domestic publishing house.However,Goldblatt's translation finds effective and multiple ways to achieve unprecedentedly good reception in the West,mainly through major overseas publishing houses,foreign influential journals and newspapers and film.Lastly,in comparison with a wide variety of readers of Goldblatt's translation,like professionals,university students and ordinary readers,the readers of the first English version are fewer and fewer,only including some professionals and sinologists.