A Study On The English Translation Of Wo Bu Shi Pan Jinlian From The Perspective Of Rewriting Theory

With China’s increasing influence in the world,other countries and nations are increasingly eager to learn more about China.Therefore,it is one of the important tasks to tell Chinese stories,spread Chinese voices,let the world know more about China and Chinese culture,so as to improve our cultural soft power.In recent years,Chinese literature has made great achievements in the world and contributed to the realization of “Chinese culture going global”.Recent translation studies,especially those of literary translators,have attracted more attention,such as Howard Goldblatt,who has translated many works of Mo Yan.In fact,Howard Goldblatt not only translated the works of Mo Yan,but also some of other modern and contemporary Chinese writers.However,it can be seen from the relevant literature review that there are many studies on the former,but not enough on the latter.Traditionally,translation is regarded as the transformation between two languages,so people regard the law of language transformation as the focus of translation research.However,since the cultural turn of translation studies in the 1980 s,more attention has been paid to the cultural factors in translation,such as rewriting theory,which holds that translation is the rewriting of the original that under the control and influence of ideology,patronage and poetics in the target culture.This theory reveals the essence of literary translation and has had a great influence in the field of translation,especially in the field of literary translation.Based on the above facts,the author has chosen Howard Goldblatt’s English translation of Wo Bu Shi Pan Jinlian,which was written by Liu Zhenyun,a famous contemporary writer,as the research object.From the perspective of rewriting theory,the author discusses the following two issues: 1.What translation strategies and methods are used by translators;2.What are the main factors influencing the translators’ choice of translation strategies and methods,and how they have affected the translators.Under the guidance of rewriting theory,the author compares Liu Zhenyun’s original work Wo Bu Shi Pan Jinlian with its English translation I Did Not Kill My Husband,gives a classified description to the translation strategies and methods adopted by the translators,and analyzes the relevant factors affecting the selection of translation strategies and methods.It is found that the translator mainly uses literal translation,free translation,creative translation,and omission in translation strategies.The dominant ideology,dominant poetics and patronage of the target culture influence the translator’s translation strategies and methods in varying degrees,while the translator’s own ideology and poetics,especially the translation concept,have the greatest impact on the choice of the translator’s translation strategies and methods.The author hopes that this study will bring some implications for the translation of modern and contemporary Chinese literary works and that it can deepen people’s understanding of the essence of literary translation.