Receiving The Foreign As Foreign:A Criticism Of Binu And The Great Wall Of China

Binu,a novel written by the modern Chinese writer Su Tong and based on the legendary story of Meng Jiangnv’s wailing at the Great Wall,describes the story of the heroine Binu who undergoes all kinds of hardship to send winter clothes to her husband who has been taken to build the Great Wall.When she arrives at the Great Wall,she learns that her husband has been dead.She cries so bitterly that the Great Wall collapses.Binu has been translated into different languages,and the English version is translated by the renowned translator Howard Goldblatt.This thesis is a comment and a criticism of his translation from the perspective of the ethical views of Antoine Berman,who is against all kinds of manipulations in translation and believes that the ethical aim of translating literary texts is to"receive the Foreign as Foreign".The thesis has drawn two lessons and offered one suggestion according to the two lessons through a thorough analysis of the translated text.（1）The English version contains numerous deviations from the original text,both unconscious and conscious.The unconscious deviations are primarily language comprehension errors,specifically mistranslations,and the conscious deviations include textual restructurings,deletions and rewritings of the original text.（2）Deviations from the original text bring consequences.Firstly,they may cause readers of the target language to misunderstand the culture expressed in the original text,or even cause the culture to be lost entirely.Secondly,the translator’s manipulation is a reduction of the original text that limits readers’ different interpretations and obliterates their sensuous space of imagination and interpretation.Thirdly,literary works are rich in connotations,but the deviations rob the original text of its profound meanings.Finally,the numerous manipulations and rewritings fail to fully reproduce the writer’s unique and distinctive style.（3）When translating contemporary Chinese literature for the international market,we must avoid focusing exclusively on sales of the translation and manipulating the original text to appeal to readers.Not a manipulated best-seller with deviations,but a translation that accurately reflects the original is desirable if we aspire for the going-out of Chinese culture.