A Study On The Innovative Translation Of Yiyun Li’s English Novel Under The Guidance Of Cultural Identity Theory

Yiyun Li,a Chinese-American female writer who insists on writing in English,plays a leading role in Chinese American literature.Her works are mostly set in specific Chinese history and culture.Li’s first short novel,A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,became a shot in America and even the world upon publication,tremendously promoting the international communication of Chinese culture.The author compares and analyzes the translation methods and strategies adopted in Li’s works and studies,which is of vital significance to the translation studies of similar works and the formation and research of Chinese American writers’ cultural identity.The Italian American translator and translation theorist Lawrence Venuti(1998,67-68)holds that translation inevitably domesticates foreign texts and inscribes them with linguistic and cultural values.He questioned the domestication strategy based on ethnocentrism advocates foreignization.As translation is usually designed for specific cultural aims,not only is it a kind of discourse formation,but it is a formation of psychology.When the translator chooses a foreign text to translate,the application of different translation strategies can further promote the formation of one’s cultural identity.In the short story A Thousand Years of Good Prayers,there are many different translations of cultural contents filled with Chinese characteristics,and the whole translating process of showing Chinese stories to western readers through English writing is also a process to present Yiyun Li’s cultural identity.This thesis mainly makes a specific comparative analysis of the English code-switching and strategies of cultural contents with Chinese characteristics,Chinese metaphors and idioms in Yiyun Li’s story,and finally finds that Li mostly adopts literal translation,transliteration and foreignization in her innovative translation.It is also found that Yiyun Li mainly applies literal translation,transliteration methods as well as foreignization as the main strategy and domestication auxiliary in her innovative translation.Through clarification and analyses of the English and Chinese versions in the innovative translation,the author of the thesis finds that Yiyun Li possesses high cultural identity and holds positive attitude towards the culture of her ancestral homeland.Li insists on writing in English and reserving Chinese cultural characteristics in her works.With the influence of his literary works in the world literary circle,there will be a certain influence on the overseas dissemination of Chinese culture.To study the translation strategies and cultural identity of Chinese writers in the process of translation is of certain researching and referential significance to further explore how to better tell Chinese stories through literature works and spread Chinese stories to the outside world.