| The Song of King Gesar is one of the novels written by ALai,a Tibetan writer.The British publishing house Canongate requested Alai to take part in their “Myth Retelling” initiative,which instructs readers about the legendary life of King Gesar in the Kangba region via the lens of a novel based on the Tibetan heroic epic.Since The Song of King Gesar’s English translation was released in 2012,it has drawn interest from readers and academics both domestically and beyond.There is still opportunity for research in the domestic field,which focuses mostly on literary analysis,Sino-Tibetan culture comparison,and mythical reconstruction.Translator must use his subjectivity in the translation process in a reasonable manner in order to better acquaint foreign readers with The Song of King Gesar’s tale.This thesis examines the English translation of The Song of King Gesar by renowned American sinologist and translator Howard Goldblatt from the standpoint of translator’s subjectivity and examines the ways in which the translator uses his subjectivity in terms of vocabulary,syntax,and culture.It has been discovered that Goldblatt consciously exerts the translator’s subjectivity in terms of title of the chapter,geographical terminology,personal names,quantifiers,mythical nouns in Tibetan culture and sentence paragraph adjustment,trying to realize the contrast between the original text and the target text.Additionally,Goldblatt used a technique that combined literal translation with free translation in order to preserve Chinese Tibetan culture.This improved the translation’s readability and boosted the mutually beneficial interaction between traditional Chinese culture and Western culture.The translator’s subjectivity is constrained by language,culture,ideology,and publishing culture.These restrictions lead to deletion,which is another example of subjectivity in translation.Through the examination of The Song of King Gesar’s English translation,author hope that this thesis can serve as a resource for research into Chinese national cultural novels that have been translated into other languages.Author also hope that Chinese Tibetan culture can become more widely known outside of China. |
