莫言的成功与翻译5

莫言的成功与翻译

山东政法学院毕业论文（设计）

系 部 外语系 年 级 09 级 专 业 英语语言文学 班 级 09级英语本科1班 学生姓名 高海鸿 学 号 09117010115 指导老师 颜海峰

On Mo Yan’s Success and the Translation of His Works

By Gao Haihong

Submitted to the Department of Foreign Languages of Shandong University of Political Science and Law in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor

of Arts in English

Under the Supervision of Mr. Yan Haifeng

April 2012

山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

莫言的成功与翻译

摘要：2012年中国作家莫言荣获本年度诺贝尔文学奖，成了许多人热议的话题。

人们在兴奋之余，也在探索中国作家首次获此殊荣的原因。除肯定莫言作品中鲜明的本土化，富含魔幻现实主义的人文情怀，以及《红高粱》电影的传播效应以外，都充分强调了充分贴切的翻译所起到的重要作用。莫言正是得益于其作品被译成20多种文字，20部长篇小说中，有18部已有外文译本，特别是《红高粱》，《天堂蒜薹之歌》，《生死疲劳》等3部重要作品，都有了瑞典文译本。应该说，这些翻译成果，都在帮助莫言走向诺贝尔文学奖殿堂中，功不可没。

在跨文化时代，语言翻译在不同文化的沟通中，越来越显得重要。著名汉学家，诺贝尔文学奖终审评委马悦然就指出，缺乏好的外文译本，是中国文学进入诺贝尔文学奖视野的很大障碍。

对于他的作品，国内外都已有广泛深入的展开，而对于翻译与莫言的成功二者之间的关系的研究却很少。本论文从跨文化交流的视角入手，以汉学家葛浩文翻译的的红高粱家族为个案，对贴切的翻译及适当的策略对莫言成功走向世界文学的推动作用做试探性的研究，并进一步分析莫言获奖背后存在的翻译问题及解决方案。

本论文分为四部分。第一部分对中国诺贝尔奖的历史进行了回顾，同时提出本论文的研究背景。第二部分和第三部分是本论文的重点，说明贴切的翻译对莫言成功的重要性。第四部分是论文的结论，指出论文中存在的不足及待研究的问题。

关键词： 莫言；诺贝尔文学奖；翻译；跨文化交际

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

On Mo Yan’s Success and the Translation of His Works

Abstract: The Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012 is awarded to Chinese writer Mo

Yan “who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary.” This landmark in China’s literary history has also invoked great reflection on why Mo could become the very first Chinese writer to win the prestigious prize, especially against the prize’s history of mainly bearing a Europeanized trait. Apart from his works characterized by sharp localization, rich in magic realism, the spread of the film Red Sorghum, appropriate translation of his works plays a great role in his success. Mo Yan is recognized as the first Chinese writer who has the most of his works translated. Some of his works have more than 20 foreign language versions. 18 of his novels has been translated, especially Red Sorghum, The Garlic Ballads, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out all have Swedish versions.

In an age of cross-culture , translation becomes more and more important in exchange between different cultures. Goran Malmqvist, a sinologist and member of the Swedish Academy, once said that the lack of good translated versions has become the biggest obstacle for Chinese literature to compete for the Nobel.

This article, based on several convincing examples and from the angle of cultural exchange, taking Red Sorghum, A Novel of China (translated by Howard Goldblatt) as a material to do a case study , explores some of translation strategies in translation between Chinese and English in order to account for the significance of appropriate translation in Mo Yan’s success.

This paper is divided into four parts. Chapter 1 looks back on Chinese Nobel Prize history. Also a research background which states some scholar’s concerns about cultural exchange and Mo Yan’s works and Chapter2, Chapter3 argue the significance of translation in Mo Yan’s success. Chapter4 is a conclusion, which indicates the limitations of the thesis and proposes some questions for future research.

Key word: Mo Yan; Red Sorghum; Nobel Prize; Translation; cultural exchange

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

Contents

摘要................................................................................................................................. i 关键词............................................................................................................................. i Abstract .......................................................................................................................... ii Key word ........................................................................................................................ ii Content .......................................................................................................................... iii Chapter One Introduction .............................................................................................. 1

1.1 Literary Review ................................................................................................ 1 1.2 Research Background ....................................................................................... 1 Chapter Two The Importance of Translation in Mo Yan’s Nobel .................................. 3

2.1 The importance of Translation in Cross-cultural Exchange.............................. 3 2.2 Translator’s Subjective creations in translation ................................................ 4

2.2.1 Subjective Creation Reflected on the Translation of the Title in the Translated Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu .................................................................. 4 2.2.2 Subjective Creation Reflected on Plots in the Translated Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu ..................................................................................................... 4 2.3 Domesticating or Foreignizing : Translation in Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu ......... 6 Chapter Three Translators behind Mo Yan’s Success .................................................... 8

3.1 Mo Yan and his translators ................................................................................ 8 3.2 A Tentative Study on the Best Translation Model ............................................. 8 Chapter Four Conclusion ........................................................................................ 10 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 11

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

On Mo Yan’s Success and the Translation of His Works

Chapter One Introduction

1.1 Literary Review

Mo Yan’s winning the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, shows the increasing influence of Chinese literature in the world and will go some way towards resolving the China’s Nobel complex, just as Julia Lowell, the author of “The Politics of Cultural Capital : China’s Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature” stated that:

In many countries, perhaps, a Nobel prize for literature is seen as an award to a creative individual, without any broader, collective symbolism. Not so in China ... Beijing has desired a Nobel for a Chinese person living, working and prospering in China, as nationalistic validation that the People’s Republic of China has made it as a modern global power”.(net.1.)

Ethnically Chinese individuals have achieved Nobels in science and literature in the past, but they were residents outside China at the time of winning. In 2000, the Chinese-born writer Gao Xingjian won the prize. Tsung Dao Lee, born in Shanghai, and Chen Ningyang born in Hefei, Anhei, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1957, etc. So, why does Mo Yan win the first Nobel Prize in China ? Personally, Mo Yan is recognized as the first Chinese writer who has the most of his works translated. 18 of his novels has been translated, especially Red Sorghum, The Garlic Ballads, Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out all have Swedish versions. Goran Malmqvist, a sinologist and member of the Swedish Academy, once said that the lack of good translated versions has become the biggest obstacle for Chinese literature to compete for the Nobel.

1.2 Research Background

The studies of Mo Yan as well as his works have been paid more attention than before. As a result, many books and articles related to Mo Yan and his works have

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

been published in recent years. But there are less accessible articles dealing with the relationship between the translation of Mo Yan’s novels and his success. On the internet at present we can find only few papers which have something to do with the relationship between the translation of Mo Yan’s works and his success. One is “Mo Yan in Western Readers’ Eyes” written by Jiang Zhiqin in 2005 (姜智芹，2005：19-25). This paper discusses how Mo Yan pale other Chinese writers by showing his talents and abilities on creating Chinese stories in the western world. The main reasons concern three parts--his creations on narrative modes, his gifts on telling stories, especially on telling tragic stories about cruelty of the primitive human nature and actual life. The last one is his unique skills in dealing with histories and characters involved in his novels.The other is “Reading in English, Writing in Chinese” written by Zhang Yaoping in 2005 ( 张耀平，2005：75-77). This paper discusses in detail Howard Goldblatt’s remarkable achievements in translating Mo Yan’s works and his views in general and his style of translating as well without exploring the reasons behind rewriting and the creative treason of the translations. Still another one is “Critiques on Hong Gaoliang Jiazu by the Western Critics” by Zhong Zhiqing in 2001 (钟志清，2001：15-16），which lacks detailed contrastive analysis of the source and target texts.

Their works in translation from the cross-cultural communication perspective provide valuable data for the present study . The winning Nobel Prize is far from a process of the spread of Chinese literature, but includes many other factors .We should lay emphasis on new questions caused by Mo Yan’s success in modern times.

In this thesis, a tentative study will be done on the relationship between Mo Yan’s winning the Nobel and the translation of his works to fine out what problems behind translation are facing us today and what solutions can we figure out and how appropriate translated versions influence the spread and reception of Chinese contemporary literature in the world .

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

Chapter Two The Importance of Translation in Mo Yan’s

Nobel

2.1 The Importance of Translation in Cross-cultural Exchange

In an age of cross-cultural communication, translation becomes more and more important in exchange between different cultures. The purpose and characteristics of translation are to exchange ideas and culture.

China has a long history of over five thousand-year human civilization and a three thousand-year history of translation. The earliest translation activities in China date back to the Zhou Dynasty (1100.BC). Buddhist scripture translation, originating in the Han Dynasty (206B.C-A.D.220), has contributed to giving rise to the development of Chinese traditional culture and thoughts and it was the first time Chinese translators participated in cross-cultural communication. And then the second tide came in the 20th century when European increased both trade and warfare with China. Literary translation after the May 4th Movement and before 1949, made a significant contribution to the introduction of foreign literature to China and the development of literature in China.

Now, a hundred years later, the third tide has arrived when more frequent communication and cooperation between Chinese and foreigners take place at various international events . In such a dynamic environment, translators are facing greater challenges in the complicated global situation. Such as : what strategies and methods should translators adopt in order to remain Chinese characteristic literature and culture and meanwhile make them easier to be accepted ?

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

2.2 Translator’s Subjective Creations in Translation

2.2.1 Subjective Creation Reflected on the Translation of the Title in the Translated Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu

In translating the title of Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu into English, the American translator Howard Goldblatt in fact displayed a great deal of creativity. Here is the explanation.

《红高粱家族》（莫言，1987）

Red Sorghum: A Novel of China (translated by Howard Goldblatt, 1993) In Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu (红高粱家族）, Mo Yan created a family story based on the history and war. But the translator’s interpreting the title into Red Sorghum: A Novel of China may lead the reader to render the article from historical or political perspective. The truth is that what Mo Yan really want to expressed is to help people awaken their life consciousness because he deeply noticed “the degeneration of the species”, which he described through the story. Howard Goldblatt explained the reason he chose to translate the title this way is that American readers like them and they thought they could read the actual life in China from Chinese literature.(南方周末，2008：on-line）. It is obvious that the translator has the readers in mind when he weighted different options. They were trying to come up with something that might prove to be appealing to the readers. It is the translator’s subjective creation that adds to the spread and reception of this novel in America.

2.2.2 Subjective Creation Reflected on Plots in the Translated Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu

It is a common knowledge that America is a country with religion while China not. A qualified translator will choose to weaken the religious color of the plot in source language (SL) in order to cater to the readers in target language (TL) country which has a strong faith in Christianity. The following example can help better illustrate this point.

奶奶放声大哭，高粱深径震动，轿夫们不再癫狂，推波助澜，兴风作浪的鼓手们也停嘴不吹。只剩下奶奶的呜咽，又和进了一支悲泣的小唢呐，唢呐的哭泣声 比所有女人的哭泣都优美，奶奶在唢呐声中停住哭，像聆听天籁一般，听着这似

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

乎从天国传来的音乐。

-------《红高粱家族》（莫言，1987：41）

Grandma’s piteous wails made the sorghum quake. The bearers stopped rocking the

chair and calmed the raging sea. The musicians lowered the instruments from their

rousing lips, so that only Grandma’s sobs could be heard, along with the mournful strains of single woodwind, whose weeping sounds are enchanting than any woman’s. Grandma stopped crying at the sound of the woodwind, as though commanded from on high.

---Red Sorghum (translated by Howard

Goldblatt ,1993:45)

Here, “奶奶在唢呐声中停住哭，像聆听天籁一般，听着这似乎从天国传来的音乐” the translator omitted the”像聆听天籁一般” and translated the Chinese”从天国” into “on high”. In the original text, Mo Yan compared the sobbing sound as the music from the heaven, which would have conflict with American readers. But “America is the most common country in which his people most believe the religion”, and “ninety percent Americans allege that they have belief in religion” and “Bible has always been the best-seller”(袁明，2003：208). Therefore, in order to cater to the targeted-readers in America, Goldblatt Howard chose to rewrite the original text, say, to weaken the religious color in the original text.

Translation is never a completely independent, autonomous activity. Lefevere sums up the situation concisely and powerfully:

“Two factors basically determine the image of a work of literature as projected by a translation. These two factors are, in order of importance, the translator’s ideology and the poetics dominant in the receiving culture at the time the translator is made. ”(1992:41)

Roughly, patronage means “something like the powers (person, institution) that can

further

or

hinder

the

reading,

writing,

and

rewriting

the

literature”(Lefevere:1992:15). It exerts by groups of people, a religious body, a political party, a social class, a royal court, publishers and the media (ibid.15). Accordingly, Goldblatt’s translation activity can be fully explained by the theory. It is not hard to see that the translator’s subjectivity, ideology work together to create the perfect English version which is well accepted by American readers.

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

2.3 Domesticating or Foreignizing : Translation in Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu

Domesticating and foreignizing are strategies in translation. As Venuti in his The Translator’s Invisibility---A History of Translation stated :

Domesticating seeks to transpose a foreign piece of work into a native key ......The translation is a complete transformation and sounds like a natural composition written in one’s native language. Foreignizing, however, sets out to introduce an exotic flavor into the translation as if it were trying to transplant a foreign species on native soil.(2008:103)

So which strategy is appropriate to the translation of Mo Yan’s Hong Gao Liang Jia Zu? The author will take the translated version Red Sorghum by Howard Goldblatt as a material to do a tentative study on this topic.

奶奶接手后，雇来一个三十多岁的女人，人称大老刘婆子，一个十三四岁的小姑娘，名叫恋儿。

----《红高粱家族》（莫言，1987：130） But after Grandma took charge, she hired a middle-aged woman whom everyone called “the woman Liu”, and a teenaged girl named Passion.

----Red Sorghum (translated by Howard Goldblatt, 1993:141)

Lian’er, the Second Grandma afterwards, is one of the main characters in this novel. She grew tender of Yu Zhan’ao, and gave birth to a daughter. It seemed that she was not a welcomed figure because of her influence on the relationship between Yu Zhan’ao and Grandma. Lives have different forms under the different circumstances (张志忠， 1990：107). When she was raped she gave up the resistance against Japanese soldiers for protecting her daughter. There exists holy human nature in the ugly world. Lian’er was mentioned many times in the novel, but the end of her life illustrated her maternal glory which could overwhelm death.(ibid).

The degeneration of humanity is still the complex that Mo Yan tends to elaborate, which has been illustrated by the character Lian’er who may be the weakest one in her times when compared with Yu Zhan’ao , Dai Fenglian and so on, but her eerie, and supernatural death has awakened in the souls of Northeast Gaomi Township a mysterious emotion that germinated , grew, and because strong, and flowing slowly through the memories of village elders like a sweet scarlet syrup that fortified us and made us capable of facing the world of the future（孔范今，2006：241). But Howard

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

Goldblatt translated it into Passion, which can be described as the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions such as sexual attraction, love, hate anger or other feelings. From this example, it is not hard to see that the translator rendered the name into English according to the literal meaning of its SL texts which may arouse the opposite idea in readers of the figures of those the author intended to describe. For the Chinese name, Howard Goldblatt once talked about his idea: “American readers are always confused with Chinese names and hardly remember them” (Andrea Lingenfelter, on-line). So he adopted domesticating to complete the translation of Chinese names, which brought about a different reference from the original one.

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

Chapter Three Translators behind Mo Yan’s Success

3.1 Mo Yan and His Translators

Mo Yan’s translators are all foreign people. Apart from the chief American translator of contemporary and modern Chinese literature---Howard Goldblatt , others are French translator Dutrait and Chantal Chen-Andro, the couple and Swedish translator Anna-Chen. These foreign translators play a significant role in the spread and reception of Mo Yan’s works. As Goran Malmqvis，a famous sinologist and a member of the Swedish Academy pointed that foreign translators have a good knowledge of their mother tongue and know how to express accurately. But now many Chinese press employed Chinese foreign--language learners to translate Chinese literary works. This is not an evocative translation model. Although his critics are a little far from objective, but we have to admit that foreign translators have some advantages over translators at home and it is hard to be made up. We have to face it and deal with it seriously in the process of exportation of Chinese literature and culture.

In the article “Beyond Measures: the Benefits from the side of Translator” Mo Yan tells us how a translation (a foreignizing one) could influence writers in their creation. Mo Yan acknowledged openly that his writing was shaped by his favorite translators. Though he is poor in foreign languages, he learns a great deal from the translation of foreign literatures. The created vocabularies and phrases, the rendered images in translation enriched his works greatly. He owed his success to his reading of these translations, and stated firmly that he knew little about the original works or the authors, the only one he admired and respected are the translators, who influenced his writing and benefited him for the whole life.

3.2 A Tentative Study on the Best Translation Model

Since the Nobel Prize in Literature was created, most of its owners were from European and North America. Before Mo Yan’s success, only four Asians ever gained this glorious award: they are Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore, Israeli novelist Agnon Shmuel Yoself and Japanese writers Kawabata Yasunari and Kenzaburo Oe. Indian poet Tagore became the first Asian Nobel Prize in Literature winner in 1913. His works were originally written in Bengalese. It is not until Tagore translated them into

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

English all by himself that these works gained him tremendous international fame. So we can see that language has become a main restraint on literary works’ international influence power. And translators’ abilities have a direct and powerful impact on the original works’ literary and artistic value.

With increasing knowledge exchange across cultures, factors that challenge the translation of Chinese traditional cultures include cultural, environmental and personal. In this part, the author attempts to explore the underlying personal aspects and suggest solutions.

Mo Yan’s winning Nobel shows us the importance of literary translation in the spread of Chinese literature in the world, and meanwhile reflects some problems concerning translation conditions in our nation. Mo Yan’s translators are all foreign people. Goldblatt adopted foreignizing approach in translating Mo’s works. His English versions cater to American flavor at the sacrifice of Chinese characteristic culture. The cooperation between Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang are recognized by a group of people as the most ideal translation model. They are the earliest ones who translate Chinese literary classics into English. The couple has complementary advantages of keeping and spreading Chinese traditional characteristic cultures. But Yang and Dai adopted domesticating approach in their translation. Lin Shu was a special figure in Chinese translation history. Through his ignorance of any foreign language, he was the most famous Chinese man of letters for his introducing Western literature to a whole generation of Chinese readers. He collaborated with other interpreters to translate eventually more than 170 titles from English into Literary Chinese.

Finally, it is worth noting that there is no absolute standard for evaluating the translation models. Every translator holds an irreplaceable position in his times. Translators may need to adjust their translation strategies to solve these challenges.

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

Chapter Four Conclusion

This thesis explores the relationship between Mo Yan’s success and the translations of his works. Several questions involved are discussed here. How translators’ subjective creativities influence the spread and the reception of the authors’ woks abroad. Who should do the translation in order to keep the original spirit of source text and meanwhile make it easier to be accepted by foreign readers?

As winning a Nobel Prize is never by chance and fortune, the tentative study on the translation’s role can reveal at least one important thrust for the spread of Chinese literature and thus helps us find out more obstacles and their corresponding solutions.

English-spoken countries’ translation of contemporary Chinese novels appears to be the lonely province of one man, Howard Goldblatt, the founding editor of Modern Chinese Literature and a famous sinologist at the university of Notre Dame. We should find and cultivate more professional sinologists in order to expand the influence of Chinese literature.

More inks are on chapter two ---the subjective creativity of the translators because the purpose for any piece of translation is bound to be a decision: the readership .The translation should be a complete transformation and sounds like a natural composition written in one’s native language. The translator should have a motivation setting out to introducing an exotic flavor into the translation as if it were trying to transplant a foreign species in native soil. That is why we say high praises of Howard Goldblatt. His successful translations win Mo Yan tremendous international recognition. Without Howard Goldblatt Mo Yan could not be so popular with the world.

As you know, life is full of imperfect things and imperfect persons, so it inevitably has its weak points. Because of the inadequate studies in literature and translation and the insufficient number of actual examples, this paper cannot be supported to a great extent. What’s more, most of the criticism about Mo Yan and Howard Goldblatt are drawn from the Internet. The lack of direct access to sufficient materials may reduce the persuasiveness and forcefulness of the illustration on the phenomena in review.

Mo Yan, who acknowledged openly that his writing was shaped by his favorite translators ever stated that “Chinese literature cannot be separated from the world literature”. We should understand Mo Yan’s works from the perspective of contrastive studies, and therefore the impact brought about by Mo Yan on his translators may need a further research.

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

Bibliography

［1］Goldblatt, H. Red Sorghum: A Novel of China. New York: Arcade Publishing, Inc.2004

［2］Lefevere, A. Translation/History/Culture. London: Routledge, 1992

［3］Lefevere, A. Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, London: Routledge, 1992.

［4］Lovell , J. The Politics of Cultural Capital : China’s Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2006

［5］Venuti, L. The Translator’s Invisibility---A History of Translation. London: Routledge, 2008 ［6］孔范今，施战军：《莫言研究资料》，山东：山东文艺出版社，2006年 ［7］莫言：《红高粱家族》，北京：解放军文艺出版社，1987年 ［8］袁明主编：《美国文化与社会十五讲》，北京：北京大学出版社，2003年 引用论文

左苗苗：莫言小说《红高粱家族》在美国的译介：接受与变异，贵州大学，2008年

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山东政法学院09级本科毕业论文

Bibliography

［1］Goldblatt, H. Red Sorghum: A Novel of China. New York: Arcade Publishing, Inc.2004

［2］Lefevere, A. Translation/History/Culture. London: Routledge, 1992

［3］Lefevere, A. Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame, London: Routledge, 1992.

［4］Lovell , J. The Politics of Cultural Capital : China’s Quest for a Nobel Prize in Literature. Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2006

［5］Venuti, L. The Translator’s Invisibility---A History of Translation. London: Routledge, 2008 ［6］孔范今，施战军：《莫言研究资料》，山东：山东文艺出版社，2006年 ［7］莫言：《红高粱家族》，北京：解放军文艺出版社，1987年 ［8］袁明主编：《美国文化与社会十五讲》，北京：北京大学出版社，2003年 引用论文

左苗苗：莫言小说《红高粱家族》在美国的译介：接受与变异，贵州大学，2008年

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