文化意象的翻译困难与重构——以莫言的《酒国》英文版为例 / THE TRANSLATION OF CULTURAL IMAGES IN THE ENGLISH VERSION OF MO YAN’S NOVEL THE REPUBLIC OF WINE – DIFFICULTIES AND RECONSTRUCTION

Translating a literary work is not simply transferring the text from one language to another, but transferring it from one culture to another. This process involves the question of how to convey specific cultural elements to target language readers. The novel The Republic of Wine by Nobel Prize winner Mo Yan is famous for its unique Chinese vernacular literary language. Its rich cultural imagery makes this work outstanding, but it also increases the difficulty of translation. The Chinese cultural elements in this novel are rich and colorful, including images related to China’s history, politics, literature, allusions, folk customs and many other aspects. This paper takes the English translation of The Republic of Wine by the well-known sinologist Howard Goldblatt as study case in order to analyze the transformation, deformation, loss, and intentional mistranslation of typical Chinese cultural images in the English version, and to reveal the transformation of Chinese cultural images in the process of translation, as well as the deconstruction and reconstruction of meaning in cross-cultural communication.