Humanity in the Light of Revolution—A Study of Evan King’s English Translation of National Patriotic Writer Xiao Jun’s Village in August

Abstract

As one of the pivot figures of “Northeastern Writers”, Xiao Jun’s Village in August is of great importance in the history of modern Chinese literature, highlighting the local characteristics of Northeastern China, the revolutionary “banditry”, and the romantic personal heroism, attracting the attention of Chinese and Western critics. The translation by American sinology researcher Evan King shows attention to Chinese stories and makes a unique contribution to the cultural exchange between China and the West. His translation is noteworthy, but given the differences in cultural contexts between the two countries and the subjectivity of the translator, it is inevitably full of adaptation and mistranslation. Therefore, it is necessary to make a comprehensive examination of the literary style of the original work, and then propose handy translation strategies and principles for the new era: under the translation principle of truthfulness and accuracy, when translating Chinese culture, it is better to integrate both the foreignisation and domestication; when it comes to local culture, it is appropriate to apply various means to compensate for the cultural default given the specific situation and keep fidelity to the original text in the translation of the novel’s literary characteristics.