Abstract
ABSTRACTThe Dust Settles, a masterpiece of the famous Tibetan author Alai, has won the influential Mao Dun Literature Award in China. This work of fiction has also attracted overseas scholars and in 2002 even the well-known translators Howard Goldblatt and his wife Sylvia Li-chun Lin translated this work into English with the title Red Poppies. Rewriting of the title indicated Goldblatt’s domestication translation strategy with the purpose to entertain his readers and to follow American ideology. This translation strategy improved the popularity and circulation of the English version, leaving sufficient room for imagination for the readers. On the other hand, this translation strategy diminished the Tibetan historical narrative, changed ideological discourses such as relationships between Tibetan and Han nationalities and created a gulf between different Tibetan classes and abandoned some Han and Tibetan qualities of the fiction. This interpretation led some readers to overstate the identity anxiety of the Tibetan authors and the conflict between Tibetan and Han culture.
Highlights
Sylvia Li-chun Lin translated this work into English with the title Red Poppies
Alai narrated the social changes that happened in the Markham Tibetan region of west Sichuan Province in the thirties and forties of the last century in his work of fiction, The Dust Settles
In China, scholars such as Gazangcaidan (尕藏才旦), Xu Qichao (徐其超), and so on have pointed out that Alai’s The Dust Settles was the representation of the Tibetan history in Markham County, which narrated the collapse of the chieftain system in this Tibetan region, as well as the harmonious relationship of Tibetan and Han nationalities
Summary
Alai narrated the social changes that happened in the Markham Tibetan region of west Sichuan Province in the thirties and forties of the last century in his work of fiction, The Dust Settles. Alai adopted the idiom “the dust settles” to indicate the social changes in the Tibetan region, and the inevitable reform of the mysterious land in the novel For both the authors and readers, the title of a novel is so important that it will influence the acceptance and circulation of the book. The Chinese idiom “the dust settles” indicated the historical changes narrated in the novel, especially the dying-out of the chieftain system as well as the inevitable victory of the new socialist system. In his novel The Dust Settles, Alai adopted a very impressive code of the poppy to narrate the historical story and the social changes in the Tibetan region. The Chinese idiom “the dust settles” suggests the social changes and the final harmony of the Tibetan region, expressing Alai’s dreams of equality among all Tibetan people, as well as peace and progress for his own nationality
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