Narrative reconstruction of events in novel translation: A case study of the English translation of Xuemo's works

Drawing inspiration from Prince’s (2012) discourse on narrative events, this study investigates how translators reconstruct narrative events in novel translation. The results indicate that, in terms of narrative completeness, the addition of events such as detailed conflicts, background explanations, and narrative beginnings mitigates the cognitive disparity among target readers. This is achieved by furnishing them with the cultural knowledge necessary to decode text originating from a different cultural context. Regarding the temporal arrangement, the translator restructures the sequence of events by commencing with emotional events and reinstating the original chronological order to cater to target readers’ reading habits. Additionally, the reorganization of interconnected events according to thematic and character-based considerations enhances the readability of the target text. This research illuminates the significance of event reconstruction in novel translation and provides implications for both translators and scholars. By comprehending the effects of adding, rearranging, and reorganizing events, translators can adeptly adapt the narrative structure of a novel to align with the cognitive context and the reading preferences of readers in the target language.

Jianxin Yang