This research explores narrative event reconstruction in novel translation, focusing on the English translations of two novels by Xuemo. Narratology, the study of narrative structure, provides a framework for analyzing literary translation. While existing research has examined various aspects of narrative translation (perspective, language, space, time, emotion), the reconstruction of events—a core narrative element—remains relatively understudied. This study aims to address this gap by analyzing how translators add, delete, and reorder events in Xuemo's translated works. The choice of Xuemo's works is based on two factors: first, the significant cultural differences between rural western China (the setting of Xuemo's novels) and the target audience's culture, making event reconstruction more readily observable; second, the novels were translated by renowned translators, ensuring high-quality target texts suitable for analysis. The ultimate goal is to offer a case study illustrating the importance of event reconstruction in novel translation and provide a practical reference for future translation endeavors.

The literature review examines existing narratological approaches to translation studies. Scholars have utilized the concept of the "implied translator" to analyze translators' narrative interventions, focusing on narrative perspective, characterization of language and thought, narrative space and time, and interpretive narrative intervention. Studies have shown that translators' choices influence narrative viewpoint (Hermans, 1996; Bosseaux, 2007; Al Herz, 2016; Abualadas, 2019), the portrayal of characters through their language and thoughts (Boase-Beier, 2014; Kulikova, 2020), the recreation of narrative spaces (Zhao et al., 2022), and manipulation of narrative time (Cleary, 2014). However, a significant gap exists in analyzing the translator's role in reorganizing events via addition, omission, and reordering. The review also examines comparative studies on English and Chinese narrative structures, highlighting differences in paragraph structure and temporality. English paragraphs typically follow a topic sentence structure, while Chinese paragraphs show more flexibility. English text organization prioritizes logic and linking words, while Chinese often follows the temporal order of events. These differences, while not directly addressing translation, form a basis for understanding narrative reconstruction in translation.

The study employs Toury's descriptive translation studies (DTS) methodology, involving three stages: (1) identification and description of translations within the target culture; (2) comparative analysis of source and target texts (using clauses as matching segments); and (3) identification of regular patterns in translation shifts and norms of translational equivalence. The data consist of two novels by Xuemo and their English translations—*Selected Stories* translated by Nicky Harman, and *Into the Desert* translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin. A four-step comparative analysis was used. First, clauses were matched to identify translation shifts (additions, reorderings, deletions). Second, two researchers independently extracted these shifts. Third, the researchers analyzed the extracted differences in terms of narrative completeness, temporal arrangement, and relevance of events. Finally, reasons for narrative reconstruction were analyzed from linguistic and cultural perspectives. The study addresses three sub-questions: (1) Did the translator adapt narrative completeness? (2) Did the translator change temporal arrangement? (3) Did the translator change the relevance of events?

The study identified three categories of event reconstruction: event addition, resetting event sequence, and reorganizing related events. **Event Addition:** Translators added detailed conflict events, background explanation events, and narrative opening events. Detailed conflict events, such as those added in Example 1 from *Selected Stories*, filled in contextual information lacking in the target culture (e.g., the social stigma surrounding STDs in rural China). Background explanation events (Example 2, *Into the Desert*) provided crucial cultural and behavioral context (e.g., explaining a camel's behavior). Narrative opening events (Examples 6 and 7, *Selected Stories* and *Into the Desert*) contextualized the subsequent narrative for target readers unfamiliar with specific cultural practices (e.g., explaining the tradition of guests playing pranks on newlyweds in China). Table 1 details further additions from *Into the Desert*. **Resetting Event Sequence:** Two types of sequence resets were identified: prioritization of emotional events and restoration of chronological order. In Example 9 (*Selected Stories*), emotional events were prioritized, aligning with Anglo-American direct rhetorical style in contrast to the Chinese inductive style. Example 10 showed a shift from reverse chronological (source text) to chronological (target text) order for better readability. Example 11 illustrates a change in the order to reflect the original sequence of events. **Hierarchical Reorganization of Related Events:** Events were reorganized based on characters and themes. Reorganization by character (Example 12 and 13, *Selected Stories*) improved readability by separating events focused on different characters into distinct paragraphs. Reorganization by theme (Examples 14 and 15, *Selected Stories*) grouped events with shared thematic elements together, reflecting English preference for "one paragraph, one idea." Table 2 shows a reorganization of chapters in *Into the Desert*.

The findings demonstrate that translators actively reconstruct narratives to enhance target readers' comprehension and reading experience. Event additions address cultural and cognitive gaps, while sequence resets reflect differences in rhetorical styles and reading habits between source and target languages. Hierarchical reorganization optimizes narrative clarity and aligns with target language conventions. The central factor driving narrative reconstruction is the target readers' understanding. The study contributes to narratological translation studies by highlighting event shifts in addition to previously studied aspects like perspective and characterization. The practical implications for translators are significant: they should consider both source and target language readers' knowledge, cultural contexts, and rhetorical preferences when reconstructing narratives. This includes strategically adding events, resetting sequences, and reorganizing event hierarchies to enhance readability and comprehension.

This study reveals the significance of event reconstruction in novel translation, identifying three key strategies: event addition, sequence resetting, and hierarchical reorganization. These strategies reflect translators' efforts to bridge cultural and cognitive gaps, optimize readability, and align the narrative structure with target readers' expectations. The findings offer valuable insights for translators and researchers, emphasizing the importance of considering cultural background, rhetorical styles, and reading habits when adapting narratives for different linguistic and cultural contexts. Future research could explore a wider range of translations and conduct interviews with translators to further investigate the motivations and decision-making processes involved in event reconstruction.

The study's reliance on two novels and their translations limits the generalizability of the findings. While the chosen translators are highly respected, a broader range of translations would strengthen the study's conclusions. The manual analysis of the texts, while thorough, is time-consuming and limits the scale of analysis. Future studies could use larger corpora and potentially explore automated methods for identifying narrative shifts.