Aesthetic modulation and cultural representation strategies in the Shandong-English translation of Red Sorghum

The dialectal literature translation with its aesthetic element has grown increasingly significant and necessary within diverse cultural contexts and the realm of world literature. Red Sorghum, a novel renowned for its distinctive cultural and aesthetic values, is regarded as an integral contribution to global literary heritage. However, while previous studies have largely focused on linguistic equivalence (Gibello & Lesch, 2017) or the text-oriented Shandong-English translation of Red Sorghum (Deng, 2019; Shao & Zhang, 2022), the question of how aesthetic and cultural representation is realised in the Shandong-English translation remains unresolved. This study aims to identify and compare the translation strategies and Aesthetic Modulation Devices (AMD) used in the Shandong-English translation of Red Sorghum through Aesthetic Cultural Translation Theory; analyse the interaction between aesthetic subjects (AS) and aesthetic objects (AO) while comparing sociocultural differences between Shandong and English to fully represent the aesthetic values of the Shandong dialect in Red Sorghum (TT); and examine the aesthetic reception of English target readers through a corpus-based analysis of book reviews of Red Sorghum (TT), aiming to achieve aesthetic equivalence between the ST and TT and enhance the target readers’ aesthetic experience. This study adopts a mixed-methods approach, integrating a corpus-based quantitative analysis using the UAM Corpus Tool to examine the occurrence of aesthetic modulatory devices (AMD), measure translation patterns, and assess reader reception. Alongside this, a thematic qualitative analysis was conducted in NVIVO to code culture-specific items (CSI) and categorise translation strategies. A total of 991 CSI were extracted from Mo Yan’s Red Sorghum (1987) and its English translation by Goldblatt (1993). The theoretical framework for this research is grounded in Aesthetic Cultural Translation Theory (ACTT), a re-framed of Liu’s (1995) Aesthetic Translation Theory, combined with the Cultural Turn Theory proposed by Bassnett and Lefevere (1990). The findings indicate that AMD accounted for 19.6% of the strategies employed in the target text (TT), while traditional translation strategies comprised 49.8% of the total 991 CSI, suggesting a lower frequency of AMD usage. Furthermore, an analysis of 561 reader reviews of the TT revealed that 35.3% reflected aesthetic acceptance, compared to 26.5% expressing criticism. The study’s key findings highlight that while AMD is used less frequently than traditional translation strategies, it plays a crucial role in fostering aesthetic empathy and bridging cognitive gaps. The interaction between aesthetic subjects and objects demonstrates that the foreign language serves as a vehicle for cultural preservation, with authors, translators, and readers actively shaping aesthetic meaning. Moreover, target readers’ aesthetic acceptance is key to a translation’s success, as familiarity with the cultural context shapes reception through both acceptance and criticism. This research offers new perspectives for translators and scholars, particularly in understanding the interplay between AMD and aesthetic value in future research and dialectal translation practice. The study’s significance lies in its contribution to enhancing cultural adaptation and the aesthetic representation of the Shandong dialect among English target readers.

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