Howard Goldblatt (born 1939), known in Chinese as Ge Haowen (葛浩文), is an American scholar and practitioner of literary translation from Chinese into English. His published translations include novels and short-story collections by writers from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. He is particularly associated with the fiction of Mo Yan, recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature, but his work also encompasses numerous other modern and contemporary Chinese-language authors. (en.wikipedia.org)
Education and academic career
Goldblatt began learning Chinese while stationed in Taiwan as a United States Navy officer. In interviews, he has described that experience as the starting point of his subsequent involvement with Chinese language and literature. He pursued graduate study at San Francisco State University and received his doctorate from Indiana University in 1974. (rochester.edu)
His early research concerned Xiao Hong, a twentieth-century Chinese writer whose work he also translated. Goldblatt produced a critical biography of Xiao Hong and an English version of her novel Tales of Hulan River. In his account of his career, research on her writing provided a route from academic literary study into translation. (rochester.edu)
Goldblatt taught at San Francisco State University and the University of Colorado Boulder before joining the University of Notre Dame in 2002, where he served as a research professor and directed the Center for Asian Studies. He was also the founding editor of the scholarly journal Modern Chinese Literature. (en.wikipedia.org)
Translations of Mo Yan
Goldblatt’s translation of Mo Yan’s *Red Sorghum: A Novel of China* appeared in 1993. In a later interview, he recalled initially seeking permission to translate another of Mo Yan’s works, then changing projects after reading Red Sorghum. (nobelprize.org)
His subsequent translations include:
- The Garlic Ballads (1995).
- The Republic of Wine (2000).
- *Shifu, You’ll Do Anything for a Laugh* (2001).
- Big Breasts and Wide Hips (2004).
- *Life and Death Are Wearing Me Out* (2008).
- Change (2010).
- *Sandalwood Death*. (nobelprize.org)
These projects involved different literary forms and registers. Sandalwood Death, for example, combines prose narration with operatic lyrics, stylized speech, and passages of poetry. Its English edition identifies Goldblatt as the translator. (oupress.com)
Other authors and collaborative work
Goldblatt’s translation activity extends beyond Mo Yan. Among his projects are Jiang Rong’s Wolf Totem and Su Tong’s The Boat to Redemption. These works won the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2007 and 2009 respectively. (al.nd.edu)
He has frequently collaborated with Sylvia Li-chun Lin. Their joint translations include Chu T’ien-wen’s *Notes of a Desolate Man*, first published in English by Columbia University Press in 1999, and Bi Feiyu’s Three Sisters. The former received an American Literary Translators Association translation award; the latter won the 2010 Man Asian Literary Prize. (cup.columbia.edu)
Goldblatt also coedited The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literature with Joseph S. M. Lau. First published in 1995, with a second edition in 2007, the anthology collects translated fiction, poetry, and essays from a range of Chinese-language literary settings. This editorial work complements his translations of individual authors by presenting multiple writers and genres within a single volume. (search.worldcat.org)
Statements on translation and recognition
In interviews, Goldblatt has discussed translation as a process involving choices about wording, cultural references, titles, and the expectations of English-language readers. He has also acknowledged particular decisions he later regarded as mistakes, including his rendering of an idiomatic expression in a Mo Yan novel. These remarks document his own account of translation practice rather than a fixed method applicable to every work. (rochester.edu)
Goldblatt received two translation fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. One supported his translation of Su Tong’s My Life as Emperor. His professional activity has combined literary scholarship, journal and anthology editing, individual translation, and collaboration with another translator. (al.nd.edu)
References
- Howard Goldblatten.wikipedia.org
- Professor From Notre Dame Translates Nobel Winner’s Novelsal.nd.edu
- Interview with Harold Goldblattrochester.edu
- University of Notre Dame Graduate Bulletin 2003–2004graduateschool.nd.edu
- Goldblatt receives honorary doctoratenews.nd.edu
- Biobibliographische Notiznobelprize.org
- Translating Mo Yan: An Interview with Howard Goldblattlareviewofbooks.org
- Sandalwood Deathoupress.com
- Notes of a Desolate Mancup.columbia.edu
- The Columbia Anthology of Modern Chinese Literaturecup.columbia.edu
- Dean’s Report 2004mroche.nd.edu