A Study on Defamiliarization in the Translation of The Last Quarter of the Moon

The Last Quarter of the Moon is a novel written by Chi Zijian, which describes the life of the Ewenki ethnic minority in northeast China. The novel has received wide attention for its profound theme and unique narrative style. Defamiliarization is a technique commonly used in literary creation. By breaking the conventional expression mode and changing the conventional view, readers can have new feelings and understandings. The original text of The Last Quarter of the Moon describes the life of the Ewenki minority in China, which has a strong defamiliarization effect. In the English version, the translator adopts various methods to reproduce this defamiliarization. Through the analysis of its English translation, this paper discusses the defamiliarization embodied in it and the two translation methods used by the translator to reproduce the defamiliarization of the original text: alienizing translation and hybridization. It is found that the translation successfully retains the unique charm of the original text by means of language and cultural defamiliarization, enabling English readers to obtain a new reading experience, and revealing the important reasons why the English translation of The Last Quarter of the Moon can be successfully translated and spread in the Western world.

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