The phenomenon of Adeline Yen Mah: interlingual and intercultural reinterpretation of the author’s self

The article focuses on the analysis of the specific features of self-translation of Adeline Yen Mah’s autobiographical book «Falling Leaves: The True Story of an Unwanted Chinese Daughter» into Chinese. The self-translation, created for a Chinese-speaking readership, was published under the title «落葉歸根» («Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots»). The writer’s self-translated version and the English original are examined within the phenomenon of «diatextuality». To achieve this objective, a variety of methods were employed: the cultural-historical method was used to explore the transcultural context of the autobiography; the philological method served to analyze the lexico-semantic structure of the texts; and the comparative method was utilized to contrast the original and the self-translation. Additionally, the commenting method clarified the specifics of rendering names within the Chinese family hierarchy, while the interpretative method helped reveal aspects of overcoming trauma through the act of «self-rewriting». Finally, the close reading method was applied to analyze linguistic differences between specific units of the two texts. It has been found that self-translation serves as an interlingual and intercultural reinterpretation of the writer’s own life experience, since a single language proved insufficient to achieve ultimate reconciliation with herself, her traumas and her memories. The article considers that within self expression through self-translation Adeline Yen Mah developed a personal conceptual strategy for rendering proper names. The choice to transliterate the names of close relatives depended on the role each person played in her life. Besides, in Chinese version of autobiographical book the author replaces the Western given names of the children in the family with traditional Chinese kinship terms. This strategy shows not only by Adeline Yen Mah’s desire to adapt the text for the Chinese reader, but also by a profound – though ultimately doomed – hope for reconciliation and the restoration of family bonds, an attempt to attain harmony at least within the literary space through the act of «self-rewriting». The paper also points out that Chinese language became a catalyst for the author’s consciousness and enabled her to convey a deeper emotional intensity. Consequently, the translation contains emotionally charged expressions absent in the English original. Furthermore, the act of writing the autobiographical book and its self-translation represents the process of reinterpreting Adeline Yen Mah’s life, which results in the elements of humor and self-irony. Thus, the strategy of self-translation functions as an inner psychological mechanism, where both texts operate as a single space for self-analysis and healing of the author’s trauma.