Author(s): Wu Ying

Abstract: Anthony Pym’s translator ethics has developed from an account of transaction costs through cooperation and risk management to a renewed emphasis on trust. This article traces that development to reconsider Howard Goldblatt’s English translation of Mo Yan’s The Garlic Ballads. Close comparison of selected passages, read alongside published archival research, shows how the translation combines literal rendering with explanatory additions and selective attenuation of political language. Communicative and credibility risk offer a basis for interpreting these choices. The revised ending raises questions about trust under unequal publishing conditions, particularly in the relations between author, translator, and editors. Reported reception data document sustained circulation. The analysis relates textual decisions to editorial negotiation and treats differences between Chinese editions as a limit on attribution. It supports a differentiated assessment. Interventions backed by documented negotiation and authorial participation meet Pym’s conditions for cooperation, whereas unattributed attenuation remains open to ideological critique.

Keywords: Anthony Pym; translator ethics; risk management; trust; The Garlic Ballads

Article Info: Received: 28 Sep 2026; Received in revised form: 27 Oct 2026; Accepted: 02 Nov 2026; Available online: 08 Nov 2026

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.116.10