语文学刊(高教外文版) 2006年第6期
A Case Study of L i n Yutang and His Art of Translation
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Guo Ruijuan
(Zhongyuan Institute of Technology, Zhengzhou 450007)
[Abstract] This thesis is intended t o make a case study of the great translat or L in Yutang and his art of translati on
shown in his translati on of S ix Chapters of a Floating L ife . The author tries t o investigate the r ole of translat or’s subjectivity in the p r ocess of translati on, by f ocusing on the analysis of the pers onal subjective fact ors ———particularly the translat or’scultural attitudes, translati on motivati on and translati on p rinci p les s o as t o find out how these fact ors influenced his choice of the s ource texts and his translati on strategies .
[Key words] L in Yutang; S ix Chapters of a Floating L ife ; translati on art; translati on [中图分类号]I 10614 [文献标识码]A []) 20067204 L in Yutang (188521976) , a mong standing literary figures in translate skillfully and de 2voted his whole life exchange bet w een the East and the W est . H is coup let “两脚踏中西文
化, 一心评宇宙文章”, was his cultural attitude -t o intr oduce Chinese culture t o the world . “D r . L in is the scholar and w riter who possibly made the greatest con 2tributi on t o p r o moting Chinese culture internati onally in the recent 100years . S o me W estern peop le who were not well 2inf or med heard about L inYutang bef ore they heard about China, and heard about China bef ore they heard about the gl ory of Chinese civilizati on ”.
Among his translati on works, his translati on of Shen Fu’s S ix Chapter s of a F loa ting L ife is regarded as one of his classic translati ons, f or it is a thor ough re 2flecti on of L in’s life phil os ophy, cultural attitude, aes 2thetic taste, and a s ound exhibiti on of his outstanding translati on art and p ractice of his translati on theory .
This paper is intended t o make a case study of L in Yutang’s translati on choice of S ix Chapters of A F loa t 2ing L ife, and his art of translati on in S ix Chapter s of A
F loa ting L ife .
The translati on motivati on, t o a large ex 2
decides what and ho w the translat or is g oing t o translate . For “w ithout such intenti onality, w ithout taking int o account of the functi on which the translat or is meant t o s olve or the p r oble m it is trying t o s olve, the translat or’s choice appear whi m sical, or pointless,
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or wholly idi osyncratic ”.
L in Yutang’s p r of ound co mparis on of the t w o cul 2tures led t o his desire t o intr oduce his understanding of Chinese culture t o the W esterners, both as a medicine t o cure the disease of the W estern world, and as a t ool t o i m p r ove their understanding and app reciati on of Chi 2na and Chinese culture .
H is translati on motivati on and pur pose t o intr o 2duce Chinese culture t o the W est ulti m ately decided his choice of translati on s ource texts that rep resented the g ood points of Chinese ancient culture and agreed w ith his pers onal literary tastes . They als o deter m ined his choice of translati on strategies, which w ill be discussed in detail in the f oll o w ing part .
2. B rief I ntr oducti on of Shen Fu’s S ix Chapters of a F loa ting L ife
I . Ana lysis of the Cause of L i n ’s Cho i ce of Shen Fu ’s S ix C h ap te rs of a F loa tin g L ife
1. L in’s Translati on Motivati on
According t o the Skopostheorie, “The p ri m e p rin 2ci p le deter m ining any translati on p r ocess is the pur pose of the overall translati on acti on Each text is p r oduced
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f or a given pur pose and should serve this pur pose ”.
The aut obi ographical p r ose w ritten by Shen Fu, a scholar of the Q ing Dynasty, is of high literary value and covers a w ide range of as pects of the hu man life:s ocial syste m , fa m ilial ethics, f olk cust o m s and aes 2thetic value . It rep resents the author’sunique attitude of life, character, pers onality, and aesthetic tastes as well . This book covers six chap ters
. They are:Chapter O ne, W edded B liss (闺房记乐) ; Chapter Tw o, The lit 2tle P leasu r es of L ife (闲情记趣) ; Chapter Th r ee, S or 2
[作者简介]郭瑞娟, 女, 中原工学院外语系讲师, 硕士, 研究方向:翻译理论与实践。
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TRANS LATI O N Guo Ruijuan /ACase Study of L in Yutang and H is A rt of Translati
on
r o w (坎坷记愁) ; Chapter Fou r , The J oys of T r avel (浪
游记快) ; Chapter F ive, Experience on L iuqiu Islands
(中山记历) ; and Chapter S ix, The W ay to S tay Hea lthy (养生记道) .
This p r ose bears distinct features of “H singling literature ”(性灵文学) , which held that w riting was but the ex p ressi on of one’s o wn nature or character and the p lay of his vital s p irit . I n S ix Chapter s of a F loa t 2ing L ife , the author and his w ife, “t w o ordinary artistic peop le ”, l oved the beautiful things in life, and lived their si m p le and quiet life . Though i m poverished and t ortured by hardshi p s, they were deter m ined t o snatch every mo ment of happ iness . The p r ose reflects “the s p irit of truth and beauty and the genius f or resignati on and content m ent s o characteristic of Chinese cul 2
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ture ”. Chinese scholars’te mpera ment and pers onal 2ity sho wn in the work just conf or med t o L in’s cultivati on and attitude t o wards life, and made hi m “truly believe that a si m p le but happ ily life is the most beautiful thing
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in the universe ”. The mental sy mpathies fueled L in ’s motivati on t o translate it int o English t o make Chinese coup le ’squiet and l ovely life t o world
Just as Fu s ource text rese mbles :av oid those who w ill be ever inco mpatible w ith me; as t o those who make me feel like old friends fr o m the start, I would regret not having met the m earlier ”(选择原作好比交朋友:有的人始终与我格格不入, 那就不必勉强; 有的人与我一见如故, 甚至相见恨晚) [3]626. S ix Chap 2ter s of a F loa ting L ife was such a “friend ”t o L in Yu 2tang, because it was both his fav orite and the cl osest rep resentative of his pers onality and literary style .
T o su m up , L in ’sselecting of S ix Chapter s of a F loa ting L ife is the consci ous mani pulati on of his trans 2lati on motivati on, cultural attitude and aesthetic taste . It can be regarded as the p r oduct of the likeness of L in ’s te mpera ment and attitude of life w ith the her oes’in this novel .
II . Apprec i a ti on and Ana lysis of S ix C ha p te rs of a F loa tin g life concern i n g L i n ’s Tran sl a ti on Art L in’s translati on of S ix Chapter s of a F loa ting life is a master p iece, which well illustrates his superb and genius art of translati on . The p resent author w ill choose the f oll o w ing t w o as pects w ill be used t o app reciate and analyze L in Yutang’s art of translati on:his faithful and aesthetic ex p ressi on in translati on and his successful translati on of cultural context
1. L in Yutang’s Faithful and Aesthetic Ex p ressi on in Translati on L in stressed on the faithfulness, and aes 2thetic value of translati on . He pointed out that the translat or should make translati on a fine art and try t o achieve the rep r oducti on of beauty and s ound, f or m
and i m p licati on of the original
The original:
何时黄鹤重来, 且共倒金樽, 浇洲渚千年芳草. 但见白云飞去, 更谁吹玉笛, 落江城五月梅花? (312) The translated versi on:W hen the yell o w str oke co mes again, let ’st ogether e mp ty the g olden g oblet, pouring w ine 2offering over the thousand 2year green meado w on the isle .
Just l ook at the white cl ouds sailing off, and who w ill p lay the jade flute, sending its mel odies do wn the fifth 2moon p lu m 2bl oss o m s in the city? (313) The original is a coup let w ritten on the walls of The T o wer of Yell o w St ork . The first and the second lines are strictly antithetical in f or m , which is quite an obstacle t o put int o English . L in Yutang successfully rep r oduced the beauty of the f or m by arraying the lines in a sy mmetrical echel on . Generally s peaking, either of the first and second line coup let in the versi on and the partici p le phra 2sy mmetrical on the . is both faithful t o the content w ith the original in the beauty of f m , which is the key t o the rep r oducti on of the cou 2p let .
2. L in’s Translati on of Cultural Context and U se of Do mesticati on and Foreignizati on Language is the carri 2er of culture . Every kind of literary texts are w ritten in a certain cultural context, which refers t o the cultural envir on ment taking shape in a certain ti m e and s pace thr ough the co mbinati on of the accu mulati on of that
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culture and the current state of that culture I n fact, translati on is a cr oss 2cultural co mmunicati on event, and a successful one results in the cultural essence of s ource language trans p lanting t o target language text . S ix Chapter s of a F loa ting L ife is of high literary value which reflects every as pect of life:s ocial syste m , fa 2m ilial ethics, f olk cust o m s and aesthetic value . W ith p r of ound bilingual and bicultural co mpetence, L in Yu 2tang p r operly and skillfully conveyed the cultural inf or 2mati on in the original t o the largest extent . The f oll o w 2ing secti on illustrates ho w L in used “do mesticati on ”and “f oreignizati on ”-the ter m s f or ex p laining t w o kinds of translati on strategies, first put f or ward by Lau 2rence Venuti, in The T ransla tor ’s Invisibility in 1995, at ease and successfully translated the cultural context .
The original:东坡云:“事如春梦了无痕, ”苟不记之笔墨, 未免有辜彼苍之厚。(1)
The translated versi on:
Su Tung p said, “L ife is like a s p ring drea m which vanishes w ithout a trace . ”I should be ungrateful t o the g ods if I did not try t o put my life do wn on record . (2) Religi on f or m s an i m portant part of hu man culture and different religi ons are the reflecti ons of different
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语文学刊(高教外文版) 2006年第6
期
cultures . I n the W est, peop le mainly believe in Chris 2tianity, while in China, there are quite a nu mber of peop le believing in Buddhis m and Taois m. The word “苍”is not the sa me as “G od ”, but here, L in transla 2ted “苍”int o “G od ”. This is because L in Yutang fr o m the early years was educated by Christianity and als o because he wanted t o shorten the distance bet w een the author and the W estern readers . It is a ty p ical ex 2a mp le of L in’s use of do mesticati on strategy in the cul 2tural translati on . I n order t o intr oduce the Chinese cul 2ture t o the W est, L in als o adop ted the strategy of f or 2eignizati on . For instance, L in used transliterati on t o translate “马褂”int o “makua ”, “馄饨”int o
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“wont on ”, and chose “s pending money like dirt ”instead of the English idi o m “s pending money like wa 2ter ”as the translati on of “挥金如土”, which vividly conveyed the i m p licative cultural inf or mati on and als o maintained the characteristic of Chinese language and culture .
The original:余曰:“卿果中道相舍, 断无再续之理. 况‘曾经沧海难为水, 除却巫山不是云’耳! (172)
The translated versi me half 2way like marry a 2gain .
Besides, ‘it is t o be water f or one who has seen the great seas, and difficult t o be cl ouds f or one who has seen the Yangtze G orges! ”(173)
“曾经沧海难为水, 除却巫山不是云”is fr o m the poe m 《离思》by Yuan Zhen (元稹) , a poet in the Tang Dynasty, which ex p resses the poet’s deep s orr o w and nostalgia f or his deceased w ife . The poet co mpared his w ife t o the cl ouds that were transf or med by the g od 2dess, and his feeling t o wards his w ife t o the vast seas, which sur passed any waters or cl ouds . L in Yutang maintained the i m ages of water and cl ouds of the origi 2nal and rendered the m literally in English, and a 2chieved the trans p lantati on of the feelings . This is a ty p ical exa mp le of L in’s use of f oreignizati on strategy in the cultural translati on .
3. L in ’sTranslati on of A llusi ons, M ythol ogies, Cust o m s and Conventi ons
T o translate the cultural 2s pecific words and ex 2p ressi ons w ith t otal corres pondence in meaning bet w een s ource language and target language, L in Yutang a 2dop ted literal translati on . A s t o those w ith partial cor 2res pondence, he adop ted literal translati on w ith p r oper ex p lanati on or translated the m literally and offered notes . A s t o those w ith non 2corres pondent meaning in relati onshi p in the target language, he adop ted para 2phrase t o realize the transference of connotative cultural inf or mati on w ith the denotative cultural inf or mati on o 2m itted . A s t o m inor words and ex p ressi on w ith non 2cor 2res pondent meaning in relati onshi p in the target lan 2
guage, he used partial o m issi on or full o m issi on . The f oll o w ing is an illustrati on of L in’s artistic translati on of cultural 2s pecific words and ex p ressi ons such as allu 2si ons, mythol ogies, cust o m s and conventi ons .
(1) L in’s Translati on of A llusi ons
I n S ix Chapters of a F loa ting L ife there are abun 2dant allusi ons, mythol ogies, cust o m s and conventi ons . L in e mp l oyed vari ous techniques and methods such as? literal method, free method, paraphrase, f ootnoting or o m issi on .
The original:
鸿案相庄廿有三年, 年愈久而情愈深。(24) The translated versi on:
W e re mained courteous t o each other f or t w enty 2three years of our married life like L iang Huang and M eng Kuang[of the East Han Dynasty ], and the l on 2ger we stayed t ogether, the more passi onately attached we beca me t o each other . () “the si m ilar cultural in 2f ith on of “举案齐眉”, 》, “梁鸿为人凭舂, 每, 不敢于鸿前仰视, 举案齐眉. ”The al 2on later refers t o husband and w ife res pecting each
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other . Chinese readers can conclude fr o m the con 2texts that “I ”and “Yun ”res pected and l oved each other, while English readers cannot understand the meaning and the i m p licative cultural inf or mati on . L in Yutang adop ted the method of paraphrase . He briefly intr oduced L iang Huang and M eng Kuang as an adoring coup le . By doing s o, L in Yutang not only successfully transferred the co mmunicati on intenti on t o English readers but als o intr oduced s o me Chinese cultural backgr ounds . L in skillfully transf or med the co mp licat 2ed cultural inf or mati on of allusi on int o si m p le and flu 2ent target language, which was easily understandable f or English readers .
(2) L in’s Translati on of Cust o m s and Conventi ons I n dealing w ith the translati on of cust o m s and con 2venti ons, L in als o used the method of literal translati on p lus f ootnoting .
The original:
始则折桂催花, 继则每人一令, 二鼓始罢。(280)
The translated versi on:
A t first we p layed a ga me w ith a t w ig of cassia, and later each one was required t o drink
one r ound, and we did not break up till ten o ’cl ock in the night (281) .
L in added f ootnote t o this sentence, which reads “This is a ga me si m ilar t o G oing t o Jerusale m . ’A t w ig of cassia bl oss o m s was passed r ound fr o m hand t o hand as l ong as the beat of the dru m continued . The one f ound w ith the t w ig in his hand when the dru m st opped beating was required t o drink . ”This f ootnoting is su 2
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TRANS LATI O N Guo Ruijuan /ACase Study of L in Yutang and H is A rt of Translati on
p re mely vivid and accurate illustrati on of the Chinese
drinking ga me . G oing t o Jerusale m ’, als o called “musi 2cal chairs ”is a kind of ga me in which “p layers march t o music in single file ar ound a r o w of chairs nu mbering one less than the p layers and scra mble f or seats when the music st op s, one p layer and one chair being eli m i 2nated each ti m e until one of the last t w o marchers
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clai m s the only re maining seat ”. L in artistically f ound the si m ilar corres pondence of the s pecial ter m bet w een Chinese “折桂催花”and western ga me of “G oing t o Jerusale m ”and led t o the readers’sensible understanding and inter p retati on of the Chinese drink 2ing ga me .
(3) L in’s Translati on ofM ythol ogies . One nati on’s mythol ogy is well kno wn t o the natives but it w ill make the f oreigners at a l oss and creates the cultural blank . I n the translati on of mythol ogies in S ix Chapter s of A floa ting L ife , L in Yutang added notes t o supp le ment the i m p licative cultural inf or mati on . 6. The original:
倩绘一像(月下老人———笔者注) , 一手挽红丝, 一手携杖悬姻缘簿, 奔驰于非烟非雾(48)
III . Su mmary
I n this thesis, the author
made a detailed study of L in Yutang’s translati on of S ix Chapters of a floating life translati on and f ound it is a good reflecti on of L in ’stranslati on p rinci p les, his motivati on of translati on and his selecti on of s ource text and choice of translati on strategies . Fr om the above detailed discussi on we can reach the conclusi on that in general, L in’s translati on is faithful t o the original; si m p le and exp licit in ex p res 2si on . H is translati on accords with his three standards for translati on 222being faithful, s mooth, and aesthetic (忠实, 通顺, 美) . W ith the pur pose of intr oducing Chinese culture t o the English readers in m ind, L in Yutang e mp l oyed both domesticati on and f oreignizati on skillfully .
[S ix Chapters of a F loating L ife [M].Beijing:
Language Teaching and Research Press, 1999. [2]Nord, Christiane . Translating as a Purposeful A ctivity:
Functionalist A pproaches Explained [M].Shanghai:Shang 2hai Foreign Language Educati onal Press, 2001. [3]Venuti, La werence . The Translator ’s Invisibility:A H istory
of Translation [M].London and Ne w York:Routledge, 1995.
[4]刘芳. 汉语文学作品英译中的异化与归化问题———兼
评林语堂在《浮生六记》中的文化翻译[J ].解放军外国语学院学报, 2003, (4) :71274.
[5]罗新璋. 翻译论集[M].北京:商务印书馆, 1984. [6]唐心洁. “关联理论”对“文化语境”翻译的解释力[J ].
吉林师范大学:人文社会科学版, 2002, (1) :1082110. [7]严绍, 汤玉. “文化语境”与“变异体”以及文学的发生学
[C ]//北京大学比较文学与比较文化研究组. 多边文化研究. 北京:新世界出版社, 2001.
The translated versi on:It was a p icture old holding, in one hand, a red [pur binding t ogether in the oth 2er, a walking 2stick of m ony sus pended fr om it ; (49)
The figure “月下老人”in Chinese mythol ogy is known t o every household in China, who has on record in a book the marriage fates of those on earth and atta 2ches betr othed coup les with a red cord which will bind the m f or life . The common W estern readers may not know about the red silk thread and its i m p licative meaning . The literal translati on of the i m age of red cord may make the W estern readers confused . There 2fore, L in Yutang added the note in the brackets t o sup 2p le ment the cultural blank . It again p r oves L in Yutang’s p r ofound understanding of the cultural difference and his compensati on intenti on .
林语堂及其翻译艺术个案研究
郭瑞娟
(中原工学院外语系, 河南郑州450007)
[摘 要] 本文旨在通过研究翻译家林语堂及其在英译《浮生六记》的翻译艺术, 探讨译者在翻译过程中
主体性的彰显, 并着力分析译者的文化态度、翻译动机、翻译准则等主观因素是如何影响译者及其翻译策略的。
[关键词] 林语堂; 《浮生六记》; 翻译艺术; 翻译策略
【英文校对】V a N eda Per k ins
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