Satan Tango
Author: Krasnohorkay Laszlo
Translator: Yu Zemin
Edition: Yilin Publishing House
July 2017
Krasnohorkáj Lászlów is a Hungarian writer. Winner of the 2015 Booker International Prize, his representative works include "Satanic Tango" and "The Melancholy of Resistance". The style is characterized by complex long sentences and postmodern structural forms.
The translator of "Satan Tango" Yu Zemin
Tribute
In the impetuous moment, Satan Tango is a work of resistance. We salute it because it upholds the dignity of literary reading and creation. The author challenges the reader's patience with long sentences, showing the extreme and subtle changes in human psychology, compared with the fragmented and rapid reading. At the same time, today, when the reader seeks answers from the established knowledge, Krasnohorkai still presents another answer with the nihilism of art, relying on the excavation of long sentences, he makes us realize the truth behind reality. He ruthlessly shatters all illusions of mediocre life, allowing us to rethink ourselves and our lives after disillusionment, which is the never-ending mission of true art.
We pay tribute to Satan Tango, to the author, and to yu Zemin, the translator of the book, for accomplishing a task that was almost impossible to complete. He trekked between the harsh Hungarian original and Chinese texts, and finally translated a copy of "Satan Tango" that was not harmful to the original work, which made us truly feel the borderlessness of literature and its reflection of the common destiny of all mankind.
Past
First encounter with Krasnohorkay Laszlo
Beijing News: How did you discover the book "Satan Tango" and the writer Krasnohorkaj Lászlo?
Yu Zemin: I first learned about this book twenty-five years ago, but I didn't speak Hungarian at that time, and it had to start with my interaction with Lászlo. Reading Satan's Tango for me is itself a process of literary growth. I first met László in April 1992 at the house of a friend named Helnay Janosh in Szeged. Janosh was teaching in the history department of the University of Szeged, a cultural celebrity, writing magazines, and publishing, and he picked me up when I was at my lowest end, took me to live at home, so in his house, I met many writers and artists. I distinctly remember that before Lászlo came to the door, Janosh introduced him to me, saying that he thought Lászlo was one of the best contemporary Hungarian writers, that his Satanic Tango was a masterpiece, and that he had pulled it out of the bookshelf and showed it to me. I have a deep memory of the black, abstract cover, but unfortunately I had only been in Hungary for half a year, and I had not even recognized the Hungarian letters, but I believed my friends' words 100%. "Satan Tango", the title is easy to remember.
Laszlo came and he was excited to see me because he had recently gone to China and written a travelogue, The Prisoner of Ulaanbaatar. We communicated in English, he was patient and understanding, we had a great conversation, and the deepest impression he gave me was that he liked Li Bai. That night, he drove me home for four hours and invited me to stay for a week in a small mountain village north of Budapest. At that home, he also told me about The Satan Tango and even some details about the book's writing.
Back in Budapest, I became interested in László's work. I had moved to Budapest with the Janosh family, and Assy had just published Lászlo's collection of short stories, The Loving Relationship, and I gave me a copy of it, and I began to read it in a dictionary. It was very difficult to read, but very seriously, and then it took me a month to translate a piece of "The Trap of Ruz", which can be said to be my literary translation debut. I was immediately struck by the language, structure, theme, and ideology of Laszlo's work. In those two years, I was unemployed and lived in a friend's house anyway, so I plunged into Hungarian literature, reading wildly and becoming addicted to translation. Around 2005, I began to read Satan Tango, and because the language was too viscous, it was very difficult to read, and I read it intermittently for two or three years, and I clearly remember the shock of reading the last page: I felt a long suffocation in the dead silence, and my back was cold, as if I were the doctor who nailed the doors and windows. At that time, I had the idea of translating and recommended it to several publishing houses, but there was no result.
afterward
The difficulty and pleasure of translation
Beijing News: In the process of translating this book, where did the biggest difficulties and the strongest pleasure come from.
Yu Zemin: It took about three years from the time satanic tango was translated to the time it was submitted. Having read it twice and having a long-term relationship with Laszlo, he was already familiar with his language style and his understanding of the content, and if it was difficult, it was the treatment of Krasnohor kay long sentences and the accurate choice of vocabulary.
Here I have to explain that there are two kinds of long sentences in krasnohorkayi: one is a veritable long sentence, such as the first sentence of the opening paragraph, because of the special grammar of the Hungarian language, a sentence can be with many compound sentences, this long sentence is less compatible with the Chinese, and needs to be organized repeatedly; the other is not a long sentence on grammar, but composed of many short sentences, the important thing is to grasp the rhythm of the narrative and the sense of rolling forward, like a drunkard in a tavern, once the basket is opened, even if it is difficult to speak, shortness of breath, The inertia of storytelling cannot be interrupted. Therefore, in the process of translation, I have to read it over and over again, read the translation, and then translate the original text, and feel consistent with the tone, intonation, speed and timbre of the reading.
As for pleasure, it comes precisely from overcoming difficulties. When I read the translation, I heard Laszlo's voice, and the pleasure was hard to share. If reading Satan Tango is likened to bungee jumping, then translating it is "slow bungee jumping."
Present
The value of a purely literary work
Beijing News: As a pure literary work, do you think that "Satan Tango" has a unique significance for Chinese readers.
Yu Zemin: I think the significance is that it provides a new literary reading experience for our readers: literature can also be written like this! The metaphorical function of literature can be so powerful, and the touch of thought can be so profound! Although it is very difficult to read, it also means that it is very readable, once you adapt to the author's narrative rhythm and immerse yourself in the atmosphere he portrays, your emotions and thoughts will unfold with the plot and dive into the depths of the character's heart, whether it is despair or hope, it is heartfelt.
Usually, Chinese readers are more accustomed to traditional narratives that are close to reality, documentary reality, to put it bluntly, it is to tell a story, and what is told in the story is basically what it wants to tell, and even less can be deeply rooted in the philosophical level. Klasnohorkay's novel, however, begins with reality, but achieves a deep metaphor through a special—literary, musical, and dramatic—structure, absurd reality, cruel illusion, desperate drama, comical tragedy, and tells this dystopian story with eerie sound and horror.
Beijing News: In the future, will you continue to translate krasnohorkay Láslo's other works?
Yu Zemin: Of course, I can also translate, even out of a sense of responsibility to my friends, and Laszlo trusts my translator the most. The next step is to translate another of his novels, The Melancholy of Resistance, and to co-translate his collection of short stories with a young translator tentatively titled "The Relationship of Kindness."
Thank you
It's great to hear that "Satan Tango" was selected for the Good Book of the Year Award! As a translator, I would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the original author, Mr. Krasnohorkay László. The novel, whether Lászlo wrote it or when I translated it, knew that it was unlikely to sell well when it was published, even if it won the International Booker Prize. You know, even in the Hungarian mother tongue world, Satan Tango is also known as a "difficult book", and its difficulty in translation is self-evident. What matters to this kind of work is not how many people read it, but who reads it.
I want to emphasize that The Satan Tango was written by the author when he was thirty years old, when he saw through the utopian dreams of human beings who deceived themselves. Human beings think they are strong, powerful enough to break free from God, but they cannot escape the trap of the devil, and all their efforts to think they are clever are just jumping Satanic tango and standing still. There is no escape! This is the writer's warning to the whole of humanity. However, it is precisely because of the cruelty and lack of way out of the work that it provides a serious possibility for awakening individuals to think about the universal. Perhaps, some people think that Satan Tango is too black, but its blackness is the black light that illuminates our minds; perhaps some people cannot stand its viscosity, but this suffocating feeling achieved through literature is precisely the feeling of man waking up and turning outside the individual, to the past and future of human history. Good literature can make people see farther and think farther, and the sense of despair evoked is a sense of responsibility. "Satan Tango" is such a good book.
This edition is written by Reporter Gong Zhaohua of the Beijing News