Don Quixote, the earliest Chinese translation in China, was retranslated back into Spanish

Reporter | Intern Yao Bingchun Edit | Lin Zi people

In 1922, the Shanghai Commercial Press published don Quixote's first Chinese translation, The Legend of the Magic Man. Lin Shu, a translator who did not know any Western language, completed the translation of this Spanish literary classic Chinese with the help of an oral translation by his friend Chen Jialin. Chen Jialin read the English translation, so Lin Shu was half transposed and half creative, "rewriting" Don Quixote in chinese language between many mistakes, and he only "rewrote" the first half of the content, integrating the first 55 chapters about Don Quixote's two departures into four paragraphs.

A hundred years later, the Spanish sinologist Alicia Raelinck retranslated the Chinese version of Don Quixote back into Spanish, and the whimsical gentleman Don Quixote de Lamancho (the full name of the original book) left Spain in the 17th century and returned to Spain from China in the guise of "The Legend of the Magic Man", completing a complete adventure. A few days ago, the Instituto Cervantes released the Hanxi version of "The Legend of the Magic Man" in Madrid, Shanghai and Beijing at the same time. This edition contains the original book of Lin Shu and the Spanish translation of Raelink, accompanied by numerous translator notes and detailed guides.

This journey of language exploration began eight years ago. The Beijing-based institution of the Spanish Instituto Cervantes has exhibited a number of Chinese translations of Cervantes's works, the result of 20 years of searching markets and bookstores by Chinese collector Liu Ruiming. Imma Consales Bouilly, head of the Cervantes Institute's Shanghai office, said the exhibits at that exhibition included the 1934 edition of Lin Shu's "The Legend of the Magician" — "It looks like an ordinary notebook, but it is the most brilliant jewel in the exhibit." She took the lead in proposing this project of translation, set out to rescue the forgotten Chinese translation, and with The unremitting efforts of Raelinck, the Spanish version of "The Legend of the Magic Man" came out.

Imma's original intention was to wonder to what extent Lin had transformed the protagonist's original image, so as to glimpse how don Quixote, a literary figure, was accepted in China at that time. Luis García Montero, dean of the Instituto Cervantes in Spain, also said at the event that readers can feel the cultural similarities and differences between China and the West through the change of Don Quixote's image between Chinese and Spanish.

In 1897, the "Testament of the Lady of the Camellia de Paris", dictated by Wang Shouchang and translated by Lin Shu, was published, and some people believe that this was the first Western masterpiece translated by the Chinese people, which became a milestone work in the history of modern Chinese literary translation. The Fujian scholar Lin Shu, who had entered a year of confusion, also began his belated but fruitful career as a translator. In his lifetime, Lin Shu translated about 180 kinds of writers' works from more than a dozen countries, including English, French, The United States, Belgium, and Russia. The Qing History Manuscript Lin Shu Biography says: "The translation of ouxi said by (shu) is one hundred and ten kinds. However, I am not used to Owen, and I have to write about it until the population reaches. The "Lin Translation Novel" was actually produced by those who are proficient in foreign languages to first read the original text, dictate the content, and then translate it into ancient Chinese through Lin Shu. Although Lin Shu did not know any Western language, Qian Zhongshu mentioned in the article "Lin Shu's Translation" that the role of Lin Shu's translation as a "medium" has become a recognized fact in the history of literature, and he himself increased his interest in learning foreign languages after reading his translations.

"The Legend of the Magic Man" is one of the "Lin Translation Novels". In 1922, the Shanghai Commercial Press published don Quixote's first Chinese translation of the "Biography of the Magic Man", and two years later, Lin Shu died of illness, which became his last literary translation. "The Legend of the Magic Man" is not a simple translation of "Don Quixote", but a personal interpretation of The English translation of "Don Quixote". First, he had no contact with the original Spanish text; second, instead of reading the English translation directly, he read it to him by his friend Chen Jialin; and finally, instead of writing it word for word, he rewrote it according to his own understanding, incorporating his thoughts on the tense and unbalanced conditions of China in the 1920s into the text. He seems to have "betrayed" the original text three times, so that he has attracted many criticisms, and mr. Qian Zhongshu has called him "old and decadent", and his "attitude seems to be casual", and even some "indifference", translating "Cervantes's vigorous and vast original text" as "lifeless and fragmented".

After the fiasco of the Sino-Japanese War, with the purpose of learning from the West and saving the survival of the people, the intellectual circles of the late Qing Dynasty began to call for the translation of political novels and scientific novels of advanced countries, so the climax of China's first large-scale import of foreign novels arose. Mr. Lin sees himself as on a mission to help China "open its eyes to the world" and embrace new ideas and knowledge from other cultures.

Yu Dafu once pointed out that China's modern novel is "the cosmopolitanization of the Chinese novel." It is from the beginning of reading translated novels that Chinese novelists have begun to have the vision of world literature and have begun to consciously learn from their artistic experience. In fact, it was the translated novels of the late Qing Dynasty that cultivated the interest and literacy of the May Fourth generation of writers in foreign literature. The biggest contributor to the translation of novels in the late Qing Dynasty is undoubtedly Lin Shu. Hu Shi once said that Yan Fu was the first person to introduce Western modern thought, and Lin Shu was the first person to introduce Western modern literature. Lin's novel "Explores a Foreign Passage for New Literature".

The Spanish ambassador to China, Rafael des Kayah, wrote in the preface to the Hansi edition of The Legend of the Witch: "His country was very different from the Castilian kingdom of the 16th century. However, with "Don Quixote" and his own greatness, in the humiliating years at that time, Lin Shu found the point of convergence and reference between Don Quixote's dream and his dream of becoming a strong country. Ray link also said that Lin Shu not only creates his own works, but also is keen to disseminate foreign literary works, and he has undertaken the arduous task of translation. At the same time, Lin Shu's re-creation of Don Quixote created the "Magic Man", which also enhanced China's understanding of Spain to a certain extent.

Teng Wei, a professor at the College of Literature of South China Normal University, believes that even if "The Legend of the Magic Man" is generally very unsuccessful, it basically translates the storyline of the upper part of the original work; and even if Lin Shu holds the "old pen" in his hand, his text is still concise and concise, and often a few words can convey the meaning of the original text. In the process of translation, Raylink also found that Lin Shu had a proficient grasp of idioms, and the use of texts was wide and exceptionally precise, making "The Legend of the Magic Man" almost a work in their own tradition for Chinese readers at that time, and also helping readers to better understand the scenes that occurred in the book.

Ray link is a Spanish sinologist and translator specializing in Classical Chinese literature, and has translated and introduced chinese classical literary works such as Journey to the West, Peony Pavilion, and Wenxin Carved Dragon to Spain. At first, Iema knew that she attached great importance to the cultural exchange between China and the West and approached her to do the translation of "The Legend of the Magic Man", she agreed in a vague way, not realizing what a hard job she was taking on, she said in a wired conversation at the event site: "I often want to give up in the process of translation. ”

Throughout the translation, Raylink needed to refer to, check and compare four versions: the original work of Cervantes, the English translation of the Motuo and Revas versions, and the Chinese translation of Lin Shu and Chen Jialin. One of the big problems of the translation is the style of translation of the literary version of Don Quixote into Spanish: if it completely imitates Cervantes's style, it will seem anachronistic, too modern and will cause the language to be wrong in time and space, and at the same time, it is necessary to be as close as possible to Lin Shu's original meaning to highlight how Lin Shu handled Cervantes's text. In the end, Raylink chose a moderate style of language and added a certain amount of ancient expression to it, grasping the overall elegant style. Driven by her fervent pursuit of fidelity to the original text, sometimes the rhythmic rhythms of ancient Chinese can also enter the Spanish translation.

In addition to pointing out the difference between the lin translation and the original Cervantes in terms of content or vocabulary, and the interpretation of the idiom used by Lin Shu, she also added a lot of information about Chinese history and culture, hoping to provide some knowledge points to today's Spanish readers, who may be "fascinated, surprised or at least a little curious because of their similarities or differences."

Zhao Zhenjiang, a Spanish translator and professor at Peking University, also said that the Hanxi version of "The Legend of the Magic Man" is a difficult and meaningful work that will help sinology research in Spain and Latin America. For Irma, the latest version of The Legend of the Magic Man represents the end of two journeys. Not only did Don Quixote return to Spain after a century in China, but Lin's translation was once again published in China– a book co-edited with Raelinck's Spanish translation. And this time the publishing house in China is the same as in 1922. Imma said: "It is a two-way return to the homeland. "From Spanish to English, from English to Chinese, and from Chinese back to Spanish, with the cooperation of Lin Shu and Ray link across time and space, Don Quixote has completed a complete closed loop.

Great literature will eventually leave the author's own path, and Ray link hopes that his translation of Lin Shu will become the latest link in a long and ancient chain, hoping to share a work that profoundly reflects the realities of Spain in the 17th century and China in the early 20th century. "I think it allows us to look at it in more detail. This is a true linguistic treasure. ”