If you are a Murakami Haruki fan, then you will not be unfamiliar with Lin Shaohua's name. So far, almost all of the translations of Haruki Murakami's continental editions have come from his hand. On the afternoon of November 28th, the UN of Guangzhou United Bookstore invited translator Lin Shaohua to discuss the stylistic beauty of Haruki Murakami's works with Readers in Guangzhou.
Haruki Murakami Series Shanghai Translation Publishing House
As an important translator of Haruki Murakami's literature, Lin Shaohua has translated more than 40 works by Haruki Murakami, including "Norwegian Forest", "Kafka by the Sea", "Assassination of the Knight Leader" and other works, and its influence has been widely circulated. The translations of Murakami's works are highly respected by Chinese readers, and they are inseparable from the introduction of "Murakami style style" by translator Lin Shaohua.
By the end of December last year, 43 works by Haruki Murakami, published by Shanghai Translation and translated by Lin Shaohua, had sold more than 13.7 million copies in China. "It is generally believed that each of these books has an average of 4 readers. That is to say, Murakami's works have about 50 million readers in the Chinese mainland, and about one in every 25 to 30 Chinese readers has seen Murakami's works that I have translated. Lin Shaohua said at the opening.
Some people say that where there are Chinese, there is Jin Yong. As for Murakami, it may be said that where there are young people, there is Murakami. So why does Murakami's literature attract so many readers?
Readers who have read Murakami's works can say a few points, such as the loneliness of urban people, such as petty bourgeois sentiments, such as the freedom of the soul, such as searching for lost memories, such as political struggles and social responsibilities, and so on. But there is a rather important reason, as if it has not yet received the attention it deserves. That is the uniqueness of Murakami's style. ”
Lin Shaohua said that Murakami's novels have been translated into more than 50 languages and are popular all over the world, and according to Murakami himself, his novels have gained worldwide popularity for two reasons: one is that the story is interesting; the other is that its style has universal penetration. As for whether his works really have universal penetration, Lin Shaohua feels that it is not easy to say. But he believes that Murakami is indeed an excellent stylist.
He pointed out that at present in Europe, especially in France, stylist is the highest honorific title for literary scholars. Writer Mu Xin once said that writers are not necessarily stylists, and Mo Yan, a writer who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2012, also said: Writers who can stay in history are definitely stylists.
The formation of Murakami's style is mainly related to translation.
Murakami is a Kobe native who grew up in Kyoto. Kobe was then a U.S. military port with U.S. military bases and U.S. troops. At that time, American soldiers loved to read soft-skinned English novels, and when they read them, they threw them away and Murakami picked them up and read them, so he liked English since he was a child, and he could generally understand the original English novels when he was in junior high school.
When Murakami was 29 years old, he began writing novels in the jazz bar he owned. He wrote it over and over again on the original paper with a fountain pen, and he was still not satisfied with writing for more than half a year. He doubted that he was qualified to write novels, but he was not willing to give up.
Later, he had the opportunity to knead the 200 pages of original manuscript paper into a ball, throw it into the paper basket, turn around and take the English typewriter from the closet and try to write in English.
In the process of writing in English, a rhythm of articles of its own emerged. Murakami then put away the English typewriter, drew out the paper and pen again, re-wrote it in English, and translated it into Japanese. According to Murakami himself, a new Japanese style came uninvited. This novel is his debut novel, Listen to the Wind.
In other words, Murakami, because he knew foreign languages, broke away from the habitual inertia of his mother tongue and found another possibility of style, which promoted the regeneration of Japanese style.
Murakami is also an extraordinary shot, and as soon as "Listen to the Wind" was published, he won the Japanese Group Portrait Newcomer Award, which became a stepping stone for him to enter the temple of Japanese literature. Since then, Murakami's path of writing has always been accompanied by English.
Murakami once said that his main purpose in translating is to explore the stylistic secrets. Among the various elements that make up the style, what does he value most? Lin Shaohua believes that murakami values the sense of rhythm the most. A style with a good sense of rhythm can reach people's hearts, which is Murakami's creative ambition. Murakami is also full of confidence in whether this style, which is mainly characterized by a sense of rhythm, can be recognized by the market.
Murakami has never made a secret of the influence of foreign literature on his own creation, saying that he has long liked to engage in translation, and has absorbed a lot of novel styles from it. He also admits that he had never been influenced by any Japanese writers before establishing his own genre.
"What Murakami learned from it was not just rhetorical techniques, but also a stylistic paradigm, a stylistic secret." In the interview "The Owl Takes Off at Dusk", Murakami once again emphasized the importance of style, saying: "I have been writing novels for nearly 40 years, and if I have done anything so far, it is to cultivate the style, nothing more. ”
In fact, in the Japanese literary world 40 years ago, everyone did not pay much attention to style, and the theme of the work was considered to be the most important, followed by psychological description and personality setting. But Murakami insisted on giving priority to the style of his work, because only style can lead to stories. Lin Shaohua said.
So where are the main characteristics of Murakami's style? In Lin Shaohua's view, the characteristics of Murakami's style can be summarized into four points - the first is conciseness; the second is witty humor; the third is musicality, or sense of rhythm; and the fourth is consistency. In the process of translating, Murakami made his native language and foreign language consistent, so as to obtain new styles, especially new stylistic rhythms.
In this sense, Murakami is not so much a novelist as a professional novelist as a novelist. Further, it is the stylist who emerges at the junction of translation and creation. As a translator, Lin Shaohua's main contribution in translating Murakami's works is to creatively reproduce the tone of Murakami's storytelling.
Murakami's translation of Murakami's works brings a consistent linguistic aesthetic experience to Chinese readers, expands the territorial boundaries of Chinese, and brings new possibilities and enlightenment to the artistic expression of modern Chinese, which in turn affects some young readers.
Lin Shaohua also said that he hopes that more Chinese writers can learn foreign languages and engage in some translation work. At the same time, I also hope that Chinese translators can learn their mother tongue well and engage in more creation, so as to promote the early birth of a new genre and a new language style, and tell the world our own Chinese stories.
Why is the Nobel Prize in Literature delayed in awarding it to Haruki Murakami? It's a cliché. In this regard, Lin Shaohua speculated that this may be because the English translation of Murakami's works does not fully reflect its unique artistry.
As the main translator and researcher of the English translation of Murakami's works, Jerubine, a professor of Japanese literature from Harvard University, once said with deep feeling that although the style of Murakami's works is close to foreign languages, translating it back into English has led to the loss of important features in his style that are as fresh and gratifying as Japanese literature. Not only that, but the subtle, incredible sense of texture that comes from its style also disappears.
This means that the stylistic art of Murakami's novels has been greatly reduced in the English translation. The Nobel Prize jury, who pays attention to the artistry and innovation of style, is reluctant to put the crown of the Nobel Prize on Murakami's head.
But Lin Shaohua said that as early as 2003, Haruki Murakami told him in person that his books were loved by readers, which was more important than anything else. As for whether to win or not, it was too secondary for him.
"I must thank the world for the activity of translation, and also thank the contemporary Japanese literary scholar Haruki Kami, for providing excellent literary texts that I like." Lin Shaohua said.
Nandu reporter Zhu Rongting