Lin Shaohua: Reshaping Haruki Murakami in Chinese

Modern Express News (reporter Jiang Sijia) "Literary translation is the product of the author's work and the translator's translation at first sight or mutual affection. In the vast world, the vast sea of people, a translator meets the author of the right temperament, or an author meets the translator of the right temperament, it can not be said that it is a match made in heaven. Nowadays, Chinese readers who mention Haruki Murakami always think of Lin Shaohua "instinctively", and when Lin Shaohua himself recalls the encounter with Haruki Murakami's works, the words also reveal the color of "destiny".

△ Translator Lin Shaohua Courtesy of the interviewee

In October 1987, Lin Shaohua, who had been teaching in the Japanese Department of Jinan University in Guangzhou for five years, went to Japan to study Japanese classical literature. More than two months later, Haruki Murakami's novel "Norwegian Forest" came out, and the entire Japanese archipelago fell into a "Murakami boom". Only Lin Shaohua, the future Murakami translator, was immersed in the study of classical Chinese and Japanese poetry and turned a blind eye to the bestseller that was most conspicuous in the bookstore. A year later, Lin Shaohua returned to China. At the annual meeting of the Japan Literature Research Association, he met this novel unexpectedly - under the warm recommendation of Li Dechun, who was the vice president of the Japanese Modern and Contemporary Literature Research Association at the time, Lin Shaohua finally opened the book, but he did not expect to read it out of control, and quickly accepted the translation invitation of Lijiang Publishing House. "In the corner of a north-facing room at Jinan University, I began my trip to China with "Norwegian Forest" and with Haruki Murakami. I also watched her change from an unpopular 'stall' girl to a glamorous and beautiful object that accompanied 'petty bourgeoisie' or white-collar workers in and out of Starbucks, and then upgraded to a semi-classic world literary masterpiece. ”

So far, Lin Shaohua has translated a total of 45 Murakami works, including two short collections co-translated with others. After the processing of "Lin Jia Puzi", Murakami's works as Chinese translations seem to be a little more poetic. For example, Murakami's debut work, which should be directly translated as "Listening to the Wind", was translated by Lin Shaohua as "And Listen to the Wind", which became the signature of the favorite social platform of literary and artistic youth at that time, and was also written as a song by Park Shu. In the postscript to the translation of "Men Without Women", Lin Shaohua frankly said: "A small contribution that I am somewhat proud of may be to reshape the Murakami style in Chinese and reproduce the beauty of Murakami's style." In the face of some debates about whether the translation should be completely faithful to the original author, Lin Shaohua responded: "Even if the translation is good and faithful, the 100% original Haruki Murakami cannot exist." ”

Some people call Lin Shaohua the royal translator of Haruki Murakami, but he does not think so. In his view, the so-called "royal use" is the relationship between an emperor and his subordinates, which is unequal, while the translator and the author are equal. In addition to Murakami, Lin Shaohua has also translated the works of many Japanese modern and contemporary masters. He especially liked to translate writers who shared his style and heart, such as Natsume Soseki, Kyoichi Katayama, and Haruki Murakami, while there was some discord for Yukio Mishima, Osamu Dazai, and even Yasunari Kawabata, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Over the years, Lin Shaohua began to try to "untie" Murakami. He joked that seeing his name always followed by another man's name in a smaller font or two, he sometimes felt that it was not a taste: "Engaging in translation, making clothes for others, doing it for a long time, I want to bring myself a piece." 」 He sincerely longed to return to the pastoral life of "picking chrysanthemums and planting beans and watering the garden", and planned to write a "Lin's "Walden Lake" according to this, and he also wanted to write a "new "Siege of the City". But when asked about the progress of the creation, he was humbled: "The novelist's head may be born, and I am born without the novelist's head." Where to steal one back? This is the 'progress' that is eager to try at the moment. See the laughs! ”

"Norwegian Forest" is not a popular love triangle

Modern Express Reading: Your original study was on classical Japanese poetry, and Norwegian Forest is your first novel by Haruki Murakami. There is a big gap between the elegant and exquisite Japanese classical poetry and the concise and bright style of Murakami, and where did this novel attract you at that time?

Lin Shaohua: Classical poetry and Murakami novels are certainly not the same thing. But as a genre, it can coexist completely in one person. For example, Natsume Soseki, as a novelist, did not lose his achievements in Waka (Japanese ancient poetry) and Chinese poetry (Chinese ancient poetry) at all. Another example is Qian Zhongshu, who has been engaged in the study of Chinese and foreign classics, including poetry, all his life, but this does not prevent him from writing novel masterpieces such as "Siege of the City". As me, of course, I dare not compare with these two people, but the reason is the same - whether it is the study of ancient poetry or the translation of novels, it all needs poetry. What attracted me to Norwegian Forest was poetry. It is a poetic story, not a popular love triangle story at the level of popular literature.

Modern Express Reading: Translators and writers choose each other, in what ways do you think you have an intrinsic connection with Murakami?

Lin Shaohua: Three points. One is stylistic. We all pursue a simple and chic language style that does not lose its meaning and rhythm; the second is the value. We all tend to distance ourselves from the prevailing values of society, do not like to follow the trend, do not want to "watch", prefer to self-exile to the edge of loneliness; the third is aesthetic. I appreciate Murakami's aesthetic feeling of small scenes and small things, especially the literary pursuits and artistic cultivations that he has transformed countless faint emotions into aesthetics on paper.

Modern Express Reading: Haruki Murakami has published a new collection of short stories, "First Person Singular", I wonder if you have read a new book? How did you rate it?

Lin Shaohua: I have already read the original work. In terms of feelings, it may be said that it is the sequel to "God's Children All Dancing", "Tokyo Strange Tan Collection", and "Men Without Women". It is true that the standard has not decreased, but if you want to go to the next level, I am afraid it is not easy. First, when they are older, everyone has limitations, and it is impossible to renovate forever and ride forever.

Translation is not an appendage of creation

Modern Express Reading: The new book "Chunqin Copy" is a self-selected collection of your translations, which includes works by famous Japanese literary artists in different styles, which can be said to be a small summary of your translation career. The title of the book is the same as the work of Junichiro Tanizaki, what is the meaning of it? Some readers have interpreted that you are using the relationship between the blind female organist and the servant in Tanizaki's book, alluding to the relationship between the translator and you, do you agree with this statement?

Lin Shaohua: There is no deep meaning. There are six essays in the anthology, and Chunqin Copy is one of them. The editor-in-charge asked me "Chunqin Copy" and "The Emperor's Hat" (another one included in it), which one is better to use the title of the book, and I said to use "Chunqin Copy", after all, it is more well-known. As for the reader's "interpretation", it is quite funny, but I don't quite agree. It seems too masochistic — how can the translator's position be so miserable? From a disciplinary point of view, translation studies is now an independent discipline, and the right to award doctoral degrees is granted. This means that translation is not an appendage of creation. Each has its own difficulty, each has its own value, and each has its own brilliance. Before his death, Mr. Yang Dai had the saying of "one servant and two masters", saying that the translator was like a servant, one had to serve the original work, and the other had to serve the reader, but that belonged to the self-ridicule in a specific context.

Modern Express Reading: You often emphasize that "aesthetic faithfulness" is the most important thing in translation, not the deliberate correspondence of words. It has also been said that "the Chinese translation of Murakami literature is no longer Murakami literature in the sense of foreign literature or in the Japanese context, but has become a special part of Chinese literature and Chinese literature as a translation literature".

Lin Shaohua: The relationship between the translation and the original, as far as the text is concerned, is like the relationship between the skin and the fur, the skin does not exist, and the hair will be attached. But as far as art is concerned, it is like the relationship between the score and the player, and the performance of course depends on the score, but the performance itself is also an art, an independent art. Moreover, Beethoven's "Symphony of Destiny" has only one, but when played, the effect is one person and one look. Related to this, a translation can either complete an original work and complement each other, but it can also destroy an original work, and both lose and die together. As for the fact that translated literature is a special part of Chinese literature, this is not my point of view, it was first proposed by the late Mr. Xie Tianzhen of Shanghai University of Foreign Chinese, and has now been recognized by many mathematical people. To put it simpler, after all, the translation is presented in Chinese, the form is a Chinese text, and no matter how clever it is, it is different from the foreign language text, and it is impossible to be 100% original. Taking a step back, even if you read the original book, how many people can read the original? Taking a step back, what is the original taste of literature? The more likely it is to be misread, the better the work!

Modern Express Reader: As a "ferryman" between Japanese and Chinese literature, what do you think is the similarity and difference between Japanese and Chinese expressions? How can Chinese and Japanese "bite each other like gears and turn"?

Lin Shaohua: Purely in terms of translation, I agree with Zhou Zuoren's statement: if there is no vocabulary from Chinese in Japanese, it may be better to translate. Because some Chinese words in Japanese are subtlely different from the original Chinese texts, if you are not careful in translation, you will "fall into the pit", so that the translation often gives people a sense of indifference. This is probably also a congenital reason why Chinese-to-Japanese literature is generally inferior to Chinese-to-Western literature, which can be described as innately insufficient. But at the same time, as a Chinese, as a Chinese translator, I have a unique advantage in appreciating the Chinese vocabulary in Japanese, if I have the corresponding literary skills and vernacular sense,

Compared with Spanish translators, the two languages should be able to "bite each other and turn like gears".

Square inch land, unlimited scenery

Modern Express Reading: You have published a number of essay collections such as "High Walls and Eggs", "Strangers", "The Beauty of Falling Flowers" and so on, which contain closeness to nature and nostalgia for the past and hometown, simple human feelings, and stubbornness when criticizing some social phenomena. Do these all come from the influence of your early rural life on you?

Lin Shaohua: The former part has an impact, it precipitates into a hometown complex or nostalgia, which determines the soft part of my emotions and heart. The "stubborn" or hard part mainly comes from reading, especially from old books such as "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "The Complete Biography of Yue", "Water Margin" and other old books that were read when they were young. It also comes from nature. I was born with a sharp temper, eat soft and not eat hard, want to live like a man, not with villains. Seeing the wind makes the rudder, seeing the profit and forgetting the righteousness, sneaking, and only keeping promises, has always been despised by me.

Modern Express Reading: After you retired from college two years ago, you planned to write a "new "Siege of the City". What is the progress so far?

Lin Shaohua: After thirty or forty years of mixing in the "besieged city" of the university (not "Sanlu University"), I just stepped back, turned around and took a fishing rod or danced square dance. So I thought to myself, since Mr. Qian Lao can write about the Republic of China's professorial sentient beings in "The Siege of the City", why can't I follow in his footsteps and write a new "Siege" to write about the Republic's professorial sentient beings? Besides, people who are not professors seem to have written "Professors", and I am a professor, so there is no reason why I can't write it! But don't say, you really can't write it. Without him, Gein's novelist's head might have been born, and I was born without a novelist's head. Where to steal one back? This is the "progress" that is eager to try at the moment. See the laughs! By the way, I haven't actually retired yet – I've been hired by the principal as a "Chair Professor of General Education" and still rattle my lips on the podium.

Modern Express Reader: You also have a different habit - insisting on writing Weibo every day. Why did you want to develop such a habit in the first place? Compared with orthodox literary creation, what is the difference between the experience of speaking out and creating on such a fragmented platform as Weibo?

Lin Shaohua: At first, it was not that I wanted to write, but that I was repeatedly "instigated" by the "Sina" girl. And the only advantage of me as a person is that there are some tendons, once I agree to other people's things, if there are no special circumstances, I have to grit my teeth and persevere. However, Weibo's 140 words cannot be completely fragmented. Everyone knows that few famous tang poems and Song poems have more than 140 words. Square inch land, unlimited scenery. My approach is that even if I can't express an idea or a point of view, I must strive to express an aesthetic taste and a rhetoric. It is said that the square enlightenment is not known, but objectively it may become a bridge between academia and the public. Whether it is a university or an intellectual, there must always be a little cultural radiation! And the C journal paper that is regarded as the lifeline of the academic school, how many people read it out of the campus? Further, what you think and feel in a day is condensed into a microblog, and what you feel and think for a week is fermented into an essay or essay. For a month or two, if it happens, it is possible to smear it into a lecture or paper.

Modern Express: What books have you been reading lately? Are there any reading tips you can share?

Lin Shaohua: It is also because this year is the tenth anniversary of Mu Xin's death, and I have seen Mu Xin again. The wooden heart is really a great "cloth cloth" that can be encountered and unattainable, related to the context, related to art, related to aesthetics, related to the feelings of scholars, and related to cultural self-confidence. His appearance, depressed and elegant, fluttering immortal, gushing water, and mountainous, can be called a miracle in the field of humanities in the twentieth century! Although the influence seems to be increasing day by day, it is not enough to read and study him. It's a rich mine, and every shovel can dig out the treasure!

Lin Shaohua

Literary translator, essayist, scholar, professor at Ocean University of China. Graduated from the Graduate School of Jilin University. He has taught at Jinan University, Nagasaki Prefectural University, and engaged in academic research at the University of Tokyo. He is the author of "The Beauty of Falling Flowers", "For the Freedom of the Soul", "Nostalgia and Conscience", "High Walls and Eggs", "Rainy Night Lights", "Strangers", "Little Lonely", "Lin Shaohua Looks at Murakami: From "Norwegian Forest" to "Assassination of the Knight Commander". He has translated more than 90 works by Japanese masters such as "Norwegian Forest", "Kafka by the Sea", "Strange Bird Journey", "Assassination of the Knight Commander" and other works by Haruki Murakami, as well as "Heart", "I Am a Cat", "Rashomon Gate", "Snow Country", "Kinkaku-ji Temple", "Call for Love in the Center of the World" and other works of Famous Japanese artists, which are widely circulated and have far-reaching influence. In 2018, he was awarded the Foreign Minister's Commendation Award for his outstanding translation achievements and contributions to Sino-Japanese cultural exchanges.

(Edited by Chen Haijing)