"Metamorphosis", "Castle", and even the later collection of short stories "When the Great Wall of China was Built"... All of Kafka's works, which have been enjoyed by countless literary lovers, can meet Chinese readers, all because of the one-armed translator Ye Tingfang. But this morning bad news came from Beijing - on September 27, the China Writers Association confirmed to the media that at 6 o'clock on the same day, Ye Tingfang, a researcher at the Institute of Foreign Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and an expert in German literature, died of illness in Beijing at the age of 85.
Born in 1936 in a remote mountain village in western Zhejiang, Ye Tingfang's experience before he became an adult can be described as ill-fated. He lost his mother when he was 7 years old, and his father suffered from tuberculosis for many years. When recalling her childhood in many previous interviews, Ye Tingfang mentioned the most was "working in the fields, beating pig grass, and herding cattle." Fate's greater test for him was that when he was 9 years old (1945), due to an unfortunate fall and injury, coupled with wrong healing, Ye Tingfang lost his left arm. His later title of "one-armed translator" was also derived.
Because of his disability, Ye Tingfang was once rejected when he applied for middle school, but he was always self-reliant and optimistic, and after not writing hard, he was finally admitted to the German major of the Department of Western Languages and Literatures of Peking University. At Peking University, Ye Tingfang studied under Feng Zhi, then head of the Department of Spanish Languages at Peking University. Later, he successively served as a teacher at Peking University, an editor of the magazine "World Literature" of the Institute of Foreign Literature of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a director and researcher of the Nordic Literature Office of the Institute of Foreign Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the president of the Chinese German Literature Research Association.
For countless lovers of Chinese literature, especially the world-renowned writer Kafka, ye Tingfang's name must be familiar. His translations include Selected Comedies of Dürrenmatt, The Return of the Old Woman, Kafka's Literary Brief, Kafka's Letter Diary, Kafka's Essays, etc.; at the same time, he is also the author of "The Explorer of Modern Art", "Kafka, the Father of Modern Literature", "The Awakening of Modern Aesthetic Consciousness", "The Stranger Who Fell into the World", "The Modern Prototype of Sisyphus", "On Paradox", "Baroque Gene in Modern Western Literature", "Selected Short Stories in German-Speaking Countries", "German Books", "The Treasury of Essays of Famous Foreign Artists", "The Treasury of Essays of Famous Foreign Artists". More than 30 works, such as "100 Classic Essays on Foreign Countries" and "A Quick Overview of Masterpieces of Foreign Literature".
It is particularly worth mentioning that although the age difference is more than twenty years, Ye Tingfang and He Qifang, a famous poet from Chongqing who was once the secretary of the Secretariat of the China Writers Association, have a deep relationship, and the two have a sense of sympathy for each other in literary pursuits.
In 2012, the centenary of He Qifang's birth, Ye Tingfang wrote a special article "Temperament He Qifang - Commemorating the Centenary Of the Birth of Teacher He Qifang" to tell about his interaction with He Qifang. Ye Tingfang recalled that as early as the 1960s, he was very "worshipped" by He Qifang. He once thought, "I write a review of current poetry creation, mainly critical, and if I get his (He Qifang's) appreciation, maybe he will be willing to see me." More coincidentally, before Ye Tingfang's article was finished, he received news that the Institute of Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences had divided it into two and divided it into a "Foreign Literature Research Institute." "The Academy of Sciences is the academic hall I have long admired, and this opportunity has come: He Qifang is sure to recruit for this new institute, and I write to him in the name of asking for the transfer of foreign literature, and attach this article, I believe that the possibility of him seeing me should be relatively large."
Ye Tingfang even admitted that after she entered the foreign literature institute, "The first thing I did was to realize my long-awaited wish: to see How Qifang!" ”
By the 1970s, Ye had become friends with He Qifang who often visited used bookstores together. It was while they were visiting the Chiang Cang Bookstore that Ye Tingfang stumbled upon the Kafka Anthology and the United States (i.e., the Missing One), published in East Germany at the time. This also inadvertently contributed to Ye Tingfang becoming the first translator in China to comprehensively and objectively introduce Kafka.
Moreover, He Qifang once wanted to "worship" Ye Tingfang as a teacher. According to Ye Tingfang, in the summer of 1972, when the two met at He Qifang's house, He Qifang took the initiative to mention that "I would like to translate Heine's poems." But my German is not good enough, and I can't translate according to the original text and can't convey my intentions, which you say scratch your head without scratching your head!? He Qifang then said, "Therefore, Comrade Tingfang: I want to worship you as a teacher!" ”
Ye Tingfang naturally first expressed his reluctance to move, and bluntly said that he had always regarded He Qifang as a teacher, and at the same time he proposed a solution: "You (referring to He Qifang) translate it first according to the existing German level, and you can refer to English." Then I'll check it out for you in German, so that your German level will slowly improve. He Qifang immediately excitedly slapped his hand on his leg: "Good! With Teacher Devon I am relieved! ”
In addition, Ye Tingfang has always been called a "cross-border scholar" by the media, and in addition to his literary and academic writings, he also has a great interest in architecture and music.
In 2016, Ye Tingfang underwent a major operation for a malignant tumor. He had been accustomed to writing at night until three or four o'clock in the morning, and after major surgery in 2016, he changed to rest around 1 a.m., but he also got up at seven or eight o'clock in the morning. At the age of eighty, he also published a new work, "The Old Road of the West Wind".
Upstream journalist Qiu Jinyi