Among the four major dramas of ancient times, "Peony Pavilion" is a study and sublimation of "The Tale of the West Chamber". First of all, from the creative method, Tang Xianzu adopted the number of fantasy novels such as the resurrection of the dead, and wrote the romance of love to the extreme; secondly, from the storyline, it is more tortuous and moving than "The Tale of the West Chamber"; from the language, it is still famous sentences, and it is full of charm to read, such as the very famous "The original Zi Yan red opened all over, like this are all paid with broken wells and decadence." Good day beauty, enjoy the pleasure of whose yard! This lyric has become the finishing touch in the famous play "Dream of Visiting the Garden", and it is also mentioned in "Dream of the Red Chamber".
I only knew about the play "Garden Dreams" before, but after reading the original work, I realized the subtlety of this drama even more. First of all, they all thought that ancient literature was relatively conservative, but they did not expect that "Peony Pavilion" and "West Chamber" were very open. In "The Tale of the West Chamber", Zhang Sheng began to lust after seeing Cui Yingying's golden lotus feet, and in "Peony Pavilion", Miss Du Liniang visited the garden to have an affair, and in the dream, she actually became a good thing with Liu Mengmei. When I woke up, I was depressed by the pain of lovesickness. Three years later, Liu Mengmei stumbled upon Du Liniang's portrait on the edge of the peony pavilion, met and fell in love with her ghost, and later opened a coffin for her, returned her soul, and became a husband and wife. Liu Mengmei has a little more integrity than Zhang Junrui, and accepts Du Liniang's instructions to find her father, but is hanged by her father-in-law as a thief. In the end, the misunderstanding was solved and the family was reunited.
Unfortunately, this Chinese-English bilingual version of "Peony Pavilion" only excerpts from du Liniang's ghost and Liu Mengmei's meeting. In fact, the hanging section is still very interesting. This time, Mr. Xu Yuanchong's English translation of the four major plays of ancient times is only complete, and the other three are excerpts. Looking forward to reading the full version next time.
The subtlety of Xu Lao's translation need not be said. It is recommended that you read the original book first, and then read through the English version after understanding the storyline. Reading coherently can feel the charm of Xu Lao's translation. For example, "It turned out that Zi Yan was red all over the place, and it seemed that all of them were paid with the broken well." Good day beauty, enjoy the pleasure of whose yard! This sentence, Xu Lao translated as: A riot of deep purple and bright red, What pity on the ruins they overspread! Why does Heaven give us brilliant day and dazzling sight? If the ancient lyrics of the original book are a little difficult for us readers who are not too knowledgeable in literature, then the English translation seems to be able to play a role in analysis. Here we see that the last sentence, "Who appreciates the pleasure of the family", seems to be a little different from the English translation and the Meaning of Chinese that we usually understand. What english means is, which one could have something happier than that? But in fact, Chinese, our usual understanding is that God has given us such a beautiful view, but I am not blessed to appreciate, which one has the pleasant thing?! How this is explained depends on the reader's personal understanding.
In addition, there is a sentence in the original book that I like very much: "The three spring colors are easy to draw, and a sad part is difficult to draw." This sentence compares the portrait with the state of mind, and writes out the feelings of Miss Yingying's hurt spring and lovesickness. The phrase is translated this way: "It would easier to paint a vernal scene than to reveal the lovesickness so lean." Among them, Xu Lao translated "sadness" as "lovesickness", which is very well handled. Because if it is literally translated as "sadness", it is inappropriate, because this sadness does not mean sadness, sadness, but more of a "pain of lovesickness". But this translation of "spring color", I personally think it can actually be understood as "female posture", because the scene here is Du Liniang painting her own portrait. Xu Lao translates it here as "spring scenery".
In short, this series of ancient four dramas translated by Xu Yuanchong is especially recommended for lovers of ancient and foreign languages to read, from which you can get two aspects of fun.
