"If we pay attention to Yi Lijun's translation path, it is basically with her to go through the history of Polish literature." On February 9, poet, translator and editor-in-chief of World Literature happily told The Paper when talking about yi Lijun, a translator who had just died.
In 2019, Polish writer Tokarczuk won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, and his Chinese main translator Yi Lijun became the object of media pursuit for a while. But in fact, before Tokarczuk, Yi Lijun had been engaged in the translation of Polish literature all his life, and his translated works covered almost the entire history of Polish literature, and received numerous praises from Poland and China.
In the view of the Polish translator and poet Li Yiliang, Yi Lijun belongs to the first batch of Polish language and literature researchers who returned to China after completing their studies, and she and several other famous scholars have pioneering achievements in translating and introducing Polish literature. "It's an amazing achievement that we all benefit from and will never forget." Li Yiliang said.
In July 1955, Yi Lijun (female on the right) was in Gdynia, Poland.
Sent to study in Poland, "like spending five years in a cave"
Yi Lijun was born in 1934 in Huanggang, Hubei Province, to a family of rural intellectuals. Her grandfather was a student studying in Japan, and her father was a middle school teacher, and she grew up freely in a relatively relaxed family environment.
In 1953, Yi Lijun was admitted to the department of Chinese of Wuhan University, and the following year she was given the opportunity to study at the University of Warsaw in Poland. Although at that time she knew that Polish celebrities such as Mickiewicz, Chopin, and Copernicus were not unfamiliar with the country, she was still a little hesitant.
"The state selected international students from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the school, and there were six people in our class, including me. All five of them were very happy, I was still young, and my mother didn't want me to be too far from home, so she was still hesitating whether to go or not. The teacher said that studying abroad is a good thing, and others can't go if they want to, so I made up my mind. Yi Lijun once recalled.
After arriving at the University of Warsaw, At first, Yi Lijun was disappointed because of the small campus of the school, but after starting to study, she "learned more and more vigorously". The first year of study was very hard, and she was forced to read many original Polish works. For the exam, she nibbled on Shemkevich's "Historical Trilogy" day and night, which amounted to 2.6 million words.
She said that the five years at the University of Warsaw, like spending time in a cave, but also the happiest five years of her life, laid the foundation for the future to embark on the road of translation. Of course, in addition to the gains in learning, Yi Lijun also met her life partner here, The Chinese nuclear physics scientist Yuan Hanrong.
In 1956, Yi Lijun was on the outskirts of Warsaw.
"You are not sure of a good translation, and no one is more sure of translating well"
After graduating from warsaw university, Yi Lijun was assigned to the Soviet And Eastern Europe Department of the Central Broadcasting Agency as a reporter, carrying more than 20 pounds of recording boxes to interviews every day. Two years later, the central government believes that many international students should be redistributed after returning. Yi Lijun could have chosen the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, but because she already had two classmates there, she went to Beijing Foreign University, applied what she had learned, and began to engage in Polish translation and teaching.
In fact, while studying in Poland, Yi Lijun has already begun to contact literary translation. Together with Pei Yuanying, Lin Hongliang, Zhang Zhenhui and Ai Qing, she founded the journal Xinghuo, on which she wrote poems, translated poems, and translated other literary works.
"The five of us are real literary youths, all of us love literature, study hard, and all want to make a name for ourselves."
But her real literary translation began in the special period of the "May Seventh Cadre School". At that time, the school was closed and everyone participated in labor. When Yi Lijun arrived in Shayang, Hubei Province, she had to do farm work and pick bricks every day, and the living conditions in the countryside were particularly difficult, but she also had to do translation at night. Because this was not a task given by the school, it was a private job, so she had to keep it a secret, so she found a small shack that was often left unoccupied at night, and hid there quietly. It was at that time that Mickiewicz's Sacrifice of the Ancestors was translated, and it was the first Polish literary work translated by Yi Lijun.
The poem "Ancestor Sacrifice" is the masterpiece of the great Polish poet Mickiewicz of the 19th century, telling the story of the brutal suppression of Polish patriotic youth by Tsarist Russia. In January 1968, the National Theatre in Warsaw re-staged "The Sacrifice of the Ancestors", which caused a sensation throughout Warsaw, and the venue was full. During the performance, the audience also recited the poems in the play with the actors, and the stage and offstage echoed each other, and the crowd was excited, and the anti-Soviet mood was very strong. During the performance, the Soviet ambassador was very angry and withdrew halfway through. Soon, "Ancestor Sacrifice" was banned. Students from the University of Warsaw then staged a demonstration that became a political event.
The fact that a drama can mobilize the entire Polish society through such a huge force surprised Yi Lijun. Soon, Ye Mingzhen of the People's Literature Publishing House approached her and said that Sun Shengwu, who was in charge of foreign literature publishing, had entrusted her to ask if she could translate the "Idle Man Festival." She was also told that it was a diplomatic work meeting held by the relevant departments, and Premier Zhou Enlai proposed to translate it.
Yi Lijun was both happy and worried at that time, happy that she had the opportunity to show her strengths, and worried that she was afraid that the translation would not be good. Moreover, Ye Mingzhen also told her very frankly that there was no contribution fee, and there was still a certain risk. When hesitating, her husband Yuan Hanrong said to her: You are not sure of a good translation, and no one is more sure of translating well. The fee is irrelevant, the risk is well, you can give a pen name.
In this way, Yi Lijun made up her mind to complete the first draft of the "Ancestor Sacrifice " (the third part) during the "May Seventh Cadre School", and after returning to Beijing, she took advantage of the gap to revise it many times, and Yuan Hanrong undertook the task of proofreading and copying the manuscript, and finally published the work under the pseudonym "Han Yi". After reading it, He Qifang said that this was a swallow of primrose, because it was the first foreign literary work published after the "Cultural Revolution".
Yi Lijun and Tokarczuk
She took us on a journey throughout the history of Polish literature
Since then, Yi Lijun has been out of control, from the classic Adam Mickiewicz and Xiankewicz, to the avant-garde Vygonbrowicz, to the contemporary Che Milosz, Zbignev Herbate, Himmborska (translated as Simposka), Olga Tokarchuk, from prose, fiction to poetry and drama, almost covering the entire time span and literary genre of Polish literature.
Therefore, the poet, translator, and editor-in-chief of World Literature is pleased to summarize Yi Lijun's translation career in a "comprehensive" way.
In happy opinion, some translators of the older generation have long been immersed in the translation of classic literature, but Yi Lijun is a translator who constantly challenges herself, "She is always following the rhythm of literary development." So after she translates Mitskevich, Shekovich, she translates Milosz, Khimbolska, Gombrovic, Tokarczuk. ”
For example, Simbolska, who is now very popular, in fact, before winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, as early as 1990, Teacher Yi translated her. Therefore, Teacher Yi was the first person to really translate Simboska. Happy to tell the surging news reporter.
Another aspect of "comprehensiveness" is the breadth of genres involved in Yi Lijun's translation. Happy said that as a translator, he may have some proclivities, such as his own preference for poetry, "but Teacher Yi is poetry, prose, drama, novel, everything is translated, and there are several important literary monographs, all of which have the significance of literary research guides." ”
"If we pay attention to Yi Lijun's translation path, it is basically with her to go through the history of Polish literature." Said happily.
Yi Lijun is happy with the poet, translator and editor-in-chief of World Literature
"There is a proper balance between the naturalization of translation and the necessary defamiliarization"
Yi Lijun's translated text is loved by readers for its accuracy, simplicity, evocative and non-literary significance, and her translation of Ya Ivaskevich's short essay "Strawberry" was also selected as a language textbook.
"I used to have students come to the North Outer Examination, just for Strawberry. It was so popular that I didn't expect it at all, because Strawberry was still translated when I was a student in Poland. The Polish translator and poet Li Yiliang still often recommends Strawberry to others, and in his opinion, perhaps Ivaszkiewicz himself did not expect that his small essay could be disseminated so widely in a foreign country by the hand of Yi Lijun, "I think the influence of this essay in China may be far greater than that in Poland." ”
Li Yiliang knew Yi Lijun's name for a long time, and he still preserves the magazine that contains Yi Lijun's translated works more than forty years ago. He also printed and bound the History of Polish Literature by Yi Lijun, who had nowhere to buy.
After having a special love for Polish literature, Li Yiliang concentrated on reading Yi Lijun's translated works. In his eyes, Yi Lijun's translation is a very beautiful and exquisite text, "there is a proper balance between the naturalization of translation and the necessary defamiliarization", and among translators of her age, she is a translator with a considerable sensitivity to language.
"We who write poetry will have a self-requirement, that is, to achieve 'can not change a word', Yi Lijun's translation, you 'can't change a word'." To this day, he has always regarded Yi Lijun as an authority on Polish language and literature, and in the process of reading and translating, he will first refer to her works, "For example, when making annotations, I must first look at her translation name and opinions." ”
Li Yiliang's "balance" has also been confirmed in the happiness of those who are happy.
"Literary translation is particularly important to balance, that is, the balance between foreign language and mother tongue, to have a solid foreign language skills, and at the same time to have a good mother tongue expression. This balance allows you to become a translator in the true sense of the word. "In a happy opinion, many Chinese translators are unbalanced between the two languages, and if you only look at Chinese, it may be good, but as long as there is a pair of original texts, as long as there is a little research foundation, you will find that there are many errors in understanding." The average reader may not pay much attention to this aspect, but as translators, we have a list of real translators in our minds, and Teacher Yi is one of the representatives. Said happily.
It is precisely because of Yi Lijun's excellent work in translation that she has not only won her the respect and love of Polish writers such as Ruzevich, Khimbolska, Tokarczuk, etc., but also made her receive praise from Both Poland and China.
She was awarded the Polish Medal of Merit for Cultural Purpose twice in 1984 and 1997, the Knight's Cross and the Officer's Cross from the President of the Republic of Poland in 2000 and 2011, and the National Council Medal from the Polish Ministry of National Education and Sport in 2004. In 2008, he was nominated by the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland for the promotion of Polish language and literature in China and awarded the title of "Ambassador of Polish Language and Culture" by the Polish Language Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2012, the Polish Book Association presented Yi Lijun with the "Transatlantic" Literary Translation Award in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the promotion of Polish literature worldwide. In China, in 2004 she was awarded the title of "Senior Translator of Foreign Literature" by the Chinese Translators Association. In 2018, Yi Lijun won the Translation Culture Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest award in the translation industry issued by the China Translators Association.
The Polish ambassador awarded Yi Lijun the "Medal for the 65th Anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Poland and China".
The idealistic feelings in her belong to the times, and even more to herself
It is not easy for Yi Lijun to achieve such an achievement in the field of Polish, a small language. In Happy's opinion, this is inseparable from its passion and love for translation.
"The study of small languages like Poland has been sitting on the cold bench for a while, but Teacher Yi and other scholars of the older generation are willing to go all the way to the end, and they have given me a kind of inner encouragement." The extraordinary will and perseverance of the predecessors, their attitude towards translation is worth learning and inheriting. However, in the happy view, Yi Lijun's wind and idealistic feelings cannot all be attributed to the characteristics of the times, including her personal choices, personal experiences, and translation and teaching in turn to shape her, "In the process of engaging in foreign literary research and translation, it has also shaped her character of independence and frankness, daring to pursue and adhere to the truth." Teacher Yi gave me a particularly deep impression that he has an independent character, not flattering, not kitsch. ”
Although they did not attend Yi Lijun's classes, in private, they often visited Yi Lijun's home. Yi Lijun has a generous personality, is particularly passionate, extra energetic, and very infectious. She is fond of hospitality and often invites students to her home to eat, drink and chat. "When I think of Teacher Yi Lijun, I think of the old lady with big eyes and big voice. Engaged in literary translation, love is very important, passion is also very important, Teacher Yi engaged in literary translation especially early, has persisted until the last moment, and her love and passion are inseparable. ”
This love and passion also extends to the students, to the delights. Most of the students who were originally admitted to the University of Foreign Chinese in Beijing had the dream of being a diplomat or a senior translator, and Happiness was no exception. However, under the influence of Yi Lijun, he suddenly found that language can also break through cultural barriers and structure cultural exchanges. Finally, under the recommendation of Yi Lijun, She happily gave up her initial life plan and chose to embark on the road of literary translation.
Yi Lijun's disciples such as Zhao Gang, Mao Yinhui, and Li Yinan have inherited their mantle and become the leaders and even backbones of the new generation of Polish translation. Zhao Gang, who is now the vice president of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, said to the China Writers Network after learning the news of the death of the teacher, "It was Teacher Yi who took me into the hall of Polish literature, it was Teacher Yi who encouraged me to walk on the three-foot podium, and it was Teacher Yi who gave me guidance and inspiration every time I was wandering and depressed." Teacher Yi is not only my mentor, but also my life mentor. ”
For her contribution to education, Yi Lijun was awarded the title of Beijing Famous Teacher in 1995 and 2007.
Yi Lijun Photo: Zhao Weiting
(This article refers to Zhao Weiting's "Out of Its Kind, Out of Its Strength"--Interview with Professor Yi Lijun, a famous Polish literary translator, and the postscript of Yi Lijun's "Ancestor Sacrifice".) ）