Qianjiang Evening News Hourly News Reporter Song Hao Zhang Jinhua Intern Reporter Yan Kexing
Every year around April 23 (World Book Day), on the day of spring breeze and warmer, a grand event about reading, the Spring Wind Reading Festival, is held in Hangzhou.
Writers, translators and critics from all over the country gathered in Hangzhou to take stock of the high-quality books of the past year and work with readers to unveil a comprehensive and high-quality "Spring Breeze Delight Reading List".
Since 2012, the Spring Breeze Reading List has been awarded for nine sessions. It achieved its original goal and became a unique reading event in the Yangtze River Delta.
Past judges, award-winning writers, and award guests have formed friendships with Chunfeng Yue Reading List and left a story in Hangzhou. The Spring Breeze Reading List connects them with readers and records milestones for the course of literature.
It's spring again, and on the occasion of the 10th Spring Wind Yue Reading List, we visited these old friends and listened to their stories with the Spring Wind Yue Reading List. What expectations do they have for the upcoming 10th Spring Breeze Yue Reading List?
Professor Dai Rongrong
【Character Business Card】
Dai Congrong: Winner of the first Chunfeng Yue Reading "Golden Translator Award" / Professor of Fudan University
Winner: Finnegan's Vigil (Volume 1)
"Finnegan's Vigil Night" translated by Dai Rongrong, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2013 hardcover edition.
Shanghai, Zhujiajiao Ancient Town. Professor Dai Congrong met us at a tea house.
"I moved here to Zhujiajiao the year before, and as soon as I arrived here, my heart calmed down." She works here most of the time.
Chunfeng Yue Reading List ushered in the tenth year, and Dai Congrong was the winner of the first "Golden Translator Award". In 2012, her translation of Finnegan's Vigil (Volume I) was well received and the Golden Translator Award was awarded to her.
Volume II is complete and the third volume is being translated
As a professor at Fudan University, Dai Rongrong's research direction is British and Irish literature, Western contemporary cultural literature theory, and he is the author of "Is Man Really Yehu: Fourteen Lectures on European Literature", "Joyce's Formal Experiment in Novels", and "Wuthering Heights" (by Emily Brontë).
Irish writer James Joyce's The Vigil of Finnegan is recognized as the "Book of Heaven" in Western literature. Xiao Qian and Wen Jieruo had translated his Ulysses, and after the translation was completed, Xiao Qian and his wife tried to translate "Finnegan's Vigil" with a single blow, but soon gave up.
The dream-like language, the labyrinthy structure, the metaphors, hints, puns, illusions throughout the book, are incomparably obscure. In 1939, when Joyce spent 17 years completing his final novel, he said that "this book can keep critics busy for at least three hundred years."
Therefore, when Dai calmly took out this translation, especially the intensive annotations in it, it impressed readers and scholars.
We told her that Finnegan's Vigil (Volume I) is now hard to buy, and the small amount of inventory on the Internet is basically three times the price, and Dai is surprised.
After the publication of the first volume of Finnegan's Vigil in 2012, Dai continued to translate Finnegan's Vigil, "now completed, now working on volume three." I also look forward to reading this book soon. ”
I laughed and quipped that I was already a doctoral supervisor and could lie flat.
She said that everyone in an environment like Fudan is very good, "Every class of students are excellent, and the teachers can't keep up with the pressure." Not only to compare with the national academic, but also with the world's academic comparison, to walk in the forefront of the world, the pressure is invisible. ”
"And the translator' predecessor, Teacher Wen Jieruo, who was still translating when she was in her 90s, I think it's very inspirational, really inspiring!" Dai Calmly said that Wen Jieruo had told her that when she was translating, she was also in a hurry, and when she was sleepy, she would fold her clothes and fall on the bed, wake up and turn over.
In the past, the translation work was much larger than it is now, and there was no help from the Internet, only holding a dictionary. In recent years, I have continued to translate "Finnegan's Vigil", which is much faster than when I translated the first volume, because the Internet has helped a lot, and various people can provide professional insights from their own specialties.
Joyce's pen, there are a lot of professional legal terms, stage decoration terms, etc., with the help of professionals, it is much more convenient when translating.
To read Joyce, you can start with The Dubliner
Professor Dai Rongrong is an expert in domestic research on Joyce, she learned that there is an "Ulysses Bookstore" in Hangzhou, specializing in Joyce's "Ulysses", attracting many book fans to punch the clock, she did not expect Joyce to have such an influence among Chinese readers.
In fact, as a Chinese reader, I am really happy.
Dai said that Ulysses and Finnegan's Vigil have detailed annotated versions, and the translator has made great efforts to do these tasks.
The reader's reading of "Ulysses" is coherent with the previous "Dubliners" and "Self-Portraits of Young Artists", and Joyce's plot, thinking about the central theme, and narrative skills are constantly deepening. Readers are better off starting with Dubliner and reading it in the order in which he wrote it would be much better.
In Finnegan's Vigil, she added a large number of annotations to help the reader understand, and she felt that it might be easier for Chinese readers to understand the work than for British readers to read the original English text. Because there is no comment in the original English text.
Zhujiajiao river runs long, small boats shuttle, tourists come and go, the ancient town is very quiet. Music came from downstairs, and Dai calmly sat by the window.
Such a quiet is suitable for learning.
(Note: James Joyce (1882-1941), Irish writer and poet, one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, one of the founders of postmodern literature, whose works and "stream of consciousness" ideas have had a great influence on the world literary scene. Representative works such as "Ulysses", "Finnegan's Vigil" and so on. ）
【Spring Breeze Q&A】
Hourly News: Can you tell the story of your encounter with the Spring Breeze Reading Festival?
Dai Rongrong: I was very impressed by this award. At that time, the Spring Breeze Reading Festival was still held in winter, two days before New Year's Day.
At that time, there were Ge Fei teachers and so on who won awards with me, as well as the author of "The Biography of Zhen Huan", Liu Lianzi, many writers and critics, everyone discussed together, and the exchange atmosphere was very good.
I distinctly remember the stage that night, the feeling of being involved in a literary event. The medal is still in the most conspicuous place in the home, and it is a very proud thing.
(Note: In the first Chunfeng Yue Reading List in 2012, writer Ge Fei's "Jiangnan Trilogy" won the "Platinum Book Award" and Liu Lianzi won the "Zhejiang Edition Good Book Award".) ）
Hourly News: Can you tell us about the creative process after winning the award?
(Before we met, a reader asked us when the translation of Finnegan's Vigil (Volume II) would be read.) ）
Dai Rongrong: Not only the second volume, when Finnegan's Vigil is republished, it will be the whole book published.
After the publication of the first volume of Finnegan's Vigil in 2012, I continued to translate Finnegan's Vigil, which is now complete and now working on volume three. I also look forward to reading this book soon.
Over the past few years, in addition to classes, I have continued to translate and create other times. For me, time is divided into only two parts, either work, or take care of the family, pick up and drop off school. Friends advised me to take a walk after a while, and I felt reluctant to have time.
Others envy our teachers for having winter and summer vacations, but when we are teachers, in fact, there is no Spring Festival holiday. Instead, I envied my husband that the time after work was his own. Even after work, the teacher also uses the scraps of time to do scientific research.
Hourly News: Can you talk about an interested newcomer or a new book?
Dai Rongrong: I was impressed and recommend that you read it, which is Qiu Fangzhe's translation of "Snow Ridge Chasing Deer: Legend of Ireland".
Mr. Qiu Fangzhe is now working at University College Dublin in Ireland, why do his translations find so valuable? He translated directly into Middle Irish.
Previously, our understanding of Irish myths and legends, there are several translations in China that are translated into English, and in order to meet the needs of readers for the storyline, they have been processed and transformed, and the rough, complicated, and rich human nature of Irish culture has been deleted.
This book is directly selected from a number of medieval Irish works, selected by Qiu himself, and he considers it representative. The book is very informative, covering a variety of topics that we are concerned with today, while the translation retains its original appearance. It was very good.
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