Luo Xinzhang's group photo with the author of this article while lecturing on Fudan
On the evening of February 22, 2022, a friend of Wen Wei Po sent a message: Mr. Luo Xinzhang is gone (see Luo Jia: Remembering my father Luo Xinzhang).
I was dizzy and my stomach began to cramp strangely. Only after the fact did I realize that the physical discomfort was an honest reflection of the sadness in my heart at that moment. Mr. Luo and I met in May 1995, and Professor Xu Jun organized several of our graduate students to participate in the discussion on the Chinese translation of "Red and Black". If it was Teacher Xu who opened the door to French literary translation for me, then Mr. Luo was the lantern at the end of the corridor that I saw after I entered the door, which was very charming and always attracted me to move forward. The light it emits is sometimes strong, sometimes weak, but always bright there, emitting a soft and warm glow. Today, the light is out.
Self-proclaimed "translator who doesn't have many translations"
Mr. Luo Xinzhang, who is known as the "Fu Translator", has the deepest efforts in literary translation, but there are not many translations, and only "The Story of Lena Fox", "Trisdown and Iser", "Dinner Under the Chestnut Tree", "Red and Black" and so on have been published. However, in the eyes of insiders, each of Luo's translations is a fine product, and some can even be said to be excellent. Mr. Shi Kangqiang, a close friend and apprentice, once revealed in a commentary article on "The Red and the Black": "(Luo) spent two years translating this book, changing it from day to day, diligently and tirelessly, and after tiredness, he worked tirelessly. Mr. Luo's self-effacing self-effacing will only make "stupid kung fu", at best, "five hundred words in Japanese translation". The author has received four or five versions of "The Red and the Black" that Mr. Luo personally signed, and it is said that each one has been changed on the basis of the old translation, and some of them are still not satisfied with the printing, so they directly change it in the new book. On Christmas Day 2015, on the title page of the edition of Xi'an Jiaotong University Press, Mr. Luo wrote: "There are more than two dozen editions of humble translations, most of which have different faces according to the publisher's ideas. Only this version is more in line with the specifications and is acceptable. ”
Luo Xinzhang presented the author's "Red and Black"
"The Story of Lena Fox" is Mr. Luo's favorite work during his lifetime, which shows that he has a great preference for this small book. "Lena Fox", "Uncle Cat", "Dawn of heaven" (rooster), "Hale" (Mrs. Crow)... These names, combined with their connotative meanings and vivid dialogue, can well reflect the humorous and playful side of Mr. Gentleman's elegant appearance. Intellectuals of his generation tended to act low-key and introverted, but this book, I guess, was an opportunity for him to fully unleash his nature through words. French medieval fables often use anthropomorphic animal stories to satirize reality, depict human conditions, and the wisdom of life can be best displayed between the lines, Mr. Luo wrote in the 1988 edition of the small quotation: "I have translated sporadically some works of French masters before, and sometimes the translation is too bitter, but this Lena Fox is undoubtedly the most interesting and pleasantly translated book." ...... May this book accompany your teenage friends through a fun and enjoyable Sunday afternoon! ”
Although Trisdown and Isser is only more than a hundred pages long, it is mr. Luo's most laborious book. This legend originated from the legend of the Celts in Europe and later became a masterpiece of chivalric literature written in Old French, and Mr. Luo translated it on the basis of a 1900 adaptation of Bedier's version. According to the gentleman's book donation, the story is about the elegant love of the Middle Ages, and the rewritten language is also the antique academic French of a hundred years ago, and the translation "needs to make the reader feel a sense of distance in time." Please look at the last paragraph: "Ranked officials, the previous generation of troubadours narrated this legend for lovers all over the world." They ordered me to greet you. Greetings to all those who think much and those who are blessed, to those who are frustrated and those who have high hopes, to those who are happy and confused, in short, to all lovers. I wish them comfort from this ancient story to resist the impermanence and unfairness of the world, the depression and hardships of life, and the misfortunes of love! ”
When Mr. Luo was young, he copied more than 2.5 million words of "Fu Translation" and corresponded with Mr. Fu Lei for more than ten times, which has been passed down as a good story in the translation industry, and people have given him a good name of "Fu Translation and Transmission", Mr. Luo, who has always been humble and indisputable, is glad to accept this time, I think firstly because he loves Fu Lei too much, and second, he also believes that no one in this world can be more familiar with the breath, mood and charm of Fu Lei's words than him. But in fact, "Luo Translation" also comes with its own distinct style, as if a martial arts master finally "turned the secrets taught by the master into me", such as the above-mentioned translations, the styles are very different, ancient and modern, Mr. Luo has handled it in a staggered manner, the pen to the intention, the form and the god, reflecting full creativity, enough to be comparable to "Fu Translation". Mr. Luo once said to the students of Fudan: "The heart and mind of the translator are different, and the translation should have another realm..." This self-proclaimed "un traducteur sans traductions" (translators who do not have many translations) is more concerned about the pursuit of this realm.
Talk about "yearless friendship"
In the 1995 "Red and Black" Chinese translation debate, the result of the questionnaire survey was that the "literal translation school" won a big victory, and the support rate accounted for nearly 70% of the questionnaires received. At that time, I was a ardent supporter of the "Re-creation School", and then proposed to my supervisor the doctoral dissertation topic of "Literary Translation Subjectivity". Although his mentor Xu Jun also advocated "literal translation", he was infinitely tolerant of the students, and he promised me to stick to my position and encouraged me to write letters directly to Luo Xinzhang and Xu Yuanchong, the two "transcreative translators". So I began to exchange letters with this well-known but shelfless "Fu Translator", and gradually we became "year-old friends" who talked about everything. Now under the lamp, I read Mr. Luo's letters one after another in the past twenty years, and I see the words as they are, and I have mixed feelings.
In the letter, there are his guidance on me to learn for man, there is guidance for life, and more importantly, he shares things that are beautiful. For example, in a letter from the summer and autumn of 1995, Mr. Fu wrote: "My whole skill is to be familiar with the family and familiar with Fu translation. Now it is still an apprentice, with you, but first learn and then learn, and later will definitely be able to catch up! "To do learning, the first thing is to learn, who reads more books, who has greater learning." "I have only read successfully twice: I spent four years reading only Fu's translations; and four months in the library of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences to write a 10,000-word essay on the Collection of Translations... To write a thesis, it is still necessary to check the information first and read more books, do not learn vaguely, and reading books and doing learning cannot be utilitarian. In response to what I said at that time, "The German Romantics themselves may be a great history of translation, and I would like to further look back at our literary history before and after May Fourth", Mr. Luo pointed out: "(We can say) the creative translation after May Fourth - New Chinese Literature", "The new literature after May Fourth itself is a translation work!" You might as well break the sky. This joke is a bit reliable, but if this joke is somewhat reliable, you may wish to boldly assume, carefully verify, and make a big article out", "Your cultural horizon article, just faithfully study Bellman, (do) new cultural thinking, is a creative study." ”
Mr. Luo's handwriting is extremely elegant and flowing, and the address name on each envelope can be used as a poster for me. He said: "People with culture and education should write well. If you don't learn Fu Lei, you can't translate French well. Don't go to Deng Sanmu, write bad pen characters. Deng Shu could not buy it, and Wen Zhengming could also. Scattered wooden characters, and Fu translations, are on the ornate side. The white banana character is a 'scatter' character, and the same subject as the Nanjing Lin 'scatter' is to learn Wang Xizhi. After the Jin Dynasty, calligraphers called themselves Duxue Wang, but their appearance was different. Langya Mountain Tour and Drunken Pavilion, Life and Art, The Splendide (Magnificent) and Brillant (Brilliant) of the Human Spirit..."
In addition to his research on calligraphy, Mr. Luo also shared his love of music with me, learned that I was pregnant at the time, immediately sent several boxes of tapes transcribed by himself, carefully copied all the track names, versions, and player information on the cover, and suggested that "prenatal education should listen to Mozart more." He boasted that he had the best research on Chopin, and once triumphantly told me that he had found traces of Chopin's "plagiarism": "Plagiat." Chopin's famous song Improv Fantasia in C minor, self-written 'Friday 1835 in Paris', is very similar to The Improvisational Song published by Moschesler the previous year, and was not printed until after his death (1855). Clever hands rewrite, turning blandness into magic. Parallel writing, not enough. ”
There is probably not many people who know one thing, Mr. Luo and Mr. Zhou Kexi, the first choice of the university times is the mathematics department, yin and yang mistakes were recorded by Peking University into the Spanish department before they began to learn French, so he often lamented that his "art and literature foundation is poor", "stupid kung fu" is not a self-effacing word. "My sleep is of the great type, going to bed late and getting up early, never dozing off. So diligent, but nothing was done. He envied the unattainable aura possessed by geniuses such as Liang Qichao, Chen Yinke, and Qian Zhongshu, and said, "I have been busy all my life, and it is not as good as a few notes that Chopin casually plays!" (Below) So, in the presence of such a accomplished man who always loves to relegate himself to dust, doesn't anyone have to tremble and weigh his own weight? Sometimes I could not avoid feeling frustrated, and Mr. Luo turned around to comfort him: "Of course, you should not be discouraged, and you should also do your best to do your own thing well." The struggle for fame and profit does not have to, and most people do not end up with much fame and profit. Still content with indifference, more clear. But you are young and intelligent, at least for ten or twenty years, to create your own glory. ”
The righteous man is as kind as he is
Mr. Luo's name has a "Zhang" character, a gentleman is like a jade, and a person is like his name. The first edition of "Ancient Literature" was not very satisfied, so he contacted Fudan Publishing House to re-publish. This book has been changed again and again in Mr. Luo's hands, and when he handed it over to the responsible editor Song Wentao, he can be said to be very confident. Unexpectedly, Teacher Song still picked out several mistakes of Mr. Luo after reviewing the reading draft, and thought that the old man would be angry, but he did not expect that Mr. Luo was very excited, and he thanked him on the phone. Song Wentao later borrowed Han Yu's words to describe his feelings at that time: a benevolent and righteous person, whose words are as kind as they are!
In fact, Mr. Luo's benevolence was vividly demonstrated as early as the discussion of the Chinese translation of "Red and Black", and Professor Xu Jun mentioned more than once that Mr. Luo's feedback was the most gentle and generous, without the sour taste of the literati. Although I know that Mr. Luo is very dissatisfied with the one-sided investigation of "literal translation", he pursues Lao Tzu's righteousness of "not arguing for the sake of", only doing his own thing, not arguing with others, he even wrote: "With this ranking, the wind and momentum take turns, everyone has the joy of success, not happy! The poet translator Huang Fuhai was interested in the translation of Buddhist scriptures, and happened to read the "Collection of Translation Treatises" compiled by Luo Xinzhang and Chen Yingnian, and took the opportunity of a small gathering at Mr. Lu Gusun's house to inform Mr. Luo of some of his comments on the book. Later, when I read his "Outline of Ancient Texts," I was amazed at the breadth of his vision and the sharpness of his insight."
Mr. Luo's benevolence is also reflected in his gratitude and help for his acquaintances and former friends. At the end of the last century, the fifteen-member translation of "Remembrance of The Watery Years" by fifteen people from Yilin Publishing House was published, and the translator in charge of the opening of the first volume of this imperial masterpiece was named Li Hengji, who was a classmate of Mr. Luo Xinzhang's Peking University Spanish Department, but unfortunately died of illness in the late summer of 1999. More than once, Mr. Luo talked to me about Li Hengji in his letter, saying that he was extremely talented, noble, and had a great influence on him during his studies: "Brother Li is good at translating poetry, which is appropriate and natural. Musai's "Wing Yue" is a famous passage in French poetry, and reading three of his translations, you can see that it is a rhetorical flow, and the machine is self-contained..." The untimely death of this good classmate made him very heartbroken, and he regretted that his poetry manuscripts were scattered outside, and no one could help collect, organize, and publish them in a complete book, so that his poems were buried or even eventually forgotten. So about seven or eight years ago, Mr. Luo volunteered to personally collect Li Hengji's translated poems, and handed over to me some of the carefully preserved manuscripts of his deceased friends, even with traces of his handwriting and revision, hoping that one day he would be able to help this former colleague leave the names of poems for thousands of years.
Li Hengji translated the poems of the French poet Jacques Préville, and Luo Xinzhang used pencil to revise the original manuscript
In addition, I have another extremely valuable gift in my hand, the signed copy of La Baconière (1947 edition) given to him by his mentor Luo Dagang in November 1972, which was given to me by his mentor Luo Dagang in November 1972. Receiving his Ph.D. in Literature from the Sorbonne University in Paris in 1939, Mr. Rodagang was one of the first translators to introduce Montesquieu, Louis Aragon, Paul Éluard and Romain Roland to China, and was the first Chinese to study Tang poetry in French, translate Tang poetry, and publish a collection of poems in France. On the title page of the book (below), there are both the handwriting of the teacher's inscription given to the beloved disciple and the eulogy signed by the disciple for the teacher: "Belinsky said: After a certain historical period, each person has returned to his corresponding position. Grande colline (majestic mountain gang), especially for my generation! "——Reverence, nostalgia, and self-encouragement jumped on the paper, and I think Mr. Luo gave this book as a gift, but also hoped to make the spiritual temperament of the teacher inherit and continue!
Reading these beautiful calligraphy-like letters on my desk these days, I find that almost every letterhead has the word "hastily" before the signature at the end of the letterhead. Thinking that three or four years ago, I asked Mr. Luo on the phone when he would come to Fudan to give a lecture, and he replied, "I'm afraid I don't have time, I have a lot of things to do, I'm old, I'm slow to move..." Presumably Mr. Luo was anxious, presumably he still had many plans to complete, but he said goodbye to us like this, and this time he didn't even have time to write the word "hurry"!
Author: Yuan Li
Editors: Andy, Qian Yutong
Editor-in-Charge: Shu Ming
*Wenhui exclusive manuscript, please indicate the source when reprinting.