Cheng Yang
When I was a child, I was considered a "book boy" by my family and neighbors, and according to them, when the house was quiet, I must have been there to read. I studied law in college, but at the primary and secondary school levels, I have read almost all the Chinese and foreign literary masterpieces that undergraduates in the Chinese Department should read. It's a little incredible to think about it today, but it did happen. This is not to say that I have special endowments, but the collection of books at home, especially the famous books of my mother, who taught foreign literature at the university, first nourished my soul.
To write this short article, I specifically removed these "old books" from the bookcase, some of which were already dusty, some of which lacked corners or pages, and whose covers were worn out and now gray in tone. It is no wonder that their "original version" is the 1950s and 1960s, and the old version I read was older than my age around 1979. These world-famous masterpieces of world literature have been stored in our home for nearly 40 years.
"Tess of the D'Urbervilles", 1980 edition translated by Zhang Guruo
For example, Mr. Fu Lei's translation of Balzac's "Aunt Becky" (1982), Romain Rolland's "John Christophe" (first edition in 1950, home is 1980 edition), Mr. Zheng Yonghui's translation of Hugo's "Ninety-Three Years" (1957), "Selected Novels of Mérimée" (1980), Mr. Zhang Guruo's translation of Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urberville" (1980), Mr. Jin Ren's translation of Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" (1957 first edition, home is 1982 edition), Mr. Chen Jingrong's translation of Victor Hugo's Notre Dame de Paris (1982), etc., are all editions of the People's Literature Publishing House. There are also editions of the Shanghai Translation Publishing House, such as Mr. Luo Yujun's Translation of Stendhal's "Red and Black" (1979), Mr. Fang Zhong's translation of Chaucer's "Chaucer's Anthology" (1979), Mr. Wang Yike's translation of Dickens's "Great Future" (1979) and so on. In comparison, books such as "Aunt Becky", "John Christophe", "Selected Novels of Melime" and so on have more damage, many pages, and more worn, which shows that French literary masterpieces are everyone's favorite in our family, and they are read most diligently, which makes the old editions of books unbearable, and it is still painful to think about it today. What is even more surprising is that the Shanghai translation of "Red and Black" is actually a vertical layout, after liberation, vertical layout has long given way to horizontal layout books, people have long been accustomed to reading horizontal layout books, which is still a young child, reading is more difficult to read. In a way, not only me, but also my predecessors, are the generation that bid farewell to literary and vertical typography.
Most of the translators of these "old masterpieces" were the choice of the foreign literary translation circles of that era, among which Mr. Fu Lei's name was the loudest. His rigorous style of translation, rich and erudite literary literacy, word by word, not letting go of a single one, so that he also made himself very tired of his style of study, at that time, for me, there was no mountain to look up to. At that time, people who read foreign literary masterpieces had the habit of reading the preface before reading the works, and I also secretly imitated this custom, reading the prefaces of the translators who spent a lot of energy first. For some reason, the "preface to the translation" of Fu Leiben's John Christophe was not written by Mr. Fu, but by Mr. Luo Dagang. It is divided into "About the Author", "The Atmosphere of the Times", "The Dominant Idea", "Plot Synopsis" and "General Impressions", which can be viewed as a "small literary history" about this famous book. Judging from my reading of Fu Lei's "On Zhang Ailing" written in the 1940s under the pseudonym "Xunlei", as well as his many other translations, he should be a very proud person, how can he let others "touch the bed"? Only then did he suddenly remember that Mr. Fu had died earlier than 1966, otherwise, given Mr. Luo Dagang ten guts, he would not have dared to ask Mr. Ding Fu Lei's exclusive territory? However, Mr. Luo is also an old scholar with grace, and he naturally does not plunder Mr. Fu's beauty and "steal" it as a personal product, so in the "Preface to the Translation", he clearly pointed out at the beginning: "'John Christophe' has long had a Chinese translation of Comrade Fu Lei, which is a foreign literary work that mainland readers are more familiar with. It is also "an epoch-making work in the progressive literature of the French bourgeoisie." Mr. Luo Dagang, born in 1909, Shangyu, Zhejiang, is an expert and translator of French literature. He received his master's degree from the University of Lyon in 1933 and his Doctor of Arts degree from the University of Paris in 1939. In 1947, he returned to China and successively served as a professor at Nankai University, Tsinghua University and the Department of Spanish Languages of Peking University. In the case of Mr. Fu's death, the People's Literature Publishing House entrusted Mr. Luo to write the "preface to the translation" on his behalf, which should be forgivable. Mr. Fu Lei, born in 1908 in Nanhui, Jiangsu Province (now part of Pudong, Shanghai), is a famous translator and one of the important founders of the China Association for the Promotion of Democracy. He studied at the University of Paris in his early years, majoring in literary theory, and was an alumnus with Mr. Luo. In his early years, Fu Lei engaged in art criticism and theoretical research, and later turned to French literary translation, of which "Fu Translation" Balzac's masterpieces are famous at home and abroad, influencing generations of readers. There are many "translation prefaces" in Fu Ben, but due to space limitations, they are omitted here. But his deep understanding of Balzac and other French writers also gives a glimpse of how wonderful his translation would be.
The preface is a comprehensive introduction to the translator, from the author's life, the era, the creative path to the style and writing methods of the work, all of which are explained in great detail. I have the impression that after reading the translation sequence, the complete image of the writer and the content of the work seem to have been fully known, and according to its guidance, according to Tu Suoji, what is read is basically within the scope of the translator's translation sequence. It's a stepping stone. However, if you want to really enter the world of writers' works, you also need to look at the wonderful translation and pen of the translator. The more famous translators, the more different the translated works, and many years later I often wondered, without Mr. Fu Lei, would there be a "Balzac novel" that would always stand in the minds of Chinese readers?
In addition to looking at the Chinese translator's translation sequence, I also like to read the "original preface" of the writer himself. Among them, Mr. Hardy, author of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles", "Preface to the Fifth and Subsequent Editions of the Original Book" is worth reading. Unlike the translators who look at the works mentioned above, the original preface of the fifth edition, which unfolds in the form of the writer himself looking at his own works, comes up and says: "Now this novel is one of the following situations in it, that is, the heroine it portrays has experienced an accident before she has even begun her formal activities, and that accident is usually considered to have disqualified her from being the protagonist, or at least has actually ended her activities and hopes; And I will unanimously argue that the subtle aspects of a well-known tragedy, in addition to what has already been said, can be said in the novel, and that this welcome and proposition is naturally very contrary to the accepted custom. For children, or for the average reader, this passage is really awkward, obscure, and not very easy to understand. At that time, I just hurried by, hurriedly choosing to see the work, and did not want to hear Hardy talk here. After becoming a full-time literary critic and researcher of literary history, I look back and read this preface and feel that there are many chapters in it.
Hardy is saying that Tess's depravity stems from the natural drive of her original personality, not just others. But if the writer writes this, not only can the story not unfold, but even whether she can become the protagonist of the work is already very problematic. Wouldn't a dramatic story in society have a greater appeal than Tess's story? That is, from the perspective of the character archetype, she does not have enough qualifications to become a "protagonist", so why bother to write this work? The reason why this famous work is famous in history, Hardy also said it politely, is because it is the opposite of the "custom" in society, and he is "writing backwards" this small person in society. Hardy is truly a great writer, and his insight, eyesight and artistic expression are extraordinary.
Because in the early years, and later many times to read the old version of the "foreign literary masterpieces", I feel that most of the literary works other than this have no meaning. This statement may be suspected of being "thick in the past and thin on the present", but it is also true.