Text/Pan Caixia
On March 28, 2022, the People's Literature Publishing House celebrated its 71st birthday, and in the live broadcast event, the 95-year-old elder Wen Jieruo appeared on camera. Her cheeks were rosy, her thinking was quick, and she was amazed, and the audience shouted: "The big coffee in the translation industry!" ”
"Big Master" lives up to her name, with 70 years of pen cultivation, she is the most translated Japanese novel in China;
In the year of Huajia, she and Xiao Qian co-translated "Ulysses" for four years, which caused a sensation when it came out.
Although few can achieve her achievements in translation, Wen Jieruo said that the identity she cares about most is Xiao Gan's wife.
When I was young, I planted the seeds of translation in my heart
Wen Jieruo was born in Beijing in 1927, her father was a diplomat in Japan, and when she was 7 years old, she accompanied her father to Japan.
Her father attached great importance to education, not only hired a tutor, but also often bought her villain books and guided her to say: "You turn the words in the picture into Chinese, this is translation." ”
Once, her father took her to the bookstore, pointed to a Japanese translation of Ulysses, and said: "You see, the Japanese have even translated such difficult books, if you work hard to translate, how good it will be to print your name on the book in the future!" ”
Wen Jieruo's young heart was planted in this way.
Two years later, in a coup d'état in Japan, my father was removed from office and the family returned to Beijing. Because he was not a powerful person, his father was unemployed.
Wearing the second sister's old coat, the hem of the clothes mopping the floor, Wen Jieruo was laughed at by her classmates, but she didn't care, just read angrily, and it was she who received the honor student award on stage every year.
From the fourth grade, my father asked Wen Jieruo to translate a set of "World Primary School Readers" from Japanese to Chinese.
Every night under the desk lamp, the two sat face to face, her father read, Wen Jieruo translated, and in the silence, she walked into a colorful world.
A set of ten elementary school books was finally completed four years later, which was Wen Jieruo's earliest translation.
At the age of 13, Wen Jieruo entered the Catholic Sacred Heart School, studying English and French. The tuition fee was paid by the seller, and she sympathized with her father and redoubled her efforts.
During that time, her only pair of shoes was Fourth Sister's old skates, and the skates were removed.
In 1946, Wen Jieruo was admitted to the Department of Foreign Languages of Tsinghua University. At that time, the rich ladies around her, wearing fur coats, watched American movies twice a week, but she was not envious at all. Wearing her father's old leather shoes, she made the library her home and read books with "dead eyes".
"Top in schoolwork" is her pride. She chose several senior classes, there was always not enough time, and on campus, every time she met a couple who whispered, she thought, "I don't have that job." ”
After graduating from university, Wen Jieruo was admitted to Sanlian Bookstore and became a proofreader. At that time, her father had passed away, and she lived with her mother and third sister.
In Sanlian, Wen Jieruo is notoriously serious, and when she handles proofreading, she will specially find the original work and point out the omissions and mistranslations one by one.
His professional ability was recognized, and in 1951, when the People's Literature Publishing House was founded, Wen Jieruo was assigned to work as an assistant editor.
She is passionate about translating, and as for life events, she has never considered it, and none of her peers around her can interest her. It wasn't until two years later that she met Xiao Qian.
Thank the world for giving birth to a snow
In 1953, Wen Jieruo edited a Soviet novel translated into English, and the proofing was changed to the fifth time and still could not be paid, so he came to the door to ask Xiao Qian, who had just been transferred.
Xiao Gan's great name, she has long been familiar with, and she admires this big writer and reporter very much.
To Wen Jie's surprise, Xiao Qian's speech was witty and humorous, and the sentences she had not been able to correct for a long time were immediately vivid as soon as he polished them.
What's even more rare is that he gave her enough patience and encouragement as a little assistant, which made her very moved.
Xiao Qian's knowledge attracted Wen Jieruo, and after that, she often went to consult for advice. As the interaction increased, she realized that he was both a guide and a confidant.
It seems that he has a soul, and Wen Jieruo's concentration on learning is also very appreciated by Xiao Qian. One day, he asked her to go boating in Beihai Park, and after three failed marriages, he desperately wanted a home.
On the day of the date, Xiao Qian also brought his 6-year-old son. Unexpectedly, they were rippling among the lotus bushes when they were bumped into by colleagues from the publishing house.
Behind the scenes, colleagues advised Wen Jieruo one after another: "A person who has been scolded by a literary giant has no future in this society, you are a simple girl, how can you get close to him?" ”
Besides, he was 43 years old, and she was only 26 years old!
Xiao Qian and his wife with their children
In this regard, Xiao Qian told frankly. In an editorial published by Ta Kung Pao, he once attacked the literary atmosphere of "calling the public old", so he was attacked and criticized and not allowed to engage in creation;
As for the unhappy marriage, he did not hide anything: "Dumped people, dumped too." Because of the detours, it will be wiser and more sober. ”
What finally convinced Wen Jieruo was her inner feelings: "This love can only be once in a lifetime, no matter how much risk I encounter in the future and how much suffering I suffer, I will also let it go!" ”
For this, Xiao Qian was very grateful. As a gesture, he specially gave her a delicate onyx brooch, and the back of the lid of the brocade box reads: "Thank the world for giving birth to a snow." ”
Yukiko is the Japanese name of Wen Jieruo. That day, he invited her to see a play, and on stage, the person in the play said: "Our 40-year wish has finally come true." ”
At this time, he squeezed her hand and whispered: "My 40-year wish has finally come true - I have found a home!" ”
In 1954, they married. There was no wedding, no notification to anyone, and on the wedding night, Wen Jieruo was still reading the proofs under the lights.
With Xiao Qian as a mentor, Wen Jieruo made rapid progress, her translation efficiency was very high, and her writing became free, and several famous artists expressed satisfaction with the manuscripts she processed.
Driven by Wen Jieruo, Xiao Qian also changed his laziness and translated classic works such as "Good Soldier Shuaike" in one breath.
While the couple were working hand in hand, a political movement struck. On Xiao Gan's face, there was no longer a smile. He was horrified to hear that many wives were separated.
Wen Jieruo comforted him: "I will never leave you, the children will not turn their backs on you, one day, you will still be their proud father!" ”
She kept cheering him up: "As long as there is a shelter at home, even if it is a shack, as long as you can hide in it at night, you can rest for a while and slow down." ”
During that time, the burden of life fell on Wen Jieruo. Her mother had to support, her sick third sister had to take care of her, and her three children had to be raised, and she desperately took on translation work to earn extra money, and every night, she had to work on the desk in the small kitchen until two o'clock in the morning.
In 1969, the family was sent to Xianning, Hubei Province, and Xiao Gan, who was nearly sixty years old, was used as a strong laborer.
In order to protect him, Wen Jieruo changed his gentleness and shyness and dared to quarrel with the platoon commander. She picked 50 kilograms of mud for him, worked the night shift for him, bought eggs from fellow villagers, transformed canned boxes into kerosene stoves, and opened "small stoves" for him in dilapidated adobe houses.
Years later, recalling the past, Xiao Qian said sincerely: "In my heart, she is a superman. ”
The most vivid love poems
More than a decade of turmoil finally passed, Wen Jieruo raced against time to translate, and through her hands, the works of Japanese writers such as Yasunari Kawabata continued to appear.
Spirited, she also assisted Xiao Qian in completing representative works of hundreds of thousands of words, including "The Traveler Without a Map".
In 1990, Li Jingduan, then president of Yilin Publishing House, came to his door and asked the couple to translate the novel "Ulysses" by Irish writer James Joyce.
The book is notoriously obscure, and the 80-year-old Xiao Qian flatly refused, "It is too self-sufficient to move this mountain."
63-year-old Wen Jieruo is ambitious, over the years, due to the needs of work, she has translated a lot of Japanese novels, amateur translation of English works, none of which are famous books, she wants to gnaw this "hard bone".
In order to persuade Xiao Qian, Wen Jieruo first translated a chapter and gave him a trial. "The manuscript is not bad, it is not troublesome to edit", Xiao Qian readily agreed.
In a letter to his son, he said: "Translating this strange book is the most worthy of a great book in the literary marriage of nearly half a century. "The anticipation and joy are palpable.
Since then, "a pair of old people, two workshops", working fifteen or six hours a day. To avoid interruption, they posted a note on the door of their house: "Sick, still want to work; Please keep the conversation short, please ask for a manuscript. ”
After more than four years, the complete translation of "Ulysses" of one million words was finally completed, and it became a grand event in the literary world as soon as it was published, and Li Jingduan excitedly said: "This is a miracle and a treasure!" ”
"Those four years were the most pleasant days of my life", and "Ulysses" became Xiao Qian and Wen Jieruo's "most vivid love poem dedicated to each other".
In 1999, Xiao Qian died, and in his last letter to Wen Jieruo, he said:
"Jieruo, thank you for finally having a home in 1954 – and a happy and stable home. With you, I often feel very unworthy. You have been so pure, clean, and loyal all your life, and I am a prodigal son. Most of my ten volumes were written with your caress and support, and I cannot fail to thank you for this. ”
Her children were abroad, and they advised Wen Jieruo to stay, and she replied, "Where can I leave?" What happens behind your father can't be done for ten years. ”
Folding the past, she non-stop sorted out Xiao Gan's letters, memoirs, and essay collections in ancient times, and "Leaving with a Smile - Remembering Xiao Qian" and "Yu Mo Wenji" were published one after another.
Living alone in their "Houle Zhai", Wen Jieru guarded a desk and a telephone, writing and translating quietly. Whenever she sat down, on the top of the cupboard, the young Xiao Qian was tilting his head and looking at her with a grin.
Xiao Qian was in England
In her heart, Xiao Qian never left, and when giving away books, she always solemnly stamped the seals of the two people.
Sitting at the old desk, Wen Jie in his old age worked tirelessly, and the calendar on the table, each square, marked the number of words translated that day, without a day of interruption.
In 2020, when she went downstairs to get a newspaper, she accidentally fell, causing a bone fracture in her right wrist, and on the calendar of this day, she wrote with her left hand the reason for her leave: to go to the hospital.
Persuaded by relatives and friends, she accepted reality and had a nanny. This year, at the age of 93, she was translating five manuscripts at the same time.
After recovering from her hand injury, Wen Jieruo devoted herself to translation again, and now, at the age of 95, she is full of energy and energy, and she proudly said: "I will also be like Xiao Qian, writing about the day I can't hold a pen!" ”
Xiao Qian and Wen Jieruo