【Past】
Author: Zhang Ling (daughter of Zhang Guruo, born in 1936, editor and reviewer of the Institute of Foreign Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, died of illness on November 1, 2022)
Budding father
The first father concealed Zhang Enyu, and the words were ruo. After the implementation of simplified characters in the 50s of the 20th century, "穀" was replaced by "valley", and Mr. Zhang Ruogu, a literati of the same era and who had a disagreement with Mr. Lu Xun, only had a word order difference between the name and my father's name, which is often misread and misinterpreted to this day.
Zhang Guruo (1903-1994), formerly known as Enyu, was a native of Yantai, Shandong. Translator, expert in English literature. He graduated from the Department of Western Languages of Peking University in 1930. He was a professor at Peking University and Fu Jen University, and a distinguished professor at the School of International Relations. He has translated Hardy's novels "Tess of the D'Urbers", "Homecoming" and "Jude the Nameless", Dickens' novel "David Copperfield", the prose "Travels in the Beauty", Shakespeare's long poem "Venus and Adune", Henry Fielding's novel "The History of Tom Jones the Outcast", and George Bernard Shaw's play "Home of Sad Hearts" and so on. Profile picture
His father was born in 1903 on Zhifu Island, near the Bohai and Yellow Seas on the Jiaodong Peninsula, and was the son of the sun and moon of the seamounts. He was under the age of seven, and before he finished reading Mencius, he was transferred to Fushan County Higher Primary School, laying a foundation for writing ancient texts. At the age of 13, he went north and was admitted to the famous Affiliated High School of Beijing Normal University. Probably mainly due to the fact that during adolescence, the teenager's mental uncertainty, emotional and intellectual development was unbalanced, coupled with the political affairs at that time, and his studies could not be satisfied, he had a sense of uncertain future and tasteless life, and resolutely abandoned school and returned to his hometown the following year, wanting to follow the example of Wei Jinshizi to live a Tao Yuanming-style farming and reading and secluded life. Obviously, this is not a realistic long-term way out for fathers. For the next three years, his father taught at Hongo Elementary School, which was the beginning of his teaching career. It was also during this period that my father married Miss Chen Wen, the second daughter of the Chen family, a squire from the same village, that is, my mother. It can only be said that it is because of the fate of the underworld, and their old-style marriage at the behest of their parents sinks into two relationships in one day, and even stays together for life. This is also the main motivation for the father who was still weak to go north again to study and then establish his own small family.
One year after marriage, his father, who was under the age of 17, was admitted to the prestigious Tianjin Nankai Middle School, where he laid a solid foundation in English, and later entered the Spanish Language Department of Peking University for further study.
In his fourth year of university, my father listened to the famous British literary critic Richards lecture on literary criticism and fiction, which was very beneficial. At that time, he became interested in the works of the English novelist and poet Hardy, and began translating Hardy's Return to the Homeland in 1929 while he was in school.
In 1930, his father graduated from university and first taught at the Affiliated High School of Normal University. The mother was taken to Beijing. They rented two rooms in a small courtyard and started a "northern drift" life. My father successively taught at the Women's High School of Beijing Normal University, China University, Normal University, and Fu Jen University, and gradually promoted to professor, cultivating a group of excellent English translators and teaching talents.
In the early 30s of the 20th century, my father finished translating "Return to the Hometown" and sold the manuscript to Beixin Bookstore, and there was no news for two or three years. At that time, the Compilation Committee under the China Education and Culture Foundation was planning to translate and publish world-class literary masterpieces, chaired by Mr. Hu Shi. My father was told by a friend that they were looking for a suitable person to translate Hardy's novel, that is, to redeem the translation of "Homecoming" from Beixin Bookstore, but half of it had been lost. He immediately completed the translation and submitted it to the compilation committee, which was gladly accepted. When Hu Shi met his father in person, he asked, "You are the classmate who was the first in the Nankai School essay competition, right?" ”
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It turned out that my father participated in the school-wide Chinese language competition in the second year of Nankai High School and won the first place in high school. The judge who presided over the competition at the time was this Mr. Hu Shih, who remembered it years later. After agreeing with his father on the translation of "Return to the Hometown", Mr. Hu Shi immediately asked his father to continue to translate Hardy's other and most important novel, "Tess of the Deber Family". These two books were published by the Shanghai Commercial Press in 1935 and 1936, and they were quite a blockbuster, winning a small reputation in society. Since I was also born in 1936, I once joked that I was Tess's sister—not the bitter heroine of the book, but the translation of the same name. In the preface to the first edition of Tess, my father clearly proposed that "we should use authentic Chinese to translate the original authentic English." From then until 1949, more than a decade of national disasters and changes in the situation made it impossible for my father's translation practice to continue.
Teaching and translation in his father's prime
When the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out and Peiping fell, my father was fortunate enough to receive a chair at Fu Jen University, where he taught in the Spanish language department for 14 years from 1939 to 1952. This was a school founded by the Catholic Church, and the Japanese invaders did not dare to interfere too much. After the adjustment of departments in the early 50s of the 20th century, my father's discipline was merged into the Department of Western Languages of Peking University, and his main course was to teach senior translation and composition. In the mid-50s, with economic development and social stability, my father was in his prime, and as a useful talent for the country, he was able to concentrate on teaching and amateur translation.
At that time, my parents had purchased a small courtyard house in Beijing. After arriving at Peking University, the school was also allocated a residence, but it was convenient for her frail mother to seek medical treatment in the city and did not move. When the school took care of his father, he had an evening meeting, and it was difficult to travel back and forth, so he was assigned another single dormitory in Kensai on the north shore of the unnamed lake. During the old Yanjing period, there were seven fasting buildings scattered with this fast, which were originally dormitories for boys. One of my father's rooms, the window facing the lake, the exterior is evergreen. This dormitory, which is only 20 square meters, is sometimes used temporarily as a place for small meetings between my father, colleagues and classmates.
Not far from Jianzhai, there is also a professor's canteen, which serves both Chinese and Western food, and for a period of time, there is also a Western restaurant. At that time, the canteens for teachers and students everywhere on campus were well organized, and the food was fragrant and smelly. At the same time, nearby Yanyuan East and Ximen Street and other places, there are also private restaurants and small restaurants that have been opened over the years, and it is very convenient for teachers and students to "improve their lives" outside the school, have meals or drink alone.
Profile photo of Zhang Ling (left) and her father Zhang Guruo and mother Chen Wen
His father taught English at Beijing Normal University's Daughter's High School; Twenty years later, I enrolled in the school and unknowingly became an alumnus of my father. And my father entered Peking University from Furen for just two years, and I also graduated from the Affiliated High School of Normal University and was admitted to the Chinese Department of Peking University, and once again became an alumnus with my father, but in a different department. During my four years in school, Kensai No. 110, where my father lived, also became my "other job". When my father was away, the key was left on the door frame, leaving me free to come and go. In winter, when the lake freezes, I can take advantage of the study hall here, change into skates, open the wide and low window sash, jump out, and run to the lake to speed skate a few laps. When the library or my own dormitory was overcrowded, even when my father was there, I would huddle up there, occupy the other end of his large desk, and sit quietly to correct student work.
During this period, my father was seconded to the Central Investigation Department Cadre School (the predecessor of the School of International Relations) as a distinguished professor. In order to help the school to be built, my father not only taught diligently, but also did his best to make suggestions on the school's foreign language facilities, teaching system, and arrangement. In terms of school, in order to ensure that experts like my father can make the most of them, they also provide many conveniences in work and life. Every school day, the car of the "cadre school" stopped at the entrance of my small alley, and my father immediately boarded the car and left. My father traveled countless times in a car for years, but he didn't care where the school was. After the students graduate, they are assigned to their respective positions, and teachers and students break up from each side and do not interact with each other. What my father remembers most is the library department that he built from scratch for the school during his tenure. Long after returning to Peking University, my father praised us: "Every time a new book is sent from abroad, it is really enjoyable to circle the selection, and people allocate a lot of money to the library to buy books!" That tone is really no less than returning from a feast to praise a certain delicacy that leaves a delicious taste on the cheeks.
After successfully completing the task of helping the "cadre school" start-up, my father returned to Peking University, while Uncle Feng Zhi served as the head of the Spanish language department. He is two years younger than his father, and during his time learning German at Peking University, they have no experience due to different language majors, but they are both outstanding students and naturally know each other. He and his father reunited in the Western language family of Peking University and admired each other. On behalf of the department and the university, Uncle Feng assigned his father another important task, namely to teach Chinese literature in English at Cairo University.
This should have been enviable information. However, his father only answered one "no" to Mr. Feng Zhi, his direct leader at the time and a former classmate.
Such words and deeds once confused the teachers and students around them. In fact, this is exactly what my father, who has reached the age of "knowing the destiny of heaven", insists on doing something - striving to serve this rejuvenated country; But there are also some inactions - when appropriate, we must also consider self-adaptation and mental nature. Although Uncle Feng Zhi, as the main leader of the department, also regretted this incident, he still respected his father's wishes because he knew and respected him.
In the fifties and sixties of the last century, the research and translation of foreign literature in New China flourished, and Uncle Feng Zhibo cooperated and coordinated with leaders of other relevant departments (including relevant party and government leading institutions and key publishing houses in some countries) to gather translation talents. Based on his deep understanding of his father's intellectual roots, Uncle Feng Zhi assigned his father a task that was more suitable for him. It was this kind of luck that my father completed a series of proofreadings of his old translations during this period, and also published translations such as George Bernard Shaw's "Home of Sad Hearts", Dickens's "Travels in the Beauty", Hardy's "Jude the Nameless" and Shakespeare's "Venus and Adunee". I say my father was lucky because in the middle of his teaching career, he met someone who met a translator.
Zhang Ling's "Cloth Father's Wind and Snowflake Moon" profile picture
Since the seventies and eighties of the twentieth century, the translation industry has risen again with the revival of society and culture, in addition to the revision and republication of the above translations, my father also translated and published Dickens's novel "David Copperfield", as well as several selected English literary works, some Tang poems English translation, etc. Most of this is the result of his abandonment of utilitarian purposes in the previous ten years, getting rid of the situation, and closing the door alone, facing the original text, making friends with the author, and putting pen and paper into writing when he was in a difficult situation in society and family environment. As a translator, his initiative was limited, but within this limited scope, his father's mission as a translator gradually became apparent.
Father's last big book
"The History of Tom Jones the Outcast", a major work of British 18th-century novels, was once praised by senior scholars in mainland academic circles as "Britain's "Dream of the Red Chamber". As early as the 60s of the 20th century, it was included in the vision of the People's Literature Publishing House. At that time, the young editors of the agency, Shi Xianrong and Wang Zhongying, had made special visits one after another. They told my father that, according to the instructions of the relevant leaders, the editorial board composed of relevant experts and scholars from the Humanities Society, the Shanghai Translation Publishing House, and the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) was planning a set of "Famous Books on Foreign Literature," in which Henry Fielding, known as the "father of the English novel," wrote a masterpiece of fiction "The History of Tom Jones the Outcast." At this time, the Humanities Society happened to receive a translation from a university professor in the southwest. After careful review, everyone believes that the translator's labor for such a difficult text and heavy connotation should be cherished, and the company's own personnel are specially requested to edit and process the entire text, but there is still a considerable amount of space that must be retranslated and supplemented. After research by the editorial board, the special father took on this task. The father, who had always been restrained and indisputable, immediately agreed. This is because he has always loved translation over teaching, and is especially happy to deal with difficult masterpieces. Mr. Shi also said a special thing to his father: "Everyone thinks that only you can convey Fielding's 18th-century English and his style!" ”
The supplementary translation of "The History of Tom Jones the Outcast" only began after the reform and opening up, and the focus is first on the first chapter of each of the 18 large volumes, which is about 60,000 words according to the Chinese translation. My father completed this part of the translation smoothly and quickly, and when Mr. Ji Xianlin presided over the "Foreign Literature" request, he entrusted our general friend Mr. Ma Shiyi to submit this part of the translation to the editorial department of the journal, which was serialized in the second and third issues of the journal, and the response was good. At the same time, my father's manuscripts of these translations were also delivered to the Humanities Society. After some time, Sun Shengwu, Jiang Lu, Ren Jisheng, and many other editors of the Humanities Society came to visit again, and after praising the supplementary translation, they earnestly said that the publishing house encountered some kind of problem in the process of consolidating the manuscripts of the three translators and editing them specifically, and specially asked for my father's opinion. In the end, after the agreement of my father and the visitor (during which I also interjected to express my humble opinion), my father simply translated a complete book and published it in the "Foreign Literature Masterpieces Series".
After his mother died of illness, his father was living his life towards death, but the flame of his translator's life was still burning strongly. From 1983 to 1987, roughly equivalent to 5 years between the ages of 80 and 85, about 1,800 consecutive mornings on the desk, and adding footnotes to the original work, he finally smiled and said with a long breath: "Tom Jones' translation has been completed, I will never translate again!" ”
About two years later, at a meeting in the south, I met Mr. Qin Shunxin, the new director of the Foreign Languages Department of the Humanities Society, who took a break from the meeting and told me in a seemingly casual and solemn manner that when their society was arranging to deal with the publication of my father's translation, it encountered some unforeseen situation, and after discussing with the Shanghai Translation Agency, the collaborator of the series, the Shanghai side was very happy to accept the publication of this book, and now through me to seek my father's opinion.
My father worked as a translator all his life, first of all out of interest. He has enjoyed the process of more than 1,800 days of bitter intersection, and the delivery task is that everything is fine, and it is not so important to him which publishing house handles it. At this time, he had sealed his pen and enjoyed reading, admiring paintings, and listening to himself, quietly waiting to meet his last big book.
In the spring of 1994, my father on the sick bed finally received a sample book of "The History of Tom Jones the Outcast" from Shanghai, only one. As was the norm at the time, publishers would usually give translators 20 new books. This book is a sample book made by factory binding, and there are very few of them, mainly for the relevant departments to review. Chinese New Year's Eve that year, my father suddenly suffered a stroke and had been ill for several months. Caring for the humanities of the old translator, the leaders and editors of the Shanghai and Translation Agencies paid close attention to his illness, so the urgency to send this special sample book really reflects their delicate and considerate, and at the same time, people sincerely admire the luck of their late father!
I still remember that at that time, my father half-leaned on the bedside, with his right hand that could still move and his left hand that barely cooperated, he struggled to hold this book, which was bigger and thicker than the Modern Chinese Dictionary, and spit out these words with a smile: "In this life, I have not lived in vain!" ”
In the sweltering summer of 1994, on August 18, my father left forever. His life story stops.
Emphasis on the real and light on the name, do not admire vanity
After saying goodbye to my father, although I also wrote a little nostalgic article, I originally had no idea of writing a long biography for him. Before I became a teacher myself, I watched my father go to school with his wallet every day, and I never knew the difficulties of teaching; Before I taught English and worked as a translator, I watched my father write on my desk every day, and I never knew how deep my father's knowledge was. After the 80s of the 20th century, I was in my prime, and I entered the industry of foreign literature by mistake. It was only then that I could touch my father's intellectual and cultural gold, like a doctor giving a patient a pulse.
My father has been reading poetry since childhood, and has been immersed and edified by traditional culture in a subset of history, and has always been closer to Laozhuang's concept and temperament of detachment and freedom, and is naturally rebellious against Confucian Taoism and red tape, which coincides with the hometown island advocating Taoism and pan-divine habits. His father was a man of great importance and light names, who did not admire vanity, he usually wore a robe and coat, refused suits, was neither pretentious, and was grandstanding with mavericks; Nor is it self-proclaimed patriotism. The reason is simply that "Chinese clothing is comfortable and casual". On occasions when necessary, he also occasionally wears suits. The same is true of clothing, but also of food. He is known as a gourmet and also knows Western food, and when his mother took us out to eat, he often deliberately taught us to order Western food and use knives and forks, which benefited me when I visited Europe and the United States in the future. My father never went abroad, but whether he came early or late, in his dealings with foreigners, the distinction between superiority and disadvantage was based on the actual quality. Being calm and objective and distinguishing between right and wrong is the best way to gain the respect of others - this is exactly the self-agreement of my father when he began to engage with foreign countries in the twenties and thirties of the last century.
I always knew in my heart that although my father was not a high-ranking Confucian and a great authority, as a reader, he had a lifelong thirst for knowledge, abided by morality, and studied in a down-to-earth manner, made contributions to his own academic field, and solved some difficult problems for others. When you think about it, this is also a way of living, a way of life that is self-interested and self-interested, and does not harm others, so it is also worth paying attention to.
Another important objective reason is that in recent years, I often feel as if I am living in an exciting "historical fever", and my reading scope sometimes naturally extends in these directions. I think of intellectuals of my father's type, who are just commoners, do not attach much importance to vain fame and personal knowledge, and are relatively simple out of infatuation and perseverance in professionalism and learning, quietly completing their mission one life and step by step, picking the fruits of academia, and finally achieving satiety in life. They are also some respectable and amiable elites of the country!
Over the years, I have had such a superficial understanding, coupled with my own old age, and my nostalgia and family are getting deeper and deeper. In my spare time, my father and his former classmates and friends, especially some of them who were talented or had unique personality proclivities, would often float vividly in front of my eyes. At this time, I couldn't help but feel a sense of urgency in my heart, and I wanted to record these vivid impressions, for fear that they would be forgotten by future generations. In the past three or five years, it is in such a mood and thoughts that I have often been disturbed. Eventually, I turned on my computer and was bent on copying what was in my head as it was.
It's like living a lifetime again
To date, I have written a total of four biographies. The book about my father is the fourth, the largest one, and the one I value the most. Because the Dickens or Hardy who wrote in the past, the proprietors are all great writers, all admired by thousands of people, admired by high mountains, and there are many original English texts that have long been finalized, which can be cited and referenced when I write. From deciding on a topic to writing a pen and paper, I was much more free than writing this book.
And my father is my living relative, and in my childhood, adolescence, and my father's old age, I spent time with him day and night, and heard and witnessed many ordinary trivialities. When he was naïve and arrogant in his early years, he often even said to his father: "What is so great about you? "Writing this biography, I still feel as if it is a sneaky act behind my father's back. If this had been when he was alive, and I had revealed a little wind to him, he would have immediately turned his head and pouted softly and said, "Go ahead, fool around!" "-That's what he looks like, really!
In the process of writing this book, I often talked to my father in secret. I asked him about all kinds of questions in his life and on the road to learning, and expressed my thoughts and feelings to him. The questions I asked were extremely bold and straightforward, because I knew very well that he was no longer there, and could no longer stop me and reprimand me.
Another important reason why this book means to me differently than previous ones is that "he" made me suffer a lot in the process of writing. With repeated attacks of rheumatism and dermatitis in old age, these swollen and itchy hands always seem to be driven by magic to move on pen and paper and computers. This is indeed a bit like Mr. Lu Xun said when he began to write novels: "It is as if there are ghosts in the mind." ”
Probably since 2019, I turned on the computer and started typing, and completed the first draft in more than a year. To be honest, I couldn't sleep well in the constant pain of illness, and I couldn't maintain the writing habit of my old days, but I persevered, as if I didn't finish writing "him".
Not long ago, this book "The Wind and Snowflake Moon of Daddy in Cloth" was published by Wenjin Publishing House of Beijing Publishing Group. This topic is not "Wind and Snow Moon", but "Wind and Snow Moon". Because in the life of struggle, there are still more winds and snows than the flower moon. My father was very lucky in his life, and even many people envied him, but I think he still had more wind and snow.
For more than 60 years after graduating from university, I have taught, edited, translated, and written books, and the books I have published so far, if not translated or selected, or collaborated with others, are miscellaneous and miscellaneous. These are all the efforts that I have contributed to society in addition to my work. This is not a big deal, but I will say that writing has always been something that I deeply enjoy, and I am willing to do it.
Dickens treated each of his works as his own children, and he had his favorite children. I don't have children of my own, and I can't deeply appreciate the true weight of his comparison of children with his own works, but I still treat this biography as my own child and compare "him" with other works of my own. And now, I want to declare out loud: this biography is my favorite. The main reason is that "he" accompanied me to reunite with my father and mother and other family and friends when I was pregnant in my mind and body: "he" made me taste the bitterness and bitterness of the past again - which is equivalent to making me live again for a lifetime! Just imagine how difficult life is in life! You say, am I taking advantage of this, is it too cost-effective?
Guangming Daily( November 7, 2022, 11th Edition)
Source: Guangming Net-Guangming Daily