If you ask readers all over the world, which is the most difficult "book of heaven" to read?
"One Hundred Years of Solitude", "Remembrance of the Lost Water Years" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" are probably on the list. Of course, there is also the famous "Ulysses"
In fact, the reason why "Heavenly Books" become "Heavenly Books" is because reading them requires a lot of background knowledge and reading accumulation. With the assistance of high-quality translations, guides, notes and notes, the difficulty of reading the "Book of Heaven" may be greatly reduced.
In addition to Ulysses (vols. 1 and 2), the third full translation of Ulysses in the Chinese language world launched by Shanghai Translation Publishing House and translated by Mr. Liu Xiangyu for 20 years, it also comes with more than 500 pages of independent translation notes " Translation of the "Untranslatable" Heavenly Book - Translation of Ulysses " " , a total of 1888 pages in 3 books , with a total of 4471 annotations
Excellent translations, detailed annotations, and scholarly translation notes are paired with each other to clear the way for reading Ulysses, and are the first translations for readers to challenge the legendary work that has been hailed as "the first of the 100 best English novels of the twentieth century."
Ulysses (Part 1 and Part 2) + Translation of the Book of the Untranslatable - Translation of Ulysses
To know the quality of a translation, it is natural to look at how well the most difficult parts of the book are translated.
Turning to the Shanghai translation of Ulysses through chapter 14, you will see:
At this point, you can't help but wonder, "What kind of book am I reading?" Is this really a translation? Why are there also small seals, Lishu, and Weibei fonts? Why don't you even read a sentence? ”
There is no doubt that this book is indeed translated from James Joyce's original book. These four passages are syntactical, stylistic, linguistically diverse, and contain multiple parodies and metaphors, making them one of the most difficult to translate and difficult to read in Ulysses.
Why is it translated this way? Don't worry, the translator Mr. Liu Xiangyu gave a very detailed explanation in the translation notes.
First, what does Ulysses say in chapter 14? Liu Xiangyu provides a concise and concise interpretation in the translation notes, and the reader can fully use this interpretation of his as a guide to reading chapter 14:
The chapter is about Bloom coming to the maternity hospital to visit Mrs. Povoy, who is waiting to give birth, and encountering a group of obstetricians (including Dixon, Lynch, Madden, Costello, Croces, Stephen, etc.) there drinking. They are unrestrained, they talk loudly with the power of wine, they laugh and scold, they speak obscenities, they behave rudely, and they are ugly. They slander women, have no sympathy for women who are struggling in labor, and have no reverence for god. Bloom refused to participate deeply, always thinking about the issues of death, suffering, and redemption in life with a calm and sober mind and a compassionate feeling, and expressed great sympathy for the women in the basin. This chapter corresponds to the Odyssey "Sun Cow" chapter: Ulysses sailors did not heed his advice, slaughtered the sun god's sacred cow, desecrated the sun god who symbolized the reproduction and breeding of all things, and caused the gods to condemn them, and all of them were buried in the storm at sea, but Ulysses was saved from suffering because he was asleep. The group of medical students in this chapter who are drinking in the maternity hospital is a blasphemy against the god of reproduction, and Brum's refusal to participate in the drinking and his deep respect for the woman who will be mother, and his deep sympathy for the suffering of the mother, seem to be seen as the embodiment of Ulysses.
Although not without controversy, most Qiao scholars agree that a high degree of attention to style is the greatest feature of this chapter. Joyce has made sufficient efforts in the arrangement of the style of this chapter, using different styles of the past, trying to outline the historical clues of the mixed and diverse development of English from prehistory and Anglo-Saxon times through the Middle Ages, and then from the Elizabethan era to the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and roughly parallel the development of this historical process with the conception and childbirth process of pregnancy and childbirth in October, and the evolution of English language and prose is simulated as the process of the baby's gradual formation, maturity and childbirth in the womb. This ingenious idea makes the reproduction of human reproduction and the formation and development of language corroborate each other in subtle mutual hints, and at the same time makes the style of this chapter take on a colorful and colorful look. Of course, it must also be noted that whether it is the evolution of style or the gradual formation of the fetus, these two processes are not absolute stages and clear boundaries of the development process, often showing a complex entanglement state of you have me and me, and Joe's simulation also often presents this kind of chaotic situation, but the general clue is there. Therefore, how to present this general historical clue in the language conversion and reflect the change of this style should obviously be a question that Chinese translators should not avoid, and although the conversion of content is extremely important, this formal factor of stylistic evolution should not be ignored.
After reading this passage, do you have a general understanding of the content of chapter 14?
This chapter integrates multiple languages and styles, especially "from prehistoric, Anglo-Saxon ancient English through the Middle Ages, and then from the Elizabethan era to the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, the mixed and diverse development of English styles", which corresponds to the process of human embryonic development involved in the content of this chapter, which must be clearly reflected in translation.
So, how does Liu Xiangyu embody this stylistic evolution? And look --
The first three paragraphs (from "Right out to Hellis" to "Wow!) "), Joyce's original text is:
Deshil Holles Eamus. Deshil Holles Eamus. Deshil Holles Eamus.
Send us bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit. Send us, bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit. Send us bright one, light one, Horhorn, quickening and wombfruit.
Hoopsa, boyaboy, hoopsa! Hoopsa, boyaboy, hoopsa! Hoopsa, boyaboy hoopsa!
Liu Xiangyu analyzed the characteristics of these three passages in his notes:
These three short passages parody the ancient Roman Prayer of the Brotherhood of Avar for the goddess of fertility to grant a good year. Both in terms of content and style, it is a general outline of this chapter. The prayer of the Brotherhood of Avar was formed in the 3rd century AD and is a form of hymn. Here are three shouts per small paragraph.
In the first paragraph, deshil is an Old Irish word meaning "turn right" and "turn toward the sun"; eamus is a Latin word meaning "let's go"; Holles is the English street name and is home to the maternity home. The character is very close to Helios in both glyph and pronunciation, helios is the sun god in Greek mythology, and the Chinese translation is generally "Helios". This sentence shows the mixture of forms that preceded the birth of Anglo-Saxon English. The humble translation corresponds to the Bu cipher of the ancient Chinese period, and simulates the mixture of ancient Irish and old Latin with small seals and Lishu fonts.
The second subparagraph simulates the cry of prayer to the sun god, where Horhorn refers to Dr. Andrew Herne, the director of the maternity ward, corresponding to the sun god. Considering the relationship between the street and the dean's name and the sun god, the humble translator translates Holles as "Helis" and Horhorn as "Herne". The second paragraph is in general old English and middle English, and the humble translation is in the general ancient style.
The third short passage, in the modern colloquial form, writes about the cheers of nurses announcing the gender of Mrs. Povoy's child after its birth. Humble translation is in the modern spoken Chinese style. These three passages are the introduction or outline of this chapter, as if the prototype of an English stylistic evolution will unfold below.
Three short passages, covering ancient Roman hymns, old Irish, old Latin, old English, middle English, modern spoken English, english and Greek harmonics, and so on.
It is not easy to identify these knowledge points, and the translator must have a good understanding of the history of Western literature and the evolution of language; and in order to find the corresponding Chinese style, the translator must also have a solid foundation in ancient chinese, otherwise it is impossible to choose the appropriate Chinese style, let alone use it freely in translation.
Thus, there is a one-to-one correspondence between the ancient Chinese and modern spoken chinese and the original text in the translation, while the ancient Irish, old Latin, and old English are distinguished by font.
This translation is exquisite.
The original text of the fourth paragraph reads:
Universally that person's acumen is esteemed very little perceptive concerning whatsoever matters are being held as most profitably by mortals with sapience endowed to be studied who is ignorant of that which the most in doctrine erudite and certainly by reason of that in them high mind's ornament deserving of veneration constantly maintain when by general consent they affirm that other circumstances being equal by no exterior splendour is the prosperity of a nation more efficaciously asserted than by the measure of how far forward may have progressed the tribute of its solicitude for that proliferent continuance which of evils the original if it be absent when fortunately present constitutes the certain sign of omnipollent nature's incorrupted benefaction. For who is there who anything of some significance has apprehended but is concious that that exterior splendour may be the surface of a downwardtending lutelent reality or on the contrary anyone so is there inilluminated as not to perceive that as no nature's boon can contend against the bounty of increase so it be behoves every most just citizen to become the exhortator and admonisher of his semblables and to tremble lest what had in the past been by the nation excellently commenced might be in the future not with similar excellence accomplished if an inverecund habit shall have gradually traduced the honourable by ancestors transmitted customs to that thither of profoundity that that one was audacious excessively who would have the hardihood to rise affirming that no more odious offence can for anyone be than to oblivious neglect to consign that evangel simultaneously command and promise which on all mortals with prophecy of abundance or with diminution's menace that exalted of reiteratedly procreating function ever irrevocably enjoined?
This long passage is unpunctuated, and the sentence pattern is disordered and sticky. Liu Xiangyu's translation tries to fit the style of Joyce's original text, which is also the reason why this passage of the passage is not read in sentences:
The general principle is that the acumen of mortals is not valued, because of the common view of material gain and the talent and wisdom can be judged, and the mortal is not knowledgeable, so the knowledgeable is revered and everyone knows that the prosperity and decline of a country are the same, but not in its external glory but in its reproduction and reproduction. The husband who knows the appearance of things and does not know the outward light Huashi the sign of inner decay There are people who do not know that the gifts of heaven are not as good as the gifts of man's pregnancy and creation, and those who are not as rich as reproduction, are not people, so the righteous people and gentlemen must be taught to the people of Li Min, but the virtues of the predecessors who fear the country's Pi Pi Ji lost in the evil habits are not passed on to the future, but the servants who rise up and whisper to the gods who listen to the will of God are not forgiven, and the work of the reproduction and reproduction of the gods will believe that the people of the people will be revered and cannot be changed, and there is a danger of decay.
The so-called "difficult to understand" is actually deliberately translated by Mr. Liu Xiangyu. Look at Mr. Liu Xiangyu's interpretation:
Joyce's original intention was to parody the Latin translation of the Roman historians Salust and Tacitus. However, it was later felt that the style of these two Roman writers was known for its simplicity, which was not very suitable for simulating the chaotic state of the egg conception and the embryonic period, nor was it in line with the form of Latin, Irish and other languages mixed with Latin in the Latinized sentence pattern before the modern English began to evolve, so many changes were made in the revision of the sample. In this way, the two sentences in the final draft of this text become a certain degree of indifference, neither the typical early Latin style, nor the good English translation style, not only the sentence is long, the middle is not broken, and the sentence pattern is disordered, which is difficult to parse clearly, especially the first sentence (Universally ... Benefaction.), the semantics and structure are quite confusing, so the famous Joe scholar Stuart Gilbert said it was a "appalling sentence". So, how is this text translated? According to the general idea, the conversion of long periods into very clear and concise Chinese is obviously not in line with Joyce's original intention. It is believed that at least the following two factors should be considered here: from the perspective of historical clues, it is necessary to use the early writing and language style in the history of the Chinese language as much as possible; from the perspective of content and form, it cannot be translated into a clear style. Based on this, the humble translation refers to the early writing style in the history of the Chinese language, mixes the discussion style of Xun Xun and Han Zhuzi, basically retains the original two long sentences and the original structure, does not point out, tries not to adjust the word order, and does not make the semantics very clear: only gives the general idea, emphasizing the importance of "reproductive reproduction" and "procreating function" mentioned in it.
It is only necessary to compare the main text with Mr. Liu Xiangyu's notes, and the doubts arising from reading will be eliminated.
All in all, in order to translate this "untranslatable" heavenly book, Mr. Liu Xiangyu immersed himself in the study of "Qiao Xue" for many years, was familiar with Joyce's buried "stem" in "Ulysses", and also played his solid Chinese skills, and found a suitable and evocative translation method for Joyce's "Heavenly Book" general writing. The number of translations of this paragraph is far less than Joyce's original text, which also fully reflects the concise beauty of Chinese.
The comparison of the original text, translation, and notes of the four paragraphs quoted above reflects the painstaking efforts spent by Mr. Liu Xiangyu in translating this book.
In order to facilitate the reader's reading of Ulysses, in addition to working translation, Mr. Liu Xiangyu also spent a lot of energy writing annotations. The book is 1888 pages long, and there are as many as 4471 notes! These notes either explain the source or supplement background knowledge to do their best to clear the reading barrier for the reader.
The short 346 words (Chinese translation) at the beginning of chapter 14 are among the most difficult and difficult passages in the book to translate and read. Mr. Liu Xiangyu wrote a nearly 4,000-word note for him, and made a more detailed explanation and interpretation of a lot of background knowledge that could not be explained clearly in the notes. After reading the notes, the originally incomprehensible writing, style, words, and allusions have become easier to understand.
The notes written by Mr. Liu Xiangyu in translating the entire book of "Ulysses" are collected into more than 500 pages of "Translation of the Book of heaven that cannot be translated" - the translation of "Ulysses", which is a separate volume and is accompanied by "Ulysses". It not only reduces the difficulty of reading Ulysses, but also greatly increases the pleasure of reading:
In more than twenty years of intermittent translation and revision, I have taken a lot of notes. The notes, which were originally mixed in form, including reflections on linguistic points in the translation and excerpts of some literature, were later collated to include entries on translation in chapters and to include some of the issues that could be discussed in the two existing translations. ...... I compiled more than 300 of these notes into a book in chapters and titled them "Translation of the Book of the "Untranslatable"—A Translation of Ulysses", which was launched together with the humble translation. Each chapter of the book is arranged one by one according to the points that can be discussed, and the original text is listed first under each article, followed by the two translations of Xiao Qian, Wen Jieruo, and Jin Sui, and the text of the discussion is listed again, and finally the humble translation is listed. The reason why I have arranged it in this contrasting way is to discuss the gains and losses in the translation of this book and how to translate it better through comparative analysis. The discussion is only aimed at the problem, and the writing is written in a debatable manner, striving to be objective and fair, never exaggerating, and not using that domineering and unwarranted offensive tone.
That is to say, the "Ulysses" launched this time actually contains three books: "Ulysses" (first and second volumes) and "Translation of the Book of Heaven "Untranslatable"--Translation of "Ulysses"),which are included in exquisite envelopes, which not only protects the books well, but also facilitates collection.
Challenge yourself to read the preferred translation of Ulysses, and don't you consider starting one?
Ulysses
Ulysses
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[Ireland] by James Joyce
Translated by Liu Xiangyu
Shanghai Translation Publishing House
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