A translator who does not know foreign languages - Lin Shu

Lin Shu (林纾), courtesy name Qinnan, was born on September 27 of the second year of The Reign of Qing Xianfeng (November 8, 1852 AD), a native of Minhou, Fujian. Young people learn to paint and have held solo exhibitions. However, the most brilliant thing in Lin Shu's life was that he picked up a pen and introduced foreign novels to the Chinese people in Chinese language.

In the spring of 1897, Lin Shu moved to Fuzhou City, and on the 10th day after living in a new house, His wife Liu Qiongzi, who had been dependent on him for 27 Spring and Autumn, died and died, and he was overwhelmed with grief. One day, a friend invited Lin Shu to Majiang to relax, and during the conversation, several friends who returned from studying in France talked about the literary works of the father and son of Dumas in France, among which Wang Shouchang told the story of the "La Traviata" and did not want to touch Lin Shu's heart. At the repeated instigation of his friends, Lin Shu, who did not know Spanish and had never written a novel, was ordered to "translate" the book.

At that time, the scene was: Wang Shouchang held the original French text of "La Traviata" in his hand, browsing it while calmly dictating. Lin Shu'er's hand disease, Wensi agility, Wang Shouchang just finished reading a sentence. He had already written a sentence, his ears were chased, and his voice had stopped. When others saw him so quickly, they cheered in their hearts, but they did not dare to make a sound, and the surprise was indescribable.

As a result, Lin Shu's Camellia girl Mark Gnair is presented in the form of ancient texts:

Mark's long jade body, the royal long skirt, xian xianran depicted can not be shawn, although he wants to be ugly, he does not know it. Trim your eyebrows, your face is still facing the sun, your hair is as black as lacquer covering your forehead, and your back is coiled on the neck, and you are knotted into a huge bun. Two diamonds on the ears, bright and dazzling...

In this way, "The Testament of the Lady of the Traviata in Paris" was translated, and a book that awakened the minds of the Chinese people was finally printed in 1899. Because of Lin Shu's clever writing and moving plot, "for a while the paper is expensive in Luoyang, and it is popular in the sea". At that time, the Shanghai "Suyin Book House" once wanted to give Lin Shu a huge amount of money as a reward for the translation, but was politely refused. Lin Shu sent the original version of his engraving to Shanghai, saying that he would not pay the honorarium. The Changyan Newspaper Library still sent money according to the original engraving price payable. After Lin Shu received it, he immediately donated this money to Fuzhou Sericulture Public School, which can also be regarded as a "celebrity" move.

In 1901, at the age of 50, Lin moved to Beijing. The success of the book "The Testament of the Traviata in Paris" led him to devote himself with great enthusiasm to the translation of foreign novels. He has collaborated with many interpreters (mainly Wei Yi, Chen Jialin, etc.) and translated a large number of foreign novels, among which "The Tale of the Black Slave Calling Heaven", "The Biography of the Patriotic Second Child", "Aesop's Fables", "The Legend of Esslan Lovers", "The Revenge of yingxiaozi Volcano", "The Legend of the Ghost Mountain Wolf Man" and so on are more influential. Lin Shu's translation of more than 170 foreign novels alone has been published, which is rare in modern Chinese translation circles. Some argue that "his exploits in the New Culture Movement were like Columbus's discovery of the New World."

But ironically, Lin Shu's attack on the May Fourth Literary Revolutionary Movement eventually led him to bear the insult of "local celebrities" who defended feudal culture. At the beginning of 1917, the New Youth successively published Hu Shi's "Discussion on Literary Reform" and Chen Duxiu's "Treatise on Literary Revolution", advocating vernacular and new literature, and opposing the literary and old literature that contained the feudal way. At that time, many people who adhered to the old literary concepts and old moral concepts pretended to be deaf and dumb, and held a dismissive attitude. Only Lin Shu, a man with too fierce temperament, thought of it in his heart and said it, stepped forward and made an article entitled "On the Undeserved Abolition of Ancient Texts" to refute it.

Lu Xun summed up the situation in this period as follows: "They were running 'New Youth', but at that time, no one seemed to approve of it, and no one came to oppose it, and I think they were probably lonely..." In this way, the two young people, Qian Xuantong and Liu Bannong, who could not bear loneliness, finally performed a "double drama" under the title of "The Repercussions of Literary Revolution." Qian Xuantong first made a contemptuous comment about the vernacular, and promoted Lin Shu as the leader of the opposition. At the same time, Liu Bannong issued a press as a reporter for "New Youth" and refuted the other party with great pleasure. In order to knock his opponent to the ground, he ridiculed Lin Shu's ancient text as incomprehensible and dismissed it as "Tongcheng Fallacy"; he picked out many faults in Lin's translated novels and ridiculed them.

Lin relieved the liver fire. From February 17 to 18, 1919, The New Declaration in Shanghai published Lin Shu's Jingsheng. He imagined a "great husband", who was exquisite in martial arts and strong in pulling up mountains and mountains, and swept away the three young people who advocated vernacular literature. The three who were subdued by the "Great Husband" were alluding to Chen Duxiu, Hu Shi and Qian Xuantong.

A stone stirs up a thousand layers of waves. For a time, Li Dazhao signed Shou Chang and published "The Fierce Battle of Old and New Ideas" in the Morning Post, Cai Yuanpei wrote "Answering Lin Qin Nanjun", Chen Duxiu published "Lin Shu's Phonograph" and "Lady Shu Xue"; Lu Xun published "The Present Massacrer" and "How Do We Become Fathers Now", which refuted Lin Shu's views from different aspects.

No, Lin Shu, who had introduced Western literature to China, became the target of the new literary movement.