Source of this article: "The Transmutation of Love: The Translation and Rewriting of La Traviata" in China in the Late Qing Dynasty and the Early Republic of China" Transferred from: Jinan University Press
Alexandre Dumas, Jr.(小仲马)
1824.7.27 — 1895.11.27
La Traviata is one of the most influential works of art translation on modern Chinese literature and culture. The first most influential translated novel in the late Qing Dynasty, the earliest attempt by the Chinese in European-style drama performances, and the first Western opera sung by the Chinese themselves are all "La Traviata". This work not only engraves the footprints of the Chinese in the fields of novels, dramas, operas and even films, but more importantly, it promotes the acceptance and enlightenment of the Chinese in the early 20th century to the modern emotional concept marked by "romantic love" in the West, and opens and leads the modern transformation of China's romance tradition.
La Dame aux Camélias is a novel published in 1848 by French writer Alexandre Dumas (fils) about the romantic love story between Marguerite, a Parisian courtesan, and the young Armand.
The main content of the novel is that the bourgeois young man Armand falls in love with the famous Parisian prostitute Marguerite, but their love is thwarted by Armand's father. Armand's father persuaded Marguerite to give up the relationship for the sake of Armand's future and Armand's sister's engagement for the sake of her status. Marguerite accepted his request and created the illusion of a change of heart, causing Armand to leave her with a grudge. Margaret chose self-sacrifice, but at the same time, she experienced inner torment and died of depression. Armand later discovers the truth, but everything is irretrievable.
This "myth of 'love'" entered China at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and had a profound impact on Chinese literature and culture.
First of all, "La Traviata" occupies an important position in the history of modern Chinese literature and art. In the eyes of the literati of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, it was "the first policy for the Western Tushu Department to enter China", and it established a new impression of Western literature in the eyes of Chinese literati, and many people began to understand foreign literature because of "La Traviata".
In 1899, Lin Shu and Wang Shouchang translated The Remains of the La Traviata in Paris, the first most influential translated novel in modern China. In 1907, Uncle Li and others performed the selection of "La Traviata" in Tokyo, Japan, which was the earliest drama performance in China. It can be said that La Traviata has played an irreplaceable role in the modern evolution of Chinese novels and dramas.
Secondly, after the translation of La Traviata into China, its popularity and the fact that it was constantly imitated made it no longer a simple literary work, but a cultural phenomenon. Modern poet Chen Yan said: "The novel "The Remains of the Camellia in Paris" has been published, and the Chinese have never seen it, and they have taken away thousands of copies. "Many people are proud to imitate "La Traviata" in their literary creations or in real life.
Yan Fuyou, a famous translator in the late Qing Dynasty, has a poem "Pity a volume of the Lady of the Camellias, cut off all the intestines of the prodigal", which is a vivid depiction of the influence of "The Lady of the Camellias".
According to the author's rough statistics, since Lin Shu and Wang Shouchang translated and published The Remains of the Lady of the Camellias in Paris in 1899, there have been nearly 200 translations of The Lady of the Camellias in China. Literature includes novels, operas and plays. Among them, novels are the most translated. According to the development process of modern Chinese history and the publication of the Chinese translation and rewriting of La Traviata, the translation and rewriting activities of La Traviata's work in China can be divided into five periods:
The first period was the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, that is, from 1899 to 1918. During this period, which spanned from the end of the Qing Dynasty to the pre-May Fourth period, the translated and rewritten works were rich in form, and the content of the stories was closely related to the topics of the times, which repeatedly caused sensations in the society and laid the foundation for the further dissemination of La Traviata.
The second period was from 1923 to 1939. This period belongs to the period before the ebb of May Fourth, the rise of left-wing literature, and the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan. At this time, the translator was more professional than Lin Shu. It was also from this period that China published the English translation of La Traviata, which was translated by the Chinese themselves. In addition, it is worth mentioning that Alexandre Dumas's rewritten "La Traviata" drama and Verdi's "La Traviata" opera also entered China during this period, and both were translated and published in Chinese.
The third period was from 1946 to 1948. From 1939 to 1946, due to the fierce stage of the domestic war of resistance against Japan, the translation and publication of La Traviata's works were relatively stagnant. After the end of the Sino-Japanese War in 1946, the translation of La Traviata was republished.
The fourth period was from 1955 to 1959. After 1955, the literary and cultural undertakings of New China began to enter a period of relatively stable development, as a foreign classic masterpiece "La Traviata" began to receive the attention of New Chinese artists, although there were not many translations in this period, but fortunately, the opera "La Traviata" ushered in a new development.
The fifth period is from 1979 to the present. For the entire twenty years from 1959 to 1979, it was difficult to find an official publication of La Traviata, and it was not until 1979 that Chen Lin and Wen Guang retranslated La Traviata, a masterpiece of Western beauty, was able to "see the light of day", so that the translation and rewriting of La Traviata's activities flourished in the boom of reform and opening up and reshaping Western classics.
A comparison of the Chinese versions of La Traviata, from the above five different periods, shows that the translation and rewriting of La Traviata, in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, was the most unique, and the various stories of La Traviata, translated and rewritten, were the most abundant in content compared to other periods.
First of all, the "translation" of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China is, more precisely, a kind of "cross-cultural transformation" of the work. The translation phenomenon that occurs at this time is not the translation of words in the traditional sense, but at least includes "paraphrase, rewrite, deletion, co-translation, etc." Moreover, the literati of this period not only translated "La Traviata", but also rewrote "La Traviata" with Chinese stories, creating a localized "new camellia". Secondly, the rewrite of "La Traviata" in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China is very diverse, not only novels, stories, but also dramas, commentaries, etc. Finally, the rewrite of "La Traviata" from this period has a novel and diverse story. Some translators have written it as a textbook of "loyalty" between the sexes, some have replaced this love with the legend of "Heroine of National Salvation", and some writers have transferred flowers and trees to derive the story of "widow love".
The theme of "La Traviata" is love, and the emotional description and the resulting resonance are the elements of the longevity of the story of "La Traviata". In this regard, the translation and rewriting of "La Traviata" by Chinese in the early 20th century has always revolved around emotional themes.
However, few people have systematically examined the following questions: how did the concept of love conveyed by the translation and rewriting of La Traviata in China in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China change compared with the original work, and to what extent did these changes respond to and even promote the transformation of society?
When it comes to the transformation of Chinese society, most people focus on the transformation of literature, cultural traditions or social institutions, and few people regard the change of emotional concepts as an important aspect of social transformation. When we compare the understanding and expression of emotions by Chinese before and after May Fourth, we can find that the traditional concept of "being affectionate and stopping courtesy" seems to have been replaced by "free love" and "romantic emotion" overnight.
What is the complexity of the evolution in between?
The rise of the New Culture Movement is naturally an important driving force, but we also have to admit that in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, a large number of translated Western romance novels were also gradually changing people's understanding of emotional issues. Therefore, in order to understand the evolution of emotional concepts from the late Qing Dynasty to the May Fourth period, the translation and rewriting of La Traviata in China during this period is a very noteworthy case. There are two reasons for this assertion.
First, Lin Shu and Wang Shouchang's 1899 translation of The Lady of the Camellias in Paris was the first Western romance novel to cause a sensation in China, and it can be said to be the earliest and most vivid work to introduce the Western model of "romantic love" to China. It opens up a new writing pattern for the writing of Chinese romance novels, with "sadness" and "romance" as the main elements.
Second, it should also be considered that many writers who held high the banner of "romantic love" during the May Fourth period were directly influenced by Lin Yi's "La Traviata" and other works, such as Guo Moruo, who mentioned in his autobiography that Lin Shu's translation of three foreign works left an indelible impression on him when he was young. Moreover, to a certain extent, it can be said that "La Traviata" is very likely to be the enlightenment work of many May Fourth youths who are exposed to modern emotional concepts.
From the above, it can be seen that the text of "La Traviata" in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China has become a rare perspective mirror for the changes in modern Chinese romance culture.
Examining this can not only outline the trajectory of China's romance and cultural changes, show the ideological and political power operations hidden behind emotional problems, but also re-examine China's modernization process from the dimension of "emotion".