Source of this article: Wen Wei Po
Editor's note: Yan Fu's influence on Lin Shu's translation has a poetic evaluation: Poor Traviata, cut off the intestines of the prodigal son. ---------------------
Original title: "La Traviata" has been repeatedly interpreted by various art styles for more than a hundred years in China, and since then the Chinese people have seen foreign translation novels
The opera La Traviata, first performed in Italy in 1853, is one of the three masterpieces of the mid-Verdi period. It is one of the most familiar operas in the world, including Chinese audiences. This is the interpretation of Wei Song, artistic director of the opera house.
From Gao Zhilan's performance of the second act of "La Traviata" at the Lyceum Theatre in Shanghai in 1944, to the first Western opera performed by the Central Experimental Opera House after the founding of the People's Republic of China, and then to the widespread singing of "Drinking Song" since then, the opera form of "La Traviata" has never decayed in China.
In fact, it is not only opera. China's drama, literature, film and other artistic fields have more or less left a glimpse of "La Traviata". Zheng Klu, the translator of the novel "La Traviata" published by Yilin Publishing House, wrote the preface to the book: "'La Traviata' from novels to scripts to operas, all three have immortal artistic value, which is probably a unique literary and artistic phenomenon in the world. ”
Chen Sihe, a professor at Fudan University, believes that in the late Qing Dynasty, in the midst of a trend of thinking about reading low-level foreign novels, Lin Shu translated "La Traviata" into China. This opened a window for Chinese to see world literature at that time, and let the Chinese people know that there were also rich literary works abroad, and the emotional life of foreigners was no different from that of Chinese.
It is the earliest translated novel in China and the earliest modern drama
Chen Sihe commented on "La Traviata": "In the relationship between Chinese and foreign literature, French literature first touched the hearts of Chinese, and one of its representatives was "The Legacy of the Traviata in Paris". ”
In the early spring of 1897, the late Qing Dynasty literary scholar Lin Shu was widowed and depressed all day. In order to relieve his worries, he accepted the proposal of his friend Wang Shouchang and began to translate "La Traviata". Two years later, Dumas's original work was translated as "The Legacy of the Traviata de Paris" published in China, and a poignant love story swept the streets and alleys for a while.
Chen Sihe said that among those "fans", there were even Lu Xun and Zhou Zuoren. Lu Xun bought "The Testament of the Traviata in Paris" when he was studying in Nanjing, and Zhou Zuoren recalled it more carefully in the article "Lu Xun's Youth": "We are so enthusiastic about Lin's translated novels, as long as he prints one, he will definitely run to Kanda's Chinese Bookstore to buy it." ”
In addition to the Zhou family brothers, the writer Ye Lingfeng is also a loyal reader of Lin's translation of "La Traviata". Due to repeated reading of "The Testament of the Traviata in Paris", he often "entered the play" and felt that he was "crowded in the crowd as if he were Amun in the novel (now translated as 'Aman')".
Mao Shi'an, vice chairman of the China Literary and Art Critics Association, told reporters: "If the novel "La Traviata" opened the initial boom in European and American translation novels in China, then "La Traviata", performed by Chunliu She, the earliest drama group in China, wrote a pioneering first stroke in the history of modern Chinese drama. ”
After the premiere of "La Traviata" in Tokyo in 1907, Li Shutong (left) took a group photo with friends.
In the spring of 1907, Lin Shu's "The Testament of the Traviata of Paris" had been sold in China for 8 years. No one expected that the drama "La Traviata" performed by Chinese went abroad at that time. In order to raise funds for the flood relief in Jiangsu, Chunliusha performed in Tokyo, Japan. On the stage, a beautiful woman dressed in curly hair and a slender white dress said goodbye to her lover in pain; offstage, more than 2,000 spectators from China, Japan, Europe and the United States watched with bated breath.
Later, a Newspaper in Shanghai described the performance as follows: "This is the only grand event in the field of sincerity and learning, and it is also the unseen thing that my generation has never seen." The white-clad beauty who fascinated the audience was the Traviata played by the famous artist Li Shutong.
It is true that the success of Chunliushe's "La Traviata" is inseparable from the foundation of the novel's long-term sales in China.
But what is even more exciting is that this performance has changed the traditional Chinese opera performance based on singing and the stage background is abstract, and is regarded as the starting point for Chinese interpretation of modern drama.
In Mao Shi'an's view, "La Traviata", as a classic work that has been interpreted into various forms, is the first key to the door of modern Chinese drama, and it is also a witness to Chinese literature and art absorbing the essence of foreign literature and art.
It opened a window for China to look at world literature and also enlightened thinking
From the late Qing Dynasty onwards, Violetta, the Traviata, became the most popular foreign fiction figure. Many writers, in order to show their intellectual talents, must take it with them in their writing. The 23rd time in the "History of Civilization" has a saying: "Heroes and men are inseparable, and the civilized state has a traviata woman"; the 12th time in the "Evil Sea Flower" says that Caiyun dresses up like a "traviata incarnation".
"New Camellia", "Broken Qin Lou", "Liu Tingting" and other imitations of "La Traviata" have also come out. Some studies believe that such an influence of "La Traviata" has also extended to the history of modern Chinese literature, including Duanmu Hongliang's "Xindu Tidbits" and Cao Yu's "Sunrise", all of which are faintly visible. Even the name of the famous contemporary writer Wang Meng was inspired by his father's friend He Qifang by the male protagonist of "La Traviata" "Amon" (now translated as "Amang").
Why would a popular romance novel have such a profound impact in the late Qing Dynasty, which advocated the translation of foreign science?
Chen Sihe believes that rather than saying how "La Traviata" has a profound inspiration for modern Chinese literature in terms of literary and artistic value, it is better to see the dark social reality of France exposed and criticized by Dumas, which is quite similar to the situation in China at that time that "the damage was not enough to make up for it". "It is essentially a popular story of talented people and mendi, and there are many similar love legends and novels in China from ancient times to the present."
Published in 1899, "The Testament of the Traviata in Paris" was dictated by Wang Shouchang and written by Lin Shu, and was called "the "Dream of the Red Chamber in the West" by the people of the time, and Mr. Zheng Zhenduo praised it as "the translation pen is clean and round, like a Song people's small words".
Chen Sihe said that coupled with the translator Lin Shu's very ancient rhyme of words and sentences to enhance the literary meaning of "The Testament of the Traviata in Paris", "At that time, people pursued the story of the Traviata, but in fact, they were chasing a love song composed of practicing and elegant literary words, and the traditional Chinese mendi."
Mao Shi'an also tried to decipher the popularity of a foreign novel from the Chinese social background at that time, "that was before the New Culture Movement, the ideological enlightenment of society had begun to appear." The Chinese people want to get rid of the era of ignorance and advocate the liberation of individuality. Therefore, the Chinese at that time easily found their psychological identity in the class barriers that "La Traviata" accused of themselves to break free from the shackles of class. This is like after the founding of New China, when the Marriage Law was promulgated, a number of literary and artistic works against old-style marriages, such as Liang Zhu, Luo Han Qian, and Xiao ErHei Marriage, were widely popular. ”
In the view of scholars, the popularity of "La Traviata" in the early days of China was really due to a specific period. "Chinese need to understand the world, this popular romance novel can be used as a medium, after which foreign classic novels are increasingly introduced to China."
Chen Sihe admitted that from the perspective of communication, "La Traviata" has indeed had an impact on modern Chinese literature. "But the love it advocates is a 'possessive feeling' that is not worthy of admiration." This became clearer when Chinese saw the expression of "love is giving" in Russian novels one after another. ”
"La Traviata" opens a window, and the sky is high and wide outside the window. Mao Shi'an said that the Chinese nation is an inclusive nation, and in the process of long cultural development, Chinese literature and art have continuously learned and discarded the excellent culture of mankind and the West.
As a result, our literary and artistic gardens have a steady stream of new artistic nourishment. Perhaps, this is the reason why a number of world classic works represented by "La Traviata" can take root in the soil of Chinese culture.