金庸语录专一(换一种语言读金庸)
金庸语录专一(换一种语言读金庸)其为崖山之后耶?如此江山不忍视。其为宋之南渡耶?如此江山真可耻。The translation has been several years in the making ...... It has certainly been a challenge to find ways of putting this most Chinese of storytellers into English. In Chinese his pages read with such deceptive ease.《鹿鼎记》的翻译经年始成。将最具中国特点的小说家的作品译成英文,当然是巨大的挑战。金庸的文字,用中文读起来轻松流畅,但那是有欺骗性的。尽管闵福德说得轻描淡写,我们还是能够体会到翻译过程的艰苦,尤其是最后那一句“In Chinese his pages read with deceptive ease
诗人弗罗斯特曾经说过,诗意就是在翻译过程中丢失的东西。这句话说得够犀利,直接否定了诗的可译性。中国人也讲“诗无达诂”,对于同一首诗,不同的人会有不同的理解。其实,达不达诂,能不能译,那是学院派人物讨论的问题,但对于身在江湖的译者来说,没有别的选择,只有roll up sleeves and get to work,撸起袖子加油干。
闵福德教授 / 图:香港中文大学出版社
■ 作者:王晓辉
诗,是一个民族文化的精华,也是生活中的盐,没了它,就没了味道。武侠小说虽然不是才子书,却少不了才子。金庸《鹿鼎记》人物中,能够称得上明末清初一流诗人、学者的就有好几个,如黄宗羲、顾炎武、吴梅村、吕留良,此外,还有专业歌手陈圆圆。这样一批文化人挤在一部小说里,诗词唱和自然不会少。对于读者,这些诗词歌赋是一种独特的享受,对于译者来说,则是一个十分痛苦的考验。在译者序言中,闵福德 (John Minford) 教授写了这样一段话:
The translation has been several years in the making ...... It has certainly been a challenge to find ways of putting this most Chinese of storytellers into English. In Chinese his pages read with such deceptive ease.
《鹿鼎记》的翻译经年始成。将最具中国特点的小说家的作品译成英文,当然是巨大的挑战。金庸的文字,用中文读起来轻松流畅,但那是有欺骗性的。尽管闵福德说得轻描淡写,我们还是能够体会到翻译过程的艰苦,尤其是最后那一句“In Chinese his pages read with deceptive ease”。我想,诗词一定是这种“带有欺骗性的轻松”的一部分。
《鹿鼎记》第一回,吕留良感怀大好河山沦于夷狄,将满腔的愤懑倾注在这首诗中,题写在一幅“如此江山”的画作上:
其为宋之南渡耶?如此江山真可耻。
其为崖山之后耶?如此江山不忍视。
吾今始悟作画意,痛哭流涕有若是。
以今视昔昔尤今,吞声不用枚衔嘴。
画将皋羽西台泪,研入丹青提笔呲。
所以有画无诗文,诗文尽在四字里。
尝谓生逢洪武初,如瞽忽瞳跛可履。
山川开霁故壁完,何处登临不狂喜。
如果仅从艺术角度看,这首诗还称不上诗中上品,小说中吕留良题诗后自己也说,“这诗殊无含蓄,算不得好,也只是将二瞻先生的原意写了出来,好教观画之人得知。” 但此诗感时伤怀,以酣畅淋漓的笔调,将满腔的愤怒郁结之气,诉诸笔端,倾泻而出,读起来的确令人心潮澎湃。
闵福德英译:
Is this the scene of Great Song's south retreat
This lovely land that hides its face in shame?
Or is it after Mount Yai's fatal leap?
This lovely land then scarce dared breathe its name.
Now that I seem to read the painter's mind
My teardrops match his drizzling rain.
Past woes I see reborn in present time:
This draws the groans that no gag can restrain.
Methinks the painter used poor Gaoyu's tears
To mix his colors and his brush to wet.
'This Lovely Land' was commentary enough;
No need was there for other words to fret.
The blind would see the lame would walk again
Could we but bring back Hong Wu's glorious days.
With what wild joy we'd look down from each height
And see the landscape free of mist and haze!
闵福德不愧是跨语言跨文化的翻译高手,能将这么复杂的一首长诗几乎是逐字逐句地译出,而且合辙押韵,格律分明。译诗采用了抑扬格的韵律和隔行押韵的方式,读起来节奏清晰,顿挫有致。汉字是方块字,又是单音节,所以才能有平仄规范、对仗工整、押韵讲究的格律诗。英语多音节词占绝大多数,又有不可省略的冠词、介词,因此无法做到像汉语五言、七言格律诗那样排列整齐,但这并不意味着英诗不讲格律,更不意味着英诗没有汉诗优美。我坚定地认为,自己不能更多地体会英诗之美,是因为学问知识不够,不能怪英国人。
译诗的格律只是形式,更重要的是内容以及情绪的表达和传递。这首诗以宋喻明,表达故国之思和神州陆沉的感叹痛惜,明着是说宋,实际是哀叹明朝的覆亡。起笔沉郁低徊,继而悲伤感怀,但到结尾处,梦回洪武之初 胸襟顿时开阔,至“何处登临不狂喜”,已是豪气勃发。闵福德准确地把握了原诗的基调,由缓慢到急促,由悲伤到豪迈,特别是左后四句:The blind would see the lame would walk again 同样的句式,加快了节奏,一直到With what wild joy we'd look down form each height and see the landscape free of mist and haze! 山川开霁,愁云尽扫,如何不喜?即便是英译,在诵读之时,也让我联想起杜甫“却看妻子愁何在,漫卷诗书喜欲狂”的诗句。最后一句,and see the landscape free of mist and haze 用landscape呼应了原诗的题目——如此江山。
对闵福德和英语读者来说,还有一个难点,那就是在这首诗中,有好几个典故,如“南渡”、“崖山”、“皋羽”、“西台”、“洪武”。这些典故,对中国读者也是有相当难度的。我试着在百度上搜索“皋羽西台”,结果搜出来的大都是羽西牌化妆品的广告! “皋羽”和“西台”,或直译或省略,尚不至于影响读者对原诗的理解,但“南渡”和“崖山”,如果要给外国读者讲明白,没有个几百字是办不到的。闵福德将“宋之南渡”译为Great Song's south retreat(大宋南退) 将“崖山”扩展为Mount Yai's fatal leap(崖山投海) 在内容转换的同时最大限度地保持了译诗形式上的完整。
可是,闵福德还是感觉不踏实,因为问题没有解决,外国人还是会懵圈。所以,他又在页底用小字加了一段注解:
*Notes to Reader:
Lu's impromptu poem is full of politically dangerous allusions to the shame of occupation by the Tartars (both Mongolia and Manchu). The first lines refer to the thirteenth century and the dying days of the Southern Song Dynasty when the last Emperor carrying his infant son was hounded southwards by the Mongols and finally flung himself and his son into the sea from the cliffs of Mount Yai. Hong Wu (towards the end of the poem) was the reign title of a period during the heyday of Ming dynasty (when China was still ruled by Chinese) to which these loyalist scholars looked back with such nostalgia.
闵福德告诉读者,这首诗表达的是中国士大夫对国家被北方游牧民族占领的羞愤心情,而且这种表达方式在政治上是很危险的。他给读者解释了蒙古军队南进,宋朝君臣南渡,直到崖山海战,南宋皇帝投海(fatal leap),宋室倾覆的历史背景,以及明太祖朱元璋的年号“洪武”对清初的汉族知识分子意味着什么。
用了这么多笔墨,费了这么多心思,才将这首诗完整准确地呈现给读者,真可谓苦心孤诣!
今天的闵福德,已年过古稀。回首翻译人生,他说了这样一句话,让我大受感动:
"Don't mock the translator's tears because the translator is suffering. Don't laugh at him because he is taking a big risk. As for me it takes years and years to start to understand from that level for me it is a real journey a very hard and meaningful journey."
“不要嘲笑译者的眼泪,因为他正在经历煎熬。译路漫漫,没有尽头,我用了一生才能从这一高度来理解翻译的意义。对我而言,翻译就是一场修行,唯有历经艰辛才能取得真经。”
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本期编辑:李兆彧
本期校对:刘倩