我行我素：葛浩文与浩文葛

Doing Translation in My Own Way

我得到的关注,比我应该得到的或希望得到的要多,这让我在工作时如履薄冰。我比较乐意看到从更宽的视角评论我的译作。对我来说,译者总是现身的,也总是隐身的。我做翻译不须借助高深的理论,而是像作家或诗人那样,一边写,一边摸索最恰当的表达方式。我们选择作品来翻译时,不能仅仅以我们自己文化里通行的文学标准来判断,而不从中国文化的角度评估他们的作品。唯我为大对译者是不适用的。中国小说在西方并不特别受欢迎,可能是与不少中国小说人物缺少深度有关,中国当代小说有着太大的同一性。但一些年轻作家已经开始在形式和内容上有所创新,这是可喜的变化。

I receive more attention than I deserve or want. I need to be aware of that when I translate. I am especially pleased when I＇m asked to write or talk about translating and translators. To me, the translator is always visible and always invisible. I find that transla tion theory, while interesting, is of little value to me in my work. Like a writer or a poet, I seek the most effective language to express what appears in the original work. I rely upon more than my own literary and cultural standards when selecting a work to translate, but that does not necessarily include critical views of the work in the original. An inflated ego is not recommended for a translator. Chinese fiction is not terribly received in the West, in part perhaps owing to a perceived lack of character development; an additional issue is a sense of sameness in much contemporary writing. But young writers are experimenting with new forms and contents, which is a positive trend.