翻译与性禁忌--以The Color Purple的汉译本为例

Translation and Sex Taboo——A Case Study of the two Chinese Translations of The Color Purple

性描写是许多经典文学作品的重要组成部分。但在文学翻译中,这样的描写往往被删除或做淡化处理,而且这样的处理方法还得到了翻译学者们的支持,理由是我国传统的性伦理容忍不了这些描写。可是在中国文学中,类似的性描写早已屡见不鲜,其艺术价值也得到了普遍的肯定。对The Color Purple的两个汉译本的分析表明,译者或出版商对性伦理的理解并不正确。他们对性描写加以特殊处理,是出于对性禁忌的顾虑。

Description of sexuality is of great artistic value in many literary works. While translated into Chinese, however, such description is often deleted or euphemlzed. Most translation scholars in China tend to support such deletion and euphemizing, holding that they are justified by the intolerance of Chinese sexual ethics towards such description. A study of the two Chinese translations of The Color Purple and similar descriptions in Chinese literary works shows that such argument is not convincing. The deletion and euphemizing is done mostly in fear of the sex taboos in Chinese culture.