宝玉何以被误读为女士?——评西方人对《红楼梦》的首次解读

Why Did Jia Baoyu Be Misinterpret As A Lady Pányu——A Study on the First Understanding of the West to Dreams in the Red Chamber

中国经典小说西传史上最大的笑话,莫过于宝玉被误读为女性。1842年5月,晚清来华德国传教士郭实腊在英文期刊《中国丛报》上译介了《红楼梦》,这是《红楼梦》第一次被译介到英语世界。然而,该译介错漏百出,甚至把宝玉的性别弄错。总结郭实腊译介文的内容与译介方式、涉及的主要人物与主题,探讨其诸多误读产生的原因和其译介的立场与观点,可以帮助我们深入反思该译介文的价值与意义。

The most famous joke that had been made during Chinese classical fictions introduced to the west is Baoyu be misinterpreted as Lady Pányu. Dreams in the Red Chamber is earliestly translated and introduced to the English world by a Germanic protestant missionary Charles Gutzilaff, who came to China in the Late Qing Dynasty, and published his article in an English periodical Chinese Repository in May of 1842, But there were so many mistakes in Gutzilaff＇s review that he even got it wrong in Baoyu＇s sex. In this article, the author summarized the content and the interpreting style, the characters and the themes which mentioned in the review of Gutzilaff, discussed the reasons which caused so many mistakes,analysed the standpoint of the translator, and deeply thinked the worthiness and significance of Gutzilaff＇s review.