早期英国汉学家对唐诗英译的贡献

The Contribution of Early British Sinologists to Translating Tang Poems into English

唐诗向英语世界的传播是中西文化交流史上的一件盛事。为此事发端并奠定了基础的,是一批自19世纪到20世纪初来华的传教士和外交官员。传教士汉学家中首开唐诗英译先河的是罗伯特.马礼逊(Robert Morrison),迄今所知最早的唐诗单篇英文译介,便见于1815年由广州东印度公司出版社出版的马礼逊译著《汉语原文英译(附注)》(Translations from the Original Chinese,with Notes)。艾约瑟(Joseph Edkins)作为一位传教士在中国生活了半个多世纪,他对唐诗英译的贡献,在于他先后发表的两篇关于李白及其诗歌的论文。而在早期英国驻华外交官出生的汉学家中,戴维斯(Sir John Francis Davis)、庄延龄(Edward Harper Parke)、翟尔斯(Herbert Allen Giles)和弗莱彻(William John Bainbrigge Fletcher)是非常值得重视的唐诗译介者。其中弗莱彻的《英译唐诗选》(Gems of Chinese Verse)是第一本断代唐诗英译著作,具有较高的传播影响。这些自19世纪到20世纪初来华的传教士和外交官在中国生活过相当长的一段时间,精通汉语,对中国的文化传统有相当程度的研究和了解。他们的唐诗英文译本,虽然作品选择多非名篇,且瑕瑜互见,远未达到完美的境界,甚至有不少误读误解,但他们的努力,不仅体现了对唐诗这一中国古典诗歌传统的尊重与热爱,同时从不同侧面和不同层次上推进了唐诗作为中国古典文学的一个重要组成部分进入西方文化视野的进程,使英语世界的文化探求者,可以借此约莫遥望到东方诗国的顶峰。

In the history of the cultural exchange between China and Western countries, the spreading of Tang poems into the English world is a big event, for which a group of missionaries and diplomats give a beginning, thus laying a good foundation. The first missionary translator was Robert Morrison whose Translations from the Original Chinese with Notes was published in 1915 by East India Company in Canton. And Joseph Edking, as a missionary, had lived in China for half a century, and published two essays that made a critical comment on Li Bai and his poems. And Sir John Francis Davis, Edward Harper Parke, Herbert Allen Giles and William John Bainbrigge Fletcher, who are early diplomats of the British Embassy in China, all had made their translation and introduction, among which Fletcher＇s Gems of Chinese Verse was the first uncompleted Tang poems In English version, giving a deep influence. All these missionaries and diplomats came to China either in the 19th century or in the beginning of the 20th century. Since they had lived in China for a long time, they had a good grasp of Chinese language and a considerable understanding of Chinese traditional culture. Their translating, although not from first-rate origins, and having lots of flaws, or even much misunderstanding, not only manifests their respect and love for Tang poems as the ancient Chinese tradition but also, from different sides and different levels, promotes Tang poems as an important part of the Chinese ancient literature into the cultural view of Western countries so that the cultural explorers in the English world can look, here and there, up into the crest of the eastern poetic country.