语言形象再现的文类冲突——以《红楼梦》对联翻译为例

Transference of Images in Translating Duilian in A Dream of Red Mansions

对联作为汉语语言特有的艺术形式,是一个多层次语言组织形态的有机整体。《红楼梦》中的对联体现了不同层次的语言形象美,主要表现为视象、音象和意象的形态美。笔者通过对《红楼梦》三种英译本中有关对联翻译进行分析研究发现,对联具有很强的抗译性。译者作为审美主体,要在译文中完全再现对联的视象、音象和意象美是非常困难的。因此,笔者运用英语的形音义特点,在保证信息传达的真实可信方面做一些尝试性改译。

As a special art of Chinese language, Duilian, is an integration of linguistic forms of multiple levels. Duilian in A Dream of Red Mansions exhibits linguistic beauty at different levels in terms of visual, aural and mental images. An analysis of the translation of Duilian in three English versions of A Dream of Red Mansions indicates that Duilian is untranslatable to a large extent. It is therefore very difficult for the translator as an aesthetics-conscious subject to fully transfer the above-mentioned linguistic beauty from the original. Based on the English properties in terms of form, sound and semantics, this author attempts to improve some of the translations without of course tampering with the information conveyed by the original.