林译小说——“以中化西”的文化坚守

Novels Translated by Lin Shu: Cultural Defense of "Absorbing the West into the Chinese

"林译小说"中"以中化西"的改写一直以来被后世诟病甚多,但其本质却是对中国传统文化文学的坚守。在晚清特定社会需求以及译者本身文学素养的共同合力下,林纾在译介有关文学规范、宗教道德等文化文学核心内容时,选择了"以中化西"的翻译策略。此举虽在一定程度上损伤了译本原有的文学艺术魅力,但却使得西方小说顺利地进入国人视野,达成了特定的翻译目的。而更为重要的是,在"以中化西"的过程中,林纾有意无意地超越了僵守本国文化文学的立场,实现了文本形式及语言内容的"中西交融",这不仅促成了中国传统小说内部的文学演变与革新,而且也为当今时下如何真正做到"文化坚守"给予了有益的启示。

The novel translation rewriting based on ＂absorbing the west into the Chinese＂ by Lin Shu has been criticized too much, which defends the traditional Chinese culture and literature norms essentially however. Influenced by the combined forces caused by the specific social demands in Late Qin Dynasty and the literary attainments in himself, Lin Shu prefers to the translating strategy ＂absorbing the west into the Chinese＂ when translating the core content of culture and literature concerning literature norms,religion and morality. Lin Shu＇ s choose does do harm to the versions＇ literature charms, but helps the readers at that time to accept the foreign novels smoothly, hence realizing the specific translating purposes. More importantly, having surpassed his limited understanding on Chinese culture and literature, Lin Shu achieves the goal of ＂mixture of the Chinese and the West＂ during the translating process, which not only facilitates the cultural evolvement and innovation occurred in the inner of traditional Chinese novels, but also gains the rewarding enlightenment on how to defend our Chinese culture effectively.