玄言、禅趣和佛理:汉诗英译中的表意焦虑

Metaphysics,Zen and Buddhism:An Expressive Anxiety in English Translation of Chinese Classical Poems

在中国诗歌史上,玄言诗、禅趣诗和佛理诗相互之间有着微妙的关系。这种微妙的关系在跨语翻译中表征为越界和错位,体现了译者的跨语表意焦虑。这些越界和错位可以从三类诗歌对应的哲学和美学思想的语言策略中找到解说的依据。在本文中,唐朝诗人王维的诗歌英译被用来说明诗歌的三种翻译取向:玄化、禅化和佛化。由此,凭籍玄学、禅宗和佛学各自的语言策略可以对诗歌翻译者的跨语表意焦虑进行如下解释:之所以在诗歌跨语表述中出现越界和错位的现象是因为三种哲学中表意策略的相互置换造成的。

In the history of Chinese classical poetry,metaphysical poems,zenist poems and Buddhist poems are related in a subtle way.The obscurity in their distinctions leads to transgressions and displacements in cross-lingual expressions of these three types of poems,which are the representations of the translatorsanxiety in translation.The transgressions and displacements can be couched in the expressions from the three schools of thought and their corresponding aesthetics.The translations of some poems by Wang Wei,apoet from the Tang Dynasty are selected to be surveyed to illustrate how the three approaches involve themselves in poetic translation,namely,metaphysicalization(玄 化),zenization(禅化)and Buddhisization(佛化).The three approaches can fail to match the genres of the poems to be translated.The mismatches are finally traced to the linguistic strategies lurking behind the creation of the three types of poems.In this way,a translating discourse is expected to be formulated on the basis of Chinese traditional sources pertaining to Metaphysics(玄学),Zen(禅宗)and Buddhism(佛理).