改写与“讹”——重读《林纾的翻译》

Rewriting and “E”( Distortion)——Lin Shu's Translation Revisited

中国传统翻译研究一直推崇钱钟书先生提出的"化境说",其实钱钟书在《林纾的翻译》一文中强调翻译的本质是"讹"写,也就是西方现代翻译理论研究中提到的"翻译即改写"。"讹"又分为好"讹"和"讹错"。好"讹"就是尽可能忠实的传递源语文本作者的表达意图,在译作中再现译者的创造力、原创性,以达到交际的目的。"讹错"指的是错误领悟原文,译语生硬难懂,任意删节,应该尽量避免。"化境"只是一种翻译理想,与瓦鲁提"译者隐身"的概念类似,而不是一种翻译理论或者翻译观,因此,译界应该承认"翻译即改写"的现实,将翻译理论研究的关注焦点更多的放到影响翻译实践的诸多文化要素上。

＂Sublimation＂ is regarded as a translation theory proposed by Qian Zhongshu in his Lin Shu＇s Translation, which has in the past years gained wide recognition. ＂Sublimation＂ is an idealized situation in which the target text is completely equivalent to the source text. Similar to Venuti＇s ＂the Translator＇s Invisibility＂, it is neither a translation theory nor a translation concept. The author proposes that the essence of translation as revealed in Qian＇s Lin Shu＇s Translation is ＂E （distortion）＂, a resonance of Lefevere＇s ＂rewriting＂. As translation is in essence ＂rewriting＂ or ＂e （distortion）＂, we should concentrate our translation studies on the many cultural factors influencing the process.