《论语》注疏之西方传承:从理雅各到森舸斓

Transplanting The Analects Commentary Tradition in the West:from James Legge to Edward Slingerland

《论语》作为儒家经典,历代注疏者众多。西方译介《论语》者亦多,但鲜有重视、传承和发扬传统注疏者。而理雅各和森舸斓却以各自不同的方式,融会中西,将经典背后的阐释传统呈现给英语读者,使他们不仅能够窥见儒经注疏传统的丰富多彩,更能真正理解《论语》是一部"活"的经典。认真考察从理雅各到森舸斓翻译和阐释中国典籍的策略和方法,以及他们的"学术型翻译"在西方世界所取得的成功,无疑能给我们的对外翻译事业带来不少灵感和启迪。

The Confucian Analects has witnessed many generations of annotators and commentators in the past 2,000 years. Among the numerous Western translators of The Analects, few have devoted due attention to representing the long exegetic tradition underlying this classic. This paper looks at two special cases, namely,the translating of The Analects by James Legge and Edward Slingerland respectively, and tries to demonstrate how these two translators have managed to creatively present to the English readership the Chinese tradition of making classical annotations. A careful study of their academic methods, the author believes, will contribute to our current practice of translating Chinese classic works to the outside world.