海外民间翻译力量与中国当代文学的国际传播——以民间网络翻译组织Paper Republic为例

Overseas Volunteer Translation Networks and the International Dissemination of Contemporary Chinese Literature: With the Paper Republic as an Exemplar

当前国内就促推中国当代文学在国际传播的力量这个主题已有大量研究,但几乎都是聚焦官方力量在其中发挥的作用,极少有对海内外民间力量的关注。本文通过详实的数据考察了Paper Republic这个自发的海外民间网络翻译组织及其译员对中国当代文学作品的翻译和国际传播情况,主要考察的方面是文本选择、对中国当代文学作品的翻译及讨论、与官方力量的合作、译本在英语世界的接受和传播。通过这些考察,本文发现Paper Republic在中国当代文学的国际传播中发挥着重要作用,是当前以国家赞助为主体的中国文学国际传播战略的有益补充。加强与其合作,与官方力量形成互补,是促进中国当代文学在国际传播的一条有效途径。

Discussions on how to promote contemporary Chinese literature abroad have so far tended to count on the government as the sole agency for this cross-cultural project, to the neglect of non-governmental, grass-root resources. This paper offers a detailed account of what the Paper Republic, an Internet-based volunteer translation organization, has done in rendering the more recent Chinese literary works into English and disseminating them internationally. By looking into the principles underlying its members' choice of source texts, the translating methods they have adopted, their cooperation with the official agencies, and the acceptance and influence of their translations in the English-speaking world, we find that the Paper Republic has been playing an important role in disseminating contemporary Chinese literature abroad. A closer, mutually complementary cooperation between the Chinese government agencies concerned and the non-governmental translation organizations such as the Paper Republic could be the most effective way for expanding China's literary and cultural influences around the world.