从读者反应看中国文学的译介效果:以英文版《中国文学》为例

Mapping and Redefining Readers of Translated Chinese Literature: A Case Study of Chinese Literature

近年来政府在推动中国文学外译方面做出了很多努力,但是效果仍然差强人意。大部分学者认为导致中国文学在外遇冷的原因是翻译质量太差,我国缺少一支优秀的中译外队伍。但是这种观点鲜有实证性研究支撑,很少看到对国外读者反馈的调查研究,而读者反应恰恰是直接体现文学译介效果的一项指标。本文通过详细考察《中国文学》发行50年间的读者群及其评论,发现制约翻译文学读者反应的因素主要包括译介目的、作品选择和翻译策略,而这些又受国家外交关系、主流意识形态和诗学的影响。因此,文学外译不仅受翻译质量影响,还受到源语国家生产环境和译语国家接受环境的双重制约。

China has done a lot to promote the translation of Chinese literature in the past decades. Chinese literature, however, does not have good reception in the world. Most scholars believe it＇s because the translation is not good enough, which, however, is not supported by empirical studies, especially on the foreign readers. This paper aims to study the readership and their comments on Chinese literary translations published in the English magazine Chinese Literature which lasted from 1951 to 2000. It turns out that readers value both literariness and translation methods, which are influenced by ideology, poetics and e- ven political relations.