德译《中国童话》与《西游记》学术探究

German Version of The Chinese Fairy Book and Academic Research of Journey to the West

1923年,胡适在《西游记考证》一文中提出孙悟空形象来自印度神猴哈奴曼,这是20世纪孙悟空形象研究的一大突破,也是中国文学史上的一个重要学术观点。根据1914年出版的德译《中国童话》,最早将孙悟空与哈奴曼联系在一起的并非胡适,而是德国汉学家卫礼贤。同时,胡适认为《西游记》是一部"童话小说",这一观点与卫礼贤的相关论述也有着惊人的相似。因此,卫礼贤的学术观点在《西游记》研究史上具有开启先河的重要意义。只是由于胡、卫二人"个人才性"的不同,以及当时中西方"文化转向"的差异,致使胡适在发表相关观点时,没有彰显卫礼贤的学术贡献。

The viewpoint that ＂Sun Wu Kong coming from Hanuman＂ was put forward by Hu Shi in the Textual Research on Journey to the West published in 1923. This point of view was regarded as a great breakthrough of the study of Sun Wu Kung in early 20th century. But according to Hu＇s article, the first researcher who associated Sun Wu Kung with Hanuman was not Hu Shi himself but rather Richard Wilhelm, a German sinologist who proposed the assumption in Chinesische Volksmiirchen in 1914. Meanwhile, Hu Shi thought of Journey to the West as a ＂fairy tale novel＂, which also bore a striking resemblance to Richard Wilhelm＇s point of view. Thus, Richard Wilhelm＇s related statements about Journey to the West have an important significance in the academic research history of this novel. Because of the ＂personal character＂ of the two scholars and the ＂cultural shift＂ of that time, Hu Shi did not mention Richard Wilhelm＇s academic contribution when he published related views.