中国古典戏剧翻译的他者文化视角——以汉学家阿林敦、艾克敦的《戏剧之精华》为例

Translating Classic Chinese Drama from the Other's Cultural Perspective: A Case Study of Famous Chinese Plays by L.C. Arlington and Harold Acton

本文分析了汉学家阿林敦、艾克敦的中国古典戏剧英译本《戏剧之精华》,发现他们在文本选择和翻译策略两个维度上与其他中国古典戏剧译者有显著区别。他们的文本选择倾向于道德教化文本,而其他译者倾向于女性婚姻自主主旨凸显的文本;翻译过程中不仅有删减,有添加,更有结构调整,翻译的目标文化取向特征十分明显。尤为独特的是该译本常借用西方历史文化人物比附原文人物,使目标观众的文化经验得以参与原文本的解读,为译文读者走入中国戏剧世界建构了文化心理基础。

The article attempts to examine Famous Chinese Plays, an English version by L. C. Atlington and Harold Acton, and finds it differs strikingly from other English translations of classic Chinese plays in terms of textual selection and translation strategies. Mr. Arlington and Prof. Acton's selection are focused on the originalsserving moral education, which are the mainstream theatrical themes. Their translation strategy is seen as being target-reader oriented, featuring deletion, addition, structural adjustment, etc. Furthermore, comparison is often made of historical figures of the source text with those of Western culture. In this way, two different cultural experiences are brought into contact, which assuredly facilitates the target reader's reception of Chinese plays.