十年磨一剑,“严重”转厚重——白立平新著《翻译家梁实秋》述评

A Solid and Rigorous Work Completed in a Decade: Critical Review of Liang Shiqiu as Translator by Bai Liping

由于政治、意识形态、历史等原因,长期以来国内研究者回避或忽略了梁实秋的翻译成就,导致对翻译家梁实秋的系统研究基本上阙如。商务印书馆在2016年12月出版的白立平专著《翻译家梁实秋》填补了中国翻译史上的一个学术空白。该书"描述""规定"兼顾,视野宏阔,内容丰富,资料翔实,言必有据,持论公允,论述精辟,分析透彻,创见迭出,且理论应用与批判创新相结合,充分体现了作者深厚的理论素养和扎实的学术功底,是中国翻译家个案研究的范例。同时,该书也有一些微瑕,几个重要翻译史问题有待深入细致的探究。

For political,ideological and historical reasons,Liang Shiqiu’s remarkable achievements as a literary translator had been shunned or neglected for decades by mainland Chinese scholars,hence the paucity of systematic studies on him as a prolific translator of Western literary classics,including Shakespeare’s oeuvre.Against this backdrop,Bai Liping’s monograph Liang Shiqiu as Translator published by the Commercial Press in Beijing in December 2016 fills a gap in Chinese translation history which should have been filled long ago.This long-awaited book combines descriptive and prescriptive studies,featuring a broad coverage,the use of vast quantities of historical materials,sound judgment,cogent arguments,meticulous analysis,brilliant insights,and a keen awareness of theoretical innovations.Embodying the author’s extensive theoretical knowledge and perfectly solid work,it can be seen as a fine example of excellent Chinese scholarship on modern Chinese translators.On the other hand,Bai’s book is also marred by some minor imperfections and brings forth a number of significant Chinese translation history research questions that are still to be explored.