乔利《红楼梦》英译探微

English Translation of A Dream of Red Mansions by Henry Bencraft Joly

英国驻澳门副领事乔利翻译出版的《红楼梦》译本(1892、1893)是"红楼"英译史上的第一个单行本(2卷)。对此,除了少量相关的简要文献记录之外,鲜有深入、全面的专题论述。在19世纪来华西人以提高中文水平而阅读《红楼梦》的背景下,乔利英译《红楼梦》的根本起因乃是辅助他们更有效地阅读理解原著,提高学习效率。乔利英译《红楼梦》的方法以忠实的直译为主,便于来华西人掌握相关中文语言的词汇意义、音韵效果与句法结构。他又能改译粗劣淫秽的内容,进行净化处理。乔利完成了19世纪最完备、文学性最强的《红楼梦》译本。

The English version of A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Henry Bencraft Joly in 1892 and 1893 is the first separate edition of the novel.There has been no profound or complete study on it.In the 19th century,the westerners in China had been reading A Dream of Red Mansions to improve their Chinese learning.Joly translated A Dream of Red Mansions to assist the westerners in better comprehending the novel and increasing their learning efficiency.His translations are mainly faithful,which is helpful to the grasp of Chinese lexicon,phonology and syntax for the westerners in China.Meanwhile,Joly purified the translations by deleting the indelicacy and obscenity and rewriting them instead.Joly’s English version of A Dream of Red Mansions is the most complete and literary one in the 19th century.