诗学征用与文学变异:美国汉学家华兹生英译苏轼诗词研究

Requisition of Poetics and Literary Variation: A Study on Burton Watson’s Translations of Su Shi’s Poetry

华兹生对苏轼诗词的译介是汉诗西传史上的重要个案,其代表性成果《宋代诗人苏东坡诗选》是现今最具接受性、流传性与影响力的英译苏诗选集之一。本文通过考察华兹生学术交往与翻译活动的轨迹,并联系美国当时“逆向文化”运动的文学思潮,发现其翻译策略对中国古典诗学进行诗学征用,在译文杂合中产生中美诗学的碰撞、妥协与再生,使译诗产生文学变异现象,从而形成新语境下的苏轼诗词阐释。这种文学变异现象是文学跨文化传播的内在规律使然,也是文学翻译的本质属性。同时,该阐释也契合当时非学院派的诗学理念与译诗传统,丰富苏轼诗词在英语世界的译介谱系与维度,展示出原诗的文本开放性与诗学张力。考察其译诗的文学变异现象,有助于加深我们对文学译介内在规律的思考,对中美文学关系研究也具有一定参考价值。

Burton Watson’s Translations of Su Shi’s poetry serves as a significant case in the English translation history of Chinese lite- rature,and his representative work Su Tung-p’o: Selections from a Sung Dynasty Poet is so far one of the most widely received, circulated and influential translations of Su Shi’s poetry. Focusing on Watson’s academic relations and translation activities with reference to the literary convention and poetics during the counter-culture movement period,this paper argues that Watson has re-quisitioned classical Chinese poetics in his translation strategy and the hybrid text thus produced resulted in the collision, compromise and rebirth between Chinese and American poetics. This has brought about literary variation and new interpretations on Su Shi’s poetry in American context,which is the inherent law of the intercultural transmission of literature and the essential attri-butes of literary translation. The new interpretation thus produced has corresponded to the poetic ideas and translation tradition of non-academism poets,enriched the translation dimension and genealogy of Su Shi’s poetry in the Anglo-phone world and demonstrated its openness of text and poetic tension. The research on the literary variation in Watson’s translation may shed light on our understanding of the nature of literary translation as well as the Sino-US literary relationship.