译写皆成文章气度,推敲尽在韵对言声——林语堂翻译修辞的文章翻译学阐释

On the Matching in Genre in Lin Yutang’s Translation of Chinese Classics: A Study in Terms of Compositional Translatology

林语堂是20世纪的文坛巨匠,其英文写作与翻译作品享誉世界,独特的译写结合的创作理念源自中国古代文章学传统。从文章翻译学的视角进行解读,林语堂的典籍翻译作品与原文的修辞风格高度契合,具体体现为对中国文化典籍的核心修辞特点"韵、对、言、声"进行综合考量,并用地道的英语修辞手段进行整体重构,从而使译作形神兼备,气韵生动。林语堂的成功范例有力印证了文章翻译学对于典籍翻译实践的主张,即"译文三合义体气",其中"义合"是基础,"体合"是关键,"气合"则是译者的至高追求。

Lin Yutang, one of the greatest writers in the 20 th century, is world-renowned for his English writings and translations of Chinese classics. His unique integration of writing and translation originates from the traditional Chinese compositology. In the terms of Compositional Translatology put forward by Prof. Pan Wenguo, Lin’s translations of Chinese classics exhibit a perfect matching in genre with the source text, which is achieved through a comprehensive consideration of the core rhetorical elements in Chinese(rhyme, antithesis, syllable and tone) and then proper transformation of them with due English rhetorical means that make the translations as appealing as the original in both genre and literary strength. Lin’s success in translating Chinese classics justifies the claim of "three matching in meaning, genre and literary strength" in Compositional Translatology, among which the matching in meaning is the prerequisite, the matching in genre the key step, and the matching in literary strength the ultimate pursuit of translators.