中国文学的跃进——评《围城》企鹅版英译本

Great Leap Forward——A Book Review of Fortress Besieged Published by Penguin Books

由于“冷战”、中西文化差异、翻译质量和编辑水平等因素,中国文学作品的英译一直没有引起英国读者的重视,但钱锺书的《围城》首次登上“企鹅现代经典”的榜单,标志中国小说开始跃进式地进入英语读者的视野。这部小说取材于中国抗日战争时期的一段悲惨境遇,字里行间流露出接受西化教育的青年知识分子对传统桎梏的反叛。作品对人物心理的细腻刻画、对时空变幻的强烈感悟、对人类现状的哲学洞察,都具有文学普适意义,但书中的大量双关语和典故对译者构成了巨大挑战。

Due to such factors as “The Cold War”, cultural differences between China and the West, translation quality and editor’s capability, the English translations of Chinese literature have not attracted much attention from British readers for a time, but the new edition of Fortress Besieged written by Qian Zhongshu and co-translated by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao was added to the list of Penguin Modern Classics, marking the beginning of a leap forward for Chinese novels to enter the vision of British readers. Based on a tragic setting of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japan, the novel reveals between the lines the rebellion of young intellectuals who received Westernized education against the shackles of the Chinese tradition. Its delicate portrayal of the characters’ psychology, strong perception of temporal and spatial changes,and philosophical insight into the human survival are of universal literary significance, but a large number of puns and allusions in the original pose a great challenge to the translators.