跨文化译介研究的视角、问题与思考——从《明清时期西传中国小说英译研究》谈起

Perspectives, Issues, and Thoughts in Cross-cultural Translation: A Commentary on The Study of the English Translation of Chinese Novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties Disseminating in the West

“中学西传”研究越来越受重视且成果丰硕,但明清时期西传中国小说的翻译问题研究则相对较弱,鲜见有分量的标志性学术成果。陈婷婷的新著《明清时期西传中国小说英译研究》属于特定历史语境下的文学交流互鉴研究范畴,集中论述西方最早译介中国古典小说的翻译动机、翻译选择、译介路径等。本文主要通过分析该专著,探讨明清时期西传小说译介研究带来的跨文化误读与共识性理解问题,特别是深层语境及译者主体身份的多重性对译本结构的影响、译本对西方启蒙时期现代性转型的助推以及此类研究对当下翻译研究与实践的启发。

While the study of Chinese culture going to the West has been increasingly valued and fruitful, the study of the translation of Chinese novels in the Ming and Qing dynasties to the West receives relatively less attention, with few significant academic works produced. Chen Tingting’s new book, The Study of the English Translation of Chinese Novels in the Ming and Qing Dynasties Disseminating in the West, belongs to the research scope of literary exchange and mutual appreciation in a specific historical context, focusing on the translation motives, translation choices, and translation paths of the earliest Western translations of Chinese classical novels. Through analyzing this monograph, this paper mainly discusses the cross-cultural misinterpretation and consensual understanding brought by the study of the translation of Chinese novels in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which includes the in-fluence of the deep context and the multiplicity of translators’ subject identities on the structure of the translations, the contribution of the translations to the transformation of modernity in The Age of Enlightenment of the West, etc. Also touched upon in this paper is the inspiration of such studies to current translation research and practice.