为赛珍珠的"误译"正名

In defense of Pearl S. Buck's "mistranslation

美国女作家赛珍珠一生致力于将中国文化介绍到西方,也因此被誉为"沟通中西方文化的人桥"。尽管她的英译作品《水浒传》在西方享有很高声誉,在我国翻译界却一直饱受非议;这在很大程度上源于译作中一个莫须有的"误译"。因此有必要介绍赛氏英译《水浒传》的翻译目的、翻译风格及过程,评述"误译"的发现及其传播经过,并对"误译"说加以澄清。

Pearl S. Buck, who devoted herself to bringing Chinese culture to the Western world, has been reputed as 'the human bridge that connects the Chinese and Western cultures'. Her English translation of Shuihuzhuan (All Men Are Brothers), though highly praised in the West, has always met with challenges from the Chinese translation critics. To a great extent, this was resulted from an assumed 'mistranslation' in her work. This paper, by tracing Mrs. Buck's translation purpose, style, procedures, the discovery and spread of her 'mistranslation,' aims to clarify the issue of the assumed 'mistranslation.' 