Li Bai's poems English translation spread Chinese culture

In the bright star river of Tang poetry, Li Bai's poems (hereinafter referred to as "Li Poems") are a glorious pearl. Not only are Chinese literati and readers obsessed with it, many foreign scholars have a high research interest on their high research. Li Shiying's translation has a history of more than 200 years, most of which are selected translations, and it is rarely translated. In terms of translation techniques, most of them have scattered body and less poetry. The translations of different translators have their own translations. They found different breakthroughs for Li Shi's spread and acceptance in the West in the cultural "intersection".

Three stages of Li Shiying's translation

Although the controversy of the translation of poetry has always existed, the efforts of translation poetry have never stopped. Since the middle of the 18th century, Li Shiying's translation activities have continued and continued to this day. By climbing the system of Chinese and foreign translations, the author divides Li Shiying's translation history into three stages.

The first stage was before the early 20th century, which was the early stage of Li Shiying. At the end of the 16th century, with the missionaries came to China, the collision of Chinese and foreign culture had spawned a lot of Chinese poems. Chinese scholar Wang Lina believes that the earliest translation of Li Shi into English is British politician and poet SOAME JENYNS. Later, there were British missionaries such as John Francis Davis, James J. Legge, Robert Douglas, Herbert Allen Giles, etc. , Diplomats and Sinologists try to translate Li Shi. Demo Shi translated "Gift Wang Lun" and "Xiao Qing". Douglas translated "Deng Jinling Phoenix" and published it in the book "China". The book is attached to the original poem for foreign readers to recite.

During this period, most of the translators of Li Shiying were British. The translator did not study Li Shi as an independent object. Instead, he used it as part of the Chinese cultural classics or Tang Dynasty literature. The translators are affected by the differences in Chinese and Western cultural differences, often misunderstood, and there is a bias of understanding of the original meaning of poetry. Most translators are affected by the creative trend of Western poetry and adopt the translation of scattered body. The translation is difficult to reproduce the rhyme of the original poem.

The second stage was the first half of the 20th century. During this period, Li Shi's translation entered a new level and gradually formed some translation criteria. At that time, the United States began to play a new role on the world stage, which became more active in politics, economy and culture, and some representative Li Shi translator also appeared. Including American poet Ezra Pound, Amy Lowell, Witter Bynner, etc. In addition, the contributions of British sinologists Arthur Waley and Japanese translator Kaosama Kaori cannot be ignored.

Pound was the representative of Chinese poetry with free body and English poetry at that time, and was one of the leaders of Chinese poetry in ancient Chinese poetry. Its translation of "Cathay" and "Lustra" include 7 and 12 Li Shi, respectively. He broke through the restraint of the rhythm and focused on the artistic conception of the original work, which made his translation loved by Western readers. At that time, "The Jade Mountain: A Chinese Anthology, Being Three Hundred Poems of the T’Ang Dynas" The book received 27 Li Shi, which also adopted the scattered free translation method. In the translation of Willie, Li Shi has "More Translations from the CHINESE" and "A Hundred and Seventy Chinese Poems". He is also published in the London version of "The Poet Li Po" in London's "The Poet Li Po". Japanese scholar Kaoru Kaori published the English "The Works of Li Po, The Chinese Poet" during the study abroad. Like Pound, he adopts a scattered translation method and is not restricted to form and rhythm. The translation aims to convey the ideological feelings contained in the original poem to readers. "Li Bai Shi Ji" has been reinstated several times in Europe and the United States, and it has still attracted and affected countless readers.

During this period, the translator of Li Shi's American translator began to surpass its British peers in terms of quantity and quality. sports. The campaign used ancient Chinese poetry as a weapon to try to get rid of the restraint of British poetry tradition.

The third stage is in the middle and late 20th century. In this stage, especially since the end of the 20th century, domestic translators have begun to develop their strength in Chinese poetry. Readers have made great contributions to Chinese classical poetry. Representative translators include Weng Xianliang and Xu Yuanchong. Weng Xianliang advocated the image contained in Chinese poetry with freedom. Weng Xianliang applied the theory of Chinese poetry English translation to practice in his special collection of "Ancient Poetry and English Translation" (including Li Shi). excellent work. Xu Yuanchong believes that the translation of Chinese poetry and English must not only be rhyme and the realm is full, and strive for perfection. He is committed to translating Tang poetry and Song poetry into English rhymes, put forward the theory of "three beauty", and applies it to translation practice, especially in poetry translation. In recent years, more and more Chinese translators have participated in Li Shiying's translation and strive to introduce Li Shi to Western readers through translations. The contribution is not only in translation practice, but also translation theory. In October 2020, Zhao Yanchun, a professor of the School of Foreign Languages ​​of Shanghai University, translated "The Complete Works of Li Bai Poems" was published by Shanghai University Press. The book contains 1052 poems in Li Bai Cun, with a total of 8 volumes. In the book, based on the conclusions of the translation studies he founded, Zhao Yanchun showed readers and other translators the specific use and effect of related parameters in the translation process, and provided the reader's overall analysis and evaluation of the index framework.

Different poetry scattered body

In general, the translation of Li Shi abroad is mainly scattered and selected. The domestic Li Shi translation is mainly poetic and selected. There has always been a battle between poetry and scattered body in poetry translation. The focus of the controversy is whether the rhythm of the original poem should be retained in the translation. It is known that the translators criticized theory. It can be known that the translator of the poetry is biased towards the linguist and shows the language. Zhou Lingshun, a professor at the School of Foreign Languages ​​of Yangzhou University, believes that the translator's positioning of the original text, the translator's positioning (including translation and translation), translator's positioning of himself, and even translator's positioning of translation directly affects The trend of the translation is related to each other. These are the need for pragmatic needs, so there will be corresponding pragmatic attitudes and means. Even for literary texts that are "seeking truth", they must also maintain greater degree of freedom.

Some translators mentioned earlier translated Li Shi as a scattered body, and even some translators translated the scattered body into poetry. The reason may be that the degree of literary text is more popular, so there are more components involved in the translator. For translators, it is a common phenomenon to partially deviate from "loyalty" in order to obtain the best context effect and even market effects. This is the problem from the perspective of dynamic people.

Throughout the history of Li Shiying, the author believes that although there are many translator and the translations are present, there are also insufficient and problems. First, in terms of the number of poems, most of the translations covered by Li Shizer are limited, and the phenomenon of re -translation and re -translation is obvious. Second, in terms of the quality of poetry, due to the differentness of the translator's identity, translation poems, and translation concepts, the existing translation poems are different in quality. Third, in terms of translation techniques, the poetry/rhyme/rhythm, the body, and the scattered body/free body are all seen. The translation world does not reach a consensus on its translation, so that the translator's own line is to create what you want, and even the good and bad. Translation.

According to the identity characteristics of Li Shiying, it can be divided into four types of groups of missionaries or diplomats, sinologists, Chinese scholars, poets and Chinese scholars. Missionary or diplomat group translation poems often naturally naturalize the Chinese poems. Sinologists or British and American scholars focus on the meaning and spirit of Li Shi. Communication of Chinese cultural elements. In the cultural "interaction" (social interaction) of the above domestic and foreign translators, the above and foreign translators have found different breakthroughs for Li Shi's spread and acceptance of the spread and acceptance of Li Shi, so that the poetry fairy traveled away and the poem soul spread. Through the continuous pursuit and efforts of Chinese and foreign translators, foreign readers have more understanding of Li Bai and his poetry. At the same time, Li Shi's impact on world culture is also increasing. This has a positive and far -reaching impact on the international communication of Chinese excellent traditional culture. Li Shiying's translation can not only help the extensive spread and research of Chinese classical literature, but also enrich English literature to a certain extent, promoting the integration of Chinese and Western culture and mutual learning.

Author: Lu Wenpeng Chen Lei

Source: China Social Sciences Network

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