Literature Translation: Memory of Fire Stolen

A total of 30 foreign literature works in the 7th Lu Xun Literature Award were finally qualified for review, involving many languages ​​including Latin, Sanskrit, and ancient Itali. British and American works, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Russian, Mongolian, Finnish, Turkish, and some language literature in Eastern Europe have important works. In terms of types, whether it is ancient poetry works, or communication records, motto, biography, children's literature, etc., let alone a good novel in the traditional sense. Whether it is historical and horizontal or geographical span, it is a glimpse of the vast "world literature" in the sense of Goe. I don't know what reason, such as German, Japanese, Arabic and other important literary language types, but there are no or few works entering the review. This is a bit regrettable thing. Not the small territory.

11 judges from all over the country participated in the selection. The age span of the judges is relatively large. It can be said that the three ages of the old and Chinese and young are reflected. I am the first time I have participated in the Luxun Literature Award Translation Award. This experience is very precious for me. I feel the strictness, meticulousness and difficulties of the awards, but also caused some personal ideas and ideas. The overall review is as follows.

The National Award of the Lu Award Translation Award

A total of 4 award -winning works of the Literature Translation Awards are Lu Yanping's "Remembrance I: Genesis I: Genesis", Yu Zhong first translated "Qian", Li Yongyi translated "The Complete Works of Heras", Wang Jun's translation "Crazy Crazy Roland. From all aspects, the Lu Awards show many characteristics of the "National Award". On the whole, classic nature has become the highest goal of the judges' unanimous pursuit. This classic, of course, is first reflected in the work.

Among the participating works of the Luxing Prize Translation Award, there are many strict classics, such as "The Complete Works of Helas", "Crazy Roland" of Ludoviko Alisto, and Amo Lu (Ancient India )'s "Amu Bai Yong", Fox's "Remuneration of Soldiers", Robert Has' "Adam's Apple Garden", Kundera's "Celebrations Neckless", and so on. Some are important works, related to extremely important writers, such as Brotzki's "Sadness and Law", Nabokov's "Zhi Weira", Lorga's "Impression and Scenery", and the Salamago's "All Names", Aiko's "The Memory of Plants and Tibetan", Herrabal's "Strict Surveillance Train", Dario Fu's "The Pope's Daughter", Bakov's "Biography of Pas Jolner", and so on. The fame of the author (or the Lord) has made a good blessing for these books. Children's literature translation also has a good performance. Laura Emi Sriz (the United States )'s "The Mantra of the Phoenix Stone" and the "Wind on the Moon" of Eric Linklet (the United Kingdom "are children. Literature, although only a dozen -thirds of the total, also prove the strength of foreign children's literature and the position in serious literature. The works of some important contemporary writers who have died today or have died recently have also become a very important "strength faction" part, such as Pavic (Serbia )'s "The Last Love of Constantinople", McUan's " The Children's Act "," Sweet Teeth "," Cornerstone of the Temple: Blaga Proverbs "in" Temple of the Temple "in Romania," The Memory I: Genesis I: Genesis "of Gariano (Uruguay), Winterson (Britain ) "Between Time", Ono Di Bio (France), "Qian", "Song of Gentle" of Leila Slimani (France), Nurmin Yedlerm ( Turkey) "Secrets in Istanbul Dream", and so on. Some works have the feeling of picking up the sea, such as "Youha" in Juhani Ahho (Finland), "Static Painting with Chewing" by Jobgegenev Hebert (Poland), Girigo Lianke (Russia )'s "The Story of the Targar", the Selection of Luo Ulijitgs in Uligitus, and so on. As a non -professional writer, David Davidin (Guyana), a diplomat and ambassador, shows the diversity of foreign literary creation.

Therefore, it can be said that although there are not many quantities and the lack of important languages, the selection works of the translation award of this session still reflect the overall appearance of foreign literature translation in the past 4 years, which is more in line with Lu. The award translation award is the basic requirement for national awards.

This national award is also reflected in the operating method of the judging mechanism. In addition to the large -scale coverage mentioned earlier, the composition of the judges takes into account language (English, French, Spanish, Italian, etc.), subjectivity and professionalism (literature, humanities, language experts), and regions sex. The judges are concentrated on a closed review of two weeks, and there are sufficient time to communicate; the diet of the judges can be communicated at the same place, which can be communicated to the greatest extent; regular official meetings allow each judge Can hear the opinions of other judges. Therefore, this is a very formal judging lineup and judging method that meets the level and pattern of the Lu Award.

As the uniqueness of the translation award

The classics and importance of the work, although the prerequisite for the translation award, but now that it is the translation award, where is the value of the translation? Where is the value of the translator? This has touched the eternal paradox of the translation: on the one hand, we emphasize that the translation awards always reward translation behaviors, how well translated the translator's translation, and even reward them with "art". On the other hand, the quality of this translation is always related to the value of the work itself. This is why translation has always been difficult to become a completely independent discipline. It is difficult for us to imagine that a translator can return to life and translate a mediocre work into a spitting lotus article. Its independence is far less than Chinese calligraphy: A calligrapher can order stone to make a gold, and to write a small matter of stomach pain and athletes to write art works that adults admire eternally, but it is difficult for translators who are purely translated to similar content. Approve. The translator is closer to the music player: He translated as the performer performed by the performer itself. The translation award is still the most demanding among many awards. Because the necessary condition for winning awards is that the votes must be more than 2/3, which means that at least 8 votes must be obtained among 11 judges, which is a very high requirement for multi -language translation. Because the judges themselves cannot master several languages. For unfamiliar languages, they will have strong subjectivity and dependence on judgment: relying on expert opinions who understand this language. In this regard, the Lu Award Translation Award is also very professional in procedures: at least two experts in this language submitted their review reports before the review to provide a reference for the judgment of the judges. Even so, such judgments have changed a hand, which is a problem that the creative awards will not be encountered.

As we all know, translators are the most likely to suffer from both sides. Suppose we recognize the translation = author+translator (the creator of the reader in the sense of the academic sense), then readers who are dissatisfied with the translator will think that the translation of the translator will make the work taste the same chew wax, or to flex the teeth, and feel the feelings, and feel the feelings. The author who is dissatisfied with the reader will be considered that the translator fails to pass the subtleties. Mr. Yang Yan's servant and two lords said at least an image description of the embarrassing identity of the translator. However, people often ignore it: the translator does a two -way work, but his judgment is often one -way. Readers may not be proficient in text translated, and writers often know nothing about the text used by the translator. Therefore, it is most reasonable to make bidirectional judgments from two -way experts. At the same time, experts often have a long or in -depth understanding of the translators and translators in their fields, and will not cause too much deviation in judgment.

Judging from the results of this winning prize, the translation award is the only award that has not won the full winner. All the awards of the Lu Awards are five winners, but the translation award is not full, there is a vacancy. This once again proves that the translation award is more complicated in the selection and difficult to obtain a consistent consensus. This comes from the diversity of language, but also because of the difficulty of translation standards. On the other hand, the consensus that can win the award must be very high. This is a consensus transcending the language. This award -winning work is in line with this characteristic. Although the value of each translation is reflected in different aspects, they have sufficient quality to attract judges from many languages ​​and obtain a more consistent consensus.

The meaning of the translation award

Any kind of award, especially the humanistic awards, will be more or less subjective. Therefore, the particularity of the translation award does not seem to be too exaggerated. What we need to inquire more may be: the significance of a national translation award, where should it be reflected?

We see that the Lu Xun Literature Award has formed a complete mechanism. The translation can appear in this award, which itself proves the importance of Chinese literature about foreign literature. At the same time, it is necessary to say that compared with other awards, it is still edge, and its influence is undoubtedly weaker than other awards. Therefore, the question may be mentioned like this: Where is the significance of a relatively marginal national literary translation award?

This is actually a big topic, involving many aspects, and it is not the main purpose of this article. As far as the Lu Awards are concerned, it has at least two fundamental problems and needs to cause our thinking. The first is the classics of translation itself. As mentioned earlier, the classic nature of the work. So, in what aspect of the translation itself, can it play a role model and promote people's thinking about translation? In this award -winning work, "The Complete Works of Heras" and "Crazy Roland" are very representative. They even represent two directions. "The Complete Works of Heras" has achieved excellence in translation, especially in two volumes. One volume will fully present the full text, and the other is thicker, to make a detailed annotation and interpretation of each line of verses, and inform the potential possibilities of the other or even other translations. This is the best way to present foreign classical works from a practical perspective, which is worth learning from. The translator of "Crazy Roland" conducted a gratifying exploration on the road of equal form, reminiscent of the "dancing with a foot". This attempt is especially suitable for the translation of some ancient classic works. As for the merit, it needs the test of time.

The second problem is more important, that is, the blending of foreign works and Chinese works. As we all know, the development of modern literature in my country has been greatly affected by foreign literature. The concept of short stories, middle, and novels is introduced from the West; modern novels are also fundamentally different from the traditional chapter novels in our country. With the translation of modern novels, there are Lu Xun and Guo Moruo, only "Home", "Spring", "Autumn", and "Zi Ye", and so on. The reason why Fu Lei has become a great translator is because whether it is "John Klisdov" and "Celebrity Biography", they have become the spiritual food of a whole generation, as "Fu Lei Family Book". Artist, writer. My 10 -year -old Fu Lei Translation Publishing Award has told me that almost all important writers in China today are the beneficiaries of foreign translation novels. As a result, the question is: What extent can the outstanding foreign literary works that have entered the Lu Award Translation Award and even the award -winning of the prize? As far as I know, except for very few classics, they rarely be favored or even read by Chinese writers. If reading foreign literature has become a foreign language expert and foreign literary experts, then the spread of foreign literature in China is still greatly limited, and it is still placed in the window as a museum -like collection. So, where is the real value of a foreign translation? In this award, several works answered this question well in a unique form, which attracted the attention of many judges. Although he did not win the prize in the end, he was still appreciated and received a lot of votes. The Portuguese writer Saramago's "All Names" was written by Xu Zichen and made a refined interpretation of "All Names". The dialogue between the writer and the writer provides a good example for the integration or interaction between the two countries; Herrabal's "Strict Surveillance Train" also includes three very different works, showing the many aspects of the Czech writer's many aspects Talent. Polish writer Zubignev Hebert's "Static Painting with Horse Chewing" is a relatively rare literary form: a Polish writer runs to the Netherlands and told Dutch painting in personally. The beautiful prose form has interspersed many solid art historical materials, accompanied by the author's intuition and thinking, which is fascinating. It is believed that it can inspire Chinese writers.

In the end, I had to mention that when the Brazilian National Museum was burned ruthlessly by a fire, and 200 years of memory was destroyed, how could I not think that Galeno's "Fire Memory I: Genesis"? The author's ambition is to reproduce the memory of the entire South America through literature in his works. The fire can destroy memory, and in the writer's pen, a full -scale civilized memory of the mainland and surrounding islands can be reborn. Perhaps this is the power of literature. In human history, the best translators are often compared to "Prometheus", which means that it brings light to its civilization. The power of translation literature lies in it that it can leave a "memory of fire stolen". The Lu Award Translation Award can reward such creations and translation behaviors, which is quite proud.

Source: Literary News Dong Qiang

Transfer from: China Translation Research Institute

- END -