Abstracts
Abstract
Translating culture poses fundamental problems of perception and conception far deeper than matters of linguistic expression. This essay explores some of these problems by examining Fusheng liuji (Six Records of a Floating Life), a Chinese autobiographical text that has been translated into fourteen Asian and European languages. Even without going into the details of the rendered versions, one can notice various forms of intercultural mediation and reshaping in the translated titles and added subtitles. At one end is direct, partly helpless substitution: lexically flawless “float” cannot encompass the rich matrix of philosophical connotations and artistic resonances of fu in the source culture. At the other end is active reshaping: recasting, addition and omission based on interpretive (mis)reading, including a reduction of imagistic language into abstract concept (e.g., fu becomes “fleeting”). Through examining 17 renditions of the title of Fusheng liuji, this essay offers a case study that helps to cast light on the unavoidable factor of intercultural mediation in the translation process, with special focus on the translation of philosophical and aesthetic concepts. Some forms of mediation carry more significant effects than others, and there may be differences in verbal resources and orientations in various languages worthy of notice.
Keywords:
- Fusheng Liuji,
- translating philosophy,
- intercultural mediation,
- naturalization,
- foreignization,
- reductionism
Résumé
La traduction des cultures soulève des questions fondamentales de perception et de préconception qui vont au-delà des préoccupations purement linguistiques d’énonciation. Dans cet article, nous nous pencherons sur certaines de ces questions en examinant Fusheng Liuji (Six Records of a Floating Life), un texte autobiographique chinois, traduit en 14 langues asiatiques et européennes. Sans même devoir plonger dans les détails des traductions de l’ouvrage, il est possible de remarquer plusieurs formes de médiation et de remodelage interculturel dans les traductions des titres et des sous-titres ajoutés. À une extrémité du spectre, on trouve des substitutions directes, en partie inévitables : l’équivalent lexical exact « float » ne peut rendre le riche tissu de connotations philosophiques et de résonnances artistiques que « fu » évoque dans la culture source. À l’autre extrémité, on constate un remodelage actif : réaménagements, ajouts et omissions, basés sur une (fausse) lecture interprétative, incluant la réduction d’une langue imagée à un concept abstrait (par exemple, « fu » devient « fleeting ». En examinant 17 traductions du titre Fusheng Liuji, l’article propose une étude de cas qui permet de faire la lumière sur la médiation interculturelle, composant inévitable du processus de la traduction, tout en portant une attention particulière à la traduction de concepts philosophiques et esthétiques. Certaines formes de médiations sont porteuses de répercussions plus significatives que d’autres et il est possible de relever, selon les langues, des variations de ressources et d’orientations sur le plan verbal qui méritent qu’on s’y attarde.
Mots-clés :
- Fusheng Liuji,
- traduire la philosophie,
- médiation interculturelle,
- domestication,
- exotisation,
- réductionnisme
Appendices
Bibliographie
- AMES, Roger T. (1995). “Translating Chinese Philosophy.” In Chan Sin-wai and David E. Pollard, eds. An Encyclopaedia of Translation. Hong Kong, The Chinese University Press.
- ANON. (1986-1990). Hanyu Da Zidian 漢語大字典. 8 vols. Chengdu, Sichuan cishu chubanshe, Hubei cishu chubanshe.
- BARNSTONE, William (1993). The Poetics of Translation: History, Theory, Practice. New Haven and London, Yale University Press.
- BENJAMIN, Andrew (1989). Translation and the Nature of Philosophy: A New Theory of Words. London and New York, Routledge.
- BENJAMIN, Walter (1996 [1916]). “On Language as Such and on the Language of Man.” Trans. Edmund Jephcott. In Marcus Bullock and Michael W. Jennings, eds. Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings, vol. 1: 1913-1926. Cambridge, Mass, Harvard University Press, pp. 62-74.
- BENJAMIN, Walter (1996 [1923]). “The Task of the Translator.” Trans. Harry Zohn. In Bullock and Jennings, pp. 253-263.
- BERMAN, Antoine (1992). The Experience of the Foreign: Culture and Translation in Romantic Germany. Trans. S. Heyvaert. Albany, State University of New York Press.
- BOCHNER, Stephen, ed. (1981). The Mediating Person: Bridges between Cultures. Cambridge, Schenkman.
- BONNEFOY, Yves (1989). The Art and Place of Poetry: Selected Essays. John T. Naughton, ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
- BONNEFOY, Yves (1989). “French Poetry and the Principle of Identity.” Trans. Richard Stamelman. In John T. Naughton, ed. The Art and Place of Poetry: Selected Essays. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, pp. 118-136.
- CAI, Genxiang 蔡根祥 (2007). Fusheng liuji hou erji: “Zhongshan jili,” “Yangsheng jixiao” kaoyi《浮生六記》後二記 :〈中山記歷〉,〈養生記道〉考異. Taipei, Wanjuanlou.
- CAI, Genxiang蔡根祥 (2008). “ShenFu Fusheng liuji yanjiu xin gaochao” 沈復《浮生六記》研究新高潮. Guowen tiandi國文天地, 279 (August), pp. 53-65.
- CHAN, Kenneth K. S. (1964). Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey. Princeton, Princeton University Press.
- CHEN, Yupi陳毓羆 (1996). Shen Sanbai he tade Fusheng liuji沈三白和他的《浮生六記》. Taipei, Da’an chubanshe.
- ELIOT, T. S. (1948 [1928]). “Introduction.” In T. S. Eliot, ed. Ezra Pound: Selected Poems. (Revised edition). London, Faber & Faber.
- EOYANG, Eugene Chen (2003). “Borrowed Plumage”: Polemical Essays on Translation. Amsterdam, Rodopi.
- GERNET, Jacques (1985). China and the Christian Impact: A Conflict of Cultures. Trans. Janet Lloyd. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- GUO, Jianzhong郭建中, ed. (2000). Wenhua yu fanyi 文化與翻譯. Beijing, Zhongguo duiwai fanyi chuban gongsi.
- HALL, David L. and Roger T. AMES (1987). Thinking Through Confucius. Albany, State University of New York Press.
- HERMANS, Theo, ed. (1985). The Manipulation of Literature: Studies in Literary Translation. London, Croom Helm.
- HOLMAN, C. Hugh and William HARMON (1986). A Handbook to Literature. (Fifth edition) New York, Macmillan.
- KATAN, David (1999). Translating Cultures: An Introduction for Translators, Interpreters and Mediators. Manchester, St. Jerome.
- KWONG, Yim-tze 鄺龑子 (2006). “Fusheng liuji de sige shijie”《浮生六記》的四個世界. Jiuzhou xuelin 九州學林, 4, 3, pp. 81-127.
- LEFEVERE, André (1992). Translation, Rewriting and the Manipulation of Literary Fame. London, Routledge.
- LIU, James J. Y. (1975). “Polarity of Aims and Methods: Naturalization or Barbarization?” Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature, 24, pp. 60-68.
- LIU, James J. Y. (1981). The Interlingual Critic: Interpreting Chinese Poetry. Bloomington, Indiana University Press.
- LUO, Zhufeng 羅竹風et al., eds. (1988-1993). Hanyu da cidian漢語大辭典. 12 vols. Shanghai, Hanyu dacidian chubanshe.
- MCFARLAND, Thomas (1987). Shapes of Culture. Iowa City, University of Iowa Press.
- NEWMARK, Peter (1988). Approaches to Translation. Hemel Hempstead, Prentice Hall.
- NIDA, Eugene A. (2004 [1964]). Toward a Science of Translating: With Special Reference to Principles and Procedures Involved in Bible Translating. Leiden, E. J. Brill.
- NIDA, Eugene A. (2004) “Principles of Correspondence.” In Lawrence Venuti, ed. The Translation Studies Reader. (Second edition) New York and London, Routledge, pp. 153-167.
- NORMAN, Jerry (1988) Chinese. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
- PENG, Ling彭令 (2008a). “ShenFu Fusheng liuji juanwu yiwen de faxian ji chubu yanjiu” 沈復《浮生六記》卷五佚文的發現及初步研究. Wenweipo文匯報, 17-25 June.
- PENG, Ling彭令 (2008b). “QianYong shoulu ShenFu Fusheng liuji juanwu yiwen kaolüe” 錢泳手錄沈復《浮生六記》卷五佚文考略. Zhongguo gudai xiaoshuo wang中國古代小說網, 15 July.
- SHEN, Fu沈復 (2010). Fusheng liuji浮生六記. Beijing, Renmin wenxue chubanshe.
- SHEN, Fu沈復 (2007). Fusheng liuji浮生六記. Annot. YanshengWu 吳言生. Taiyuan, Shanxi guji chubanshe.
- SHEN, Fu沈復. (1999 [1939]). Six Chapters of a Floating Life. Trans. YutangLin 林語堂. Beijing, Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press.
- STEINER, George (1975). After Babel: Aspects of Language and Translation. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- TANG, Yongtong 湯用彤 (1983). HanWei liangJin Nanbeichao Fojiao shi漢魏兩晉南北朝佛敎史. 2 vols. Beijing, Zhonghua shuju.
- TSAI, Frederick (1995). “Book Titles.” In Chan and Pollard, eds. An Encyclopedia of Translation: Chinese-English, English-Chinese. Hong Kong, The Chinese University Press, pp. 78-82.
- VENUTI, Lawrence, ed. (2004). The Translation Studies Reader. (Second edition) New York and London, Routledge.
- WEISSBORT, Daniel and Astradur EYSTEINSSON, eds. (2006). Translation—Theory and Practice: A Historical Reader. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
- WRIGHT, Arthur F. (1959). Buddhism in Chinese History. Stanford, Stanford University Press.
- XIE, Ming謝明 (1996). “Intercultural Traduction: Distance and Appropriation.” Perspectives: Studies in Translatology, 4, 1, pp. 71-89.