Recreative Translation of Classical Chinese Poetry10.doc

recreative translation of classical chinese poetry1. introuctionclassical chinese poetry enjoys a time-honored and kaleidoscopic history. since the first anthology of poetrythe book of songs，more and more brilliant chapters have been written into classical chinese poetry by intelligence and wisdom of our people with feeling hearts until tang and song dynasties, which witnessed a veritable blooming of classical chinese poetry.it is indisputable that classical chinese poetry is a priceless cultural heritage unique to our country. with the expedition of global integration and expansion of cultural exchanges across the world, it is right and necessary for this national treasure to step out of our country into the world, to be embraced and appreciated by people of all nationalities. however, unlike peking opera, which can be sensed through gestures and body language, it can only become alive and meaningful under the pens of meticulous translators. a poem is essentially a combination of beauty of sounds, of forms, of rhetoric devices, and of stylistic effects. literary translation means to properly convey those aspects to the target text of a culture different from that of the source text. and as to classical chinese poetry, the disadvantage would arise in the sense that many difficulties would lie in the way of presenting the original beauties of classical chinese poetry characteristic of a language featured by both monosyllaism and richness in hieroglyphic characters. due to numerous linguistic and cultural reasons, this is no less than a herculean task. yet the translators of our country have blazed new trails and made great contributions persistently generation after generation. through their persevering effort and never-bending will, they have also formed various theories of their own, which in turn guide their practice.as for me, classical chinese poetry has always been holding irresistible charm. i am always helplessly indulging in their soaring aesthetic realm and intoxicated by their visional elegance as well as verbal melodiousness. i even have the aspiration that i will produce my own versions and write a praiseworthy stroke in this glorious undertaking. undoubtedly, enthusiasm is the best working quality, imparting great elasticity and delights to my case study. it is enthusiasm that spurs me to write down this thesis and humbly present my own opinions here. as a preliminary english learner, i have a long way to go. the moment i braced myself to write this topic, which is a bit too profound and subtle for undergraduates, i am prepared to overcome all difficulties and accept all fair criticism. for i am clearly aware that resilience and maturity in both mind and skill has to be achieved through trial and error. 2. necessity of recreative translation of classical chinese poetrytranslatability or in translatability, this is a question, which has been hotly debated for decades. yet in my point of view, translatability dwells in translatability, whereas in translatability is embodied in translatability.george henry lewes pointed out in life of geothe(henry, 1885),“even under the most successful attempt, translation is no more than an approximation, while attempts are not successful usually. a translation may be good as translation, but it can not be an adequate reproduction of the originalworld famous linguistician r. jakobson also pointed out to this effect by citing an example: “poetry by definition is untranslatable; it is only possible to do creative transposition. if we want to translate this age-old italian epigram traduttore, traditoreinto english, the translator is betrayer, we would deprive the italian rhyming epigram of all its paronomasia value.and the well-known scholar of our country mr lin yutang also pointed out to the same effect:“译者所能够达到之忠实，即比较的忠实之谓一百分的忠实，只是一种梦想凡文字有声音之美，有意义之美，有传押之美，有文气文体形式之美，译者或顾其意而忘其神，或得其神而忘其体，绝不能把文意文神文气文体及声音之美完全同时译出我们须记得翻译只是一种不得已的很有用的事业，并不是只代原文之谓；译者所能求的只是比较的非绝对的成功。”to sum up, the possibility does exist for translators to reproduce the original meaning, style and emotion to more or less degree depending on better or worse a translation is. granted, faithfulness is the guiding principle in translation, namely, achieving equivalence with the original text in expressing the source language with the target language. but absolute faithfulness, in other words, a fully adequate translation, is impossible.reasons of intranslatability are related as follows.2.1 general reasons of the impossibility of absolute faithfulness in translation.(1)the innate differences between source language and target language. there are yawning gaps among various languages, including phonetics, spelling and grammar, which, however, are not the biggest obstacles yet. the broadest gap lies in the habitual way of using language, including vocabulary selection, metaphor and associations.(2) traditional and cultural background varies from language to language. a simple and familiar illustration goes to “dog”, which is regarded by westerners as bright and adorable, hence the phrase “lucky dog”. while in china, it is always associated with “betrayal and meanness”. the deviation of information reception resulted from traditional cultural background difference may likely lead to unfaithfulness of translation.(3)difference of national psychological features. each nation has its own culture and customs, hence different psychology. owing to their open-mindedness and magnanimity, westerners writing features frankness, straight-to-point style and they never beat about the bush, while chinese are indisposed to a more delicate, roundabout and milder style, which bears consideration. it naturally follows that amalgamating these two differing mentalities is no easy thing.2.2 particular reasons of in translatability of poetrythe above-mentioned is the general reasons of impossibility of absolute faithfulness; next this thesis will analyze the reasons why translation of poetry could not abide by faithfulness, taking the unique characteristics of poetry into consideration.mao dun said this on literary translation: “ 文学翻译是用另一种语言把原作的艺术意境传达出来，使读者在读译文的时候能够象读原作时一样得到启发，感动和美的感受”. moreover, as the most concentrated and concise literary pattern, poetry imposes especially strict demand on language art. translation of classical chinese poetry is demanded to reproduce the artistic beauty of the original2.2.1 outward artistic beauty.(1) phonic beautyfirst, chinese characters all end with vowels, producing a sonorous and lasting sound as the end rhyme, while english usually ends with consonants, far less resounding and pleasant than vowels.second, english is named “stress language” in phonology, while chinese is named “tone language”. in classical chinese, there is four tones-level tone ,rising tone, falling tone and entering tone，but english usually has only descent and ascent tones, has no evident stressed and light sounds, which renders it hard to display the sound effects of chinese four cadenced tones and contagious musical effects.(2) formal beauty.classical chinese poetry has a fixed set of rules and forms with respect to rhyme scheme. 绝句(a poem of four lines, each containing five or seven characters) and 律诗 (a poem of eight lines, each containing five or seven characters) both have a strict tonal pattern and rhyme scheme. just like the metrical foot, such as iambic pentameter, trochee and dactylic hexameter in the victorian english poetry, they appear neat and clean, and sound cadenced and melodious. besides, chinese features particular hieroglyphic characters, which appeal to the eyes and present a visual beauty.talking about this ,yu guangzhong and swedish literary academician zhang yueran said in taiwan，cited two lines in chinese poet du fus 登高“无边落木萧萧下，不尽长江滚滚来”and commented as follows: “木的后面接萧萧，两个草字头，草也算木，不尽长江呢，江字是三点水，后面就滚滚而来, 这种字型，这种视觉上的冲击，无论你是怎样的翻译高手都是没有办法的”.2.2.2 inward artistic beauty.english poems emphasize on image while classical chinese poems attach great importance to artistic conception. english poetry lays particular stress on imagery beauty, arousing visional response, whereas classical chinese poetry appeals to readers psychological and mental empathy. on discussing about chinese condolence poetry, mao yumei pointed out “重含蓄不多外露，喜词尽而意无穷，无须铺陈，有时只是清白如画的素描，便感人肺腑”。 2.3 cultural associationthe so-called cultural association, reduced to simple terms, is that the associations aroused by certain words are familiar to and widely accepted by an overwhelming majority of people of the same language as well as cultural background, hence communicative function comes into existence. british poet and easiest hilaire belloc gave a report in oxford university on chinese-english translation. in his opinion, one word, as simple as it is, usually has many connotations, reminding people of other relevant famous works and famous lines. one word has a certain atmosphere in the original, but once translated into target language, the atmosphere vanishes or may even be totally twisted and different.for example, willow is not only the willow in willow trees in chinese culture. it means far beyond this. the following are some poems containing this character.杨柳东风树，青青夹御河。近来攀折苦，应为别离多。（王之焕送别）渭城朝雨浥清晨，客舍青青柳色新。劝君更进一杯酒，西出阳关无故人。（王维渭城曲多情自古伤离别，更堪，冷落清秋节。今宵酒醒何处？杨柳岸，哓风残月。，此去经年，应是良辰好景虚设，便纵有千种风情，更与何人说？(柳永雨霖铃)in all these widely spread and recited lines, willow has been endowed with a sense of sorrow and reluctance in departure; namely, two people could not bear to part from each other. through thousands of years of cultural drifts and deposits, this word in classical chinese poetry has already changed from a mere name of plant to a special term suggesting forlornness and regret in departure. it is the same case with swallows. swallows leave in autumn and return in spring, bringing comfort and warmth in the midst of loneliness. for example,笙歌散尽游人去，始觉春空。垂下帘栊，双燕归来细雨中。（欧阳修）无可奈何花落去，似曾相识燕归来。（晏殊）花褪残红青杏小，燕子飞时，绿水人家绕。（苏轼）profound culture has cultivated the natural trend of thoughts of our chinese people. therefore, the meaning we can comprehend easily can not be grasped by westerners, which makes the translation of classical chinese poetry arduous all the more. the unwitting misleading in cultural association of translation usually ends in regrettable partial loss of the meaning.3. the core of recreative translation3.1. re-experience the spirit of the poets3.1.1 poetry flowing spontaneously from the soulzhu chunshen said in 心的放歌：“诗，不是通过对其所指意义的解释而获得，而是通过阅读过程中因为用心的体验而产生，因为放心的翻译而驻留。这就是诗“意”。如果说先人造字，让后人明白“武”的真意在于“止戈”，那“意”的汉字形体就告诉我们其真谛乃“心”之“音”；而音则是“立”而“曰”的言说所谓“意”，归根结底，是心“（独）立”而“曰”的言说，心的呼唤。由心发出的呼唤，能释放他人之心使之放歌的，就是“诗”，就是“言”之“寺”，就是语言永恒的神殿。每一个诗人的心中都有着也在不断建构着一座这样的神殿，通过心的呼唤，心的放歌来敬拜所供奉的神，这就是超越了韵律的诗人内心的诗。”this piercing and beautifully written remark cuts to the core of poetry. poetry flows spontaneously from the bottom of the poets hearts and transcends any form of verse. it is the souls voice rather than glottal voice that appeals most to the translator; it is the sound of right chord rather than the sound of chord that sounds the most dulcet and harmonious of all.poetry is about reaching deep down, down, inside yourself to the center of your heart and exploring your strongest feelings, and then climbing back up, up, up to innermost cells of your brain and choosing the best words in the best order to say exactly what you found in your heart. so is the translation of poetry.as a poet himself, yu guangzhong said:“青年读诗如初恋，学者读诗如选美，诗人读诗如寻妻”. the poets reading poetry is more than any other a pursuit of heart. such kind of reading transcends over the facade of characters, but emphasizes more on the empathy, whereas a scholar stops at mere characters. beauties can be selected by him through artificial standards, but he cannot necessarily understand the hearts of them.3.1.2 artistic appealing poweranother quintessential element of poetry lies in its artistic appealing power. classical chinese poetry is a condensed form of language as well as emotions; therefore tremendous contagious power breaks out from the short lines, which appeals straight to the soul of the readers. since our classical chinese poetry writes its first chapter from the book of songs, a classic passage of the book of songs is quoted here.毛诗序：“诗者，志之所之在也，在心为志，发言为诗。情动于中而形于言，言之不足故嗟叹之，嗟叹之不足则永歌之，永歌之不足，不如手之舞之，足之道之。”then this passage of our ancient china coincides happily with description of the american famous female poet emily dickinson,if i read a book and it makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, i know that is poetry, if i feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, i know that is poetry. poetry is not only the record of thoughts and feelings, but has tremendous influencing power. dickinsons description is more vivid. poetry goes straight in to the depth of your mind and soul, this kind of heart-shaking strength.then as to the important two factors related above, both of these are intangible things, which can only be sensed with whole heart and soul, how can the inner merits of classical chinese poetry, how can the profound meaning hidden in lines be reflected outwardly?the answer is style.3.2 reproduce the style of the originalas for classical chinese poetry, various aspects of features relevant with language and language use such as vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar, rhetoric, stylistic, tones, rhyme, rhythm, cultural feature of the times constitute the dominant stylistic system of poetry while such distinctive characteristics such as artistic style, poise and romantic charm, images, inherent qualities, artistic conceptions and artistic appealing power constitute recessive stylistic system. in a word, the style is the man. the transfer of style touches the most sensitive and complicated spot in literary translation. with this account, flaubert said, for a literary work, style is the life, this is the blood of thoughts, which coincides with professor wang zongyan:“能否译出原文风格是衡量译文的最高标准，尤其是在翻译文学作品或用文学笔调写历史书的时候”.in a certain sense, reproduction of the style of the original works is tantamount to the preservation of the life of the original; the opposite is no less than snuffing the fountain of its life. but then, how to realize the reproduction? just as above-mentioned, the literary style of the poet is outwardly reflected in the indisposition (inclination) and characteristics of the language use, the combining structure and methods of sentences, the selection and adoption of rhetoric devices. it naturally follows that translator should make initial attempts in these aspects, transform the original symbolic system so as to transfer the original style into the target language. however, obstacles resulted from language differences are inevitable. in order to overcome these hindrances, translator should display creativity to the full, try to seek ways and means to adapt the form difficult to be corresponded between the original and the translated version. english translating master of classical chinese poetry wu juntao used to speak on this in the second periodical of chinese translators journal in 2000,“在英译中找到替代的方法，比如每行五言，可以视内容多少，译为每行五个，六个，以至七个音步，或者十个，二十个，以至十四个音节。只要整首诗有规律可循便可不再苛求了。平仄声则用抑扬格，扬抑格，或者欹抑扬格，扬扬抑格取代，实在办不到，用每行较为整洁的音节取代，也可形成自然的节奏”.this is called stylistic adaptation, which is the only method to transfer the style of the source language into the target language.4. stylistic adaptation in a more accurate and detailed explanation所谓风格变通，是指在英语缺乏与汉语对应的风格符号，或者由于思维，语言，文化差异等原因，照搬原文语言风格形式回防碍诗歌意境的重构或影响诗歌语用功更的实际等情况下，寻求近似的风格手段，以便最大限度的保持原诗意境与整体风格特征的创造性翻译行为。this chapter will give a concrete presentation of the feasibility of stylistic adaptation and discuss in detail the various circumstances as well as the corresponding strategies.4.1 adaptation of meaningexample 1. 流水落花春去也，天上人间！李后主浪淘沙australian scholar rober kotewall and norman l.smith translated this line in selected chinese verse published by penguin books:flowing water, falling petals, all reach their homes,sky is above, but man has his place.reading this complete literal translation, could the foreign readers read beyond the line and grasp the hidden sense? of course not. it has been loaded much cultural and deeper meaning. in this case, adaptation of meaning is introduced in the following version.spring has gone with the fallen petalsand the waters runningwhat a difference between a prisoner and a king!example 2 海上升明月，天涯共此时张久龄望月怀远 herbert a. giles translated this into:over the sea the round moon rises bright,and floods the horizon with its silver light.the translator faithfully transfers the literal meaning, yet the intrinsic sense remains unseen, westerners will just dismiss it as two lines depicting scene for lack of sense that “moon” commutates “nostalgia” in chinese culture. therefore, the second line can be changed into:“and bathes the distant dear ones both in light”. in this way, the intrinsic meaning is clear on the basis of reserving the original end rhyme and iambic meter. 4.2 adaptation of rhetoric devicesexample 3 春色满园关不住，一枝红杏出墙来叶绍翁游园不值a grateful of spring cant be shut up, though, within sight a twig of apricot flowers is flaming out oer thwall.if 一枝红杏出墙来 is translated literally and flatly by means of sketch, it may be suitable for aesthetic tendency and mentality of chinese readers, but it cannot give westerners the same artistic affections. this translation adopts the rhetoric device of metaphor (“flaming” depicts vividly the dynamic beauty as well as color beauty of red apricot, obviously enhances its contagious appeal, achieve functional equivalence. besides, this version also make an adept use of alliteration (spring, shut; flowers, flaming),