This essay was originally written in Chinese. An AI-generated English translation is available underneath.
复旦大学中文系
2012～2013 学年第二学期期末考试
课程名称：沈从文精读 课
课程代码： CHIN130111.01
开课院系： 中文系 （普通进修生）
考试形式： 课程论文
姓名：齐冉Kieran Maynard
专业：汉语言文学
论文题目：沈从文的《丈夫》与戴乃迭的英译
沈从文的短篇小说《丈夫》发表于1930年，讲述了一对年轻夫妻的故事：一个年轻女人为了赚钱救济自己与其丈夫，从山寨来到城市卖身。有一天，她的丈夫进城来，看到其媳妇的心情十分复杂，于是两个人一起回农村。目前，《丈夫》有几个不同的英译本。本论文将介绍戴乃迭，一位译过沈从文的翻译家，以及其翻译作品《丈夫》，进而分析小说的结构、叙述方式、以及译者采用的翻译策略。
Shen Congwen's short story "The Husband" was published in 1930, and tells the story of a young couple: a young woman moves from a village to the city to engage in prostitution to make money and support her husband. One day, her husband comes to town, feels complex emotions about his wife, and takes her back home with him. As of 2013, this short story has a few different English translations. This paper introduces Gladys Yang's translation, and furthermore analyses the structure of the story, its narrative method, and the translation strategies employed by the translator.
戴乃迭（Gladys Yang，1919-1999年）曾经译过沈从文的文学作品，其中《丈夫》收录于《边城及其他》（The Border Town and Other Stories, 1981年）。戴乃迭的父亲是一名在中国传教的英国传教士。1917-1943年间，其父在燕京大学教经济学，其母在位于北京郊外的海淀村（现在的北京市海淀区）传教。由于父母认为军阀政权下的北京不安全，幼时的戴乃迭被送回英国上学。后来，她进入牛津大学，成为该校第一个学习中文的学生，并且结识了中国人留学生杨宪益，开始与之恋爱。两人于1940年移居重庆，同年结婚。第二次世界大战结束后，夫妻移居南京。中华人民共和国成立后，两人在北京落户，均成为外文出版社的译者。1949-1968年间他们译过大量的中国文学作品，例如明代小说、《红楼梦》、鲁迅、老舍、茅盾、曹禺、以及沈从文。1968-1972年间两人被关进监狱。四年间，戴乃迭被单独关押在禁闭室内。后来她回忆，当时只有《毛选》和《人民日报》可读，她在牢里终于收到一本《资本论》的时候读得津津有味。1972年释放后到1999年去世之间，她继续从事文学翻译工作，访问了许多亚洲以及欧洲的高校，翻译过当代文学，女权主义文学等多种作品。
本篇的一个特点是开头描述了一种现象（丈夫把媳妇送到城市卖身）以及其背景（经济状况等）与前景（河上的妓船等）。这种结构在第一句与第二句之间可以看出。本篇开头的一句“落了春雨，一共有七天，河水涨大了”里有“七天”特定的数字，因而说明这是某一段特定的时间。第二句之所以有在下一行可能是因为第二句描述了一种普遍现象：“河中涨了水”为前提，“平常时节”会出现这样的情形。这里的反差反映着整篇的结构：先描述普遍现象，然后把焦点放在个人人物身上。这样的结构本身反映着“丈夫”自己的认知变迁。当初，妻子卖身只是一个概念而已。丈夫到了城市亲眼目睹妻子之所谓“生意”之后才产生了心理的变化。如此，本篇的结构先让读者了解一个现象，然后了解个人的人物，以便谅解而同情他们。假如利用相反的结构，读者可能会诧异，难以理解离家卖身的现象。作者可能预想到读者的反应，以为他们会谴责这样的行为，因而故意地把社会现象和经济状况写在前面，而且使用轻松的口吻，为了给读者一种印象：在你们所不了解的这地方，这样的行为反而“不与道德相冲突，也不违反健康。”（不过，实际上，对“不违反健康”难免有些非议。）
在英译里，这样“从概括到具体”的结构颇为明显。第一句译为，“THAT spring, after a whole week's rain, the river rose.” (Shen 1981) 译者之所以不把“春雨”译成 “spring rain”可能是为了强调故事的特定时间，所以译为“那春天。”其他译法也可能，比如 “A spring rain fell, seven days in all, and the river rose”或“Spring rain fell for seven days…” 原著的第一句与第二句颇有诗歌里常见的重复的回响作用， 不过英译强调现象的普遍性，把“河中涨了水”译为 “Whenever this happened”，乃“这（样的事情）发生的时候。”
《丈夫》的叙述方式
本篇有几个段落把原型人物和具体的人物混淆，颇有趣致。有一段落的开头为，“这种丈夫，到什么时候，想及那在船上做生意的年青的妻，或逢年过节，照规矩要见见妻的面了……”这句里的“什么时候”，“或”，以及“照规矩”说明这是一个概括。不过，叙述越写越具体而且详细。下个段落的“或者问……或者问”说明这不完全是两个人的故事。下面有一句：“当真转去没有？不。”这句有口述的特征；本篇的结构可能是模仿口述的方式。这句把故事定在这两个特定的人物的身上，同时下面还出现“或……或”的句型，到“这样的丈夫在黄庄多着”才彻底地讲完概括，进而开展夫妻的故事。在英译，由于英文与中文不同，是具有时态的语 言，翻译这部分有所困难。如果使用过去式的动词，就把故事讲得太具体，失去原著的趣味。如果一贯使用条件语气或虚拟语气，就会拗口别扭。戴乃迭使用的处理方法是在开头多利用条件语气，至特定的夫妻出现的时候转用过去式。开头部分的“伏身在临河一面窗口，可以望到”，“也可以知道”，“可以过来好日子”译为 “if they leaned out of a window over the river, had a fine view”，“could also watch”，“could keep… [him] in comfort”，是直接翻译中文的条件语气，“可以 ”与 “could”相对应。不过，英文一般使用情态动词表示条件语气，但是由于语法不同，有的时候中文并没有明确地表现条件语气，英文还得使用情态动词，或者使用其他的叙述方式，比如利用所谓“叙述性现在式”。原著与戴乃迭的译文如下（我把条件语气成分以粗体显示）：
这种丈夫，到什么时候，想及那在船上做生意的年青的媳妇，或逢年过节，照规矩要见见媳妇的面了，自己便换了一身浆洗干净的衣服，腰带上挂了那个工作时常不离口的短烟袋，背了整箩整篓的红薯糍粑之类，赶到市上来，象访远亲一样，从码头第一号船上问起，一直到认出自己女人所在的船上为止。问明白了，到了船上，小心小心的把一双布鞋放到舱外护板上，把带来的东西交给了女人，一面便用着吃惊的眼睛，搜索女人的全身。这时节，女人在丈夫眼下自然已完全不同了。
If a husband missed his wife doing business on a boat, or wanted to see her during a festival, since she could not go home, he would change into freshly laundered clothes, hang at his waist the tobacco pouch he always wore at work and make his way into town with, on his back, a whole crate of sweet potatoes, cakes of sticky rice and the like. He would ask at the wharf, starting with the first boat, till he discovered his wife's whereabouts. Then he would go aboard, careful to leave his cloth shoes on the deck outside the cabin. As he gave his wife the things he had brought, he would eye her from head to foot with stupefaction. For by now naturally, to him, she had changed out of all recognition. (Shen 1981:121)
如果利用“叙事性现在式”翻译，可译为：
This kind of husband, at some point, misses his young wife doing business on a boat, or at New Year's or some other festival, according to propriety should go see his wife, so he changes into an outfit of starched clean clothes; the pouch of tobacco that never strays from his mouth while working hanging at his belt, [and] a whole wicker basket of sweet potatoes, rice cakes and the like on his back, he makes his way into town; just like visiting a distant relative, he asks from the first boat at the wharf all the way until he finds the boat with his woman. Having found her, he goes aboard, careful to leave his pair of cloth shoes on the deck outside the cabin, and gives the things he brought to the woman while looking her up and down with startled eyes. Of course by this time, in his eyes the woman has changed completely. （我的译文）
总结 Conclusions
研究翻译理论的印度学者G. W. Devy认为翻译“试图使原著复生在另外一种语言体系与时空。正如文学文本仍然归属于原来的时代与风格，然而同时一贯存在于相继的后来的时代，翻译同时接近而超越原著。”（Devy，自Bassnett and Trivedi 1998: 184-185） 我赞同此观点，并且认为翻译也可以是一种表演。村上春树的翻译家哈佛大学教授Jay Rubin认为，翻译正如弹钢琴，因为“钢琴演奏的观众大多数人无从看到乐谱，必须依靠演奏者才能听到音乐。当然，不同的音乐家的不同解释之间的差异可以很刺激，你可以买很多（贝多芬的）第8钢琴奏鸣曲 的录音，把各个钢琴家的着重与乐句作对比，在脑海里造出一种各个音乐家未曾达到的最理想解释。” (Japan Foundation 2008: 13)
我之所以研究戴乃迭的翻译是为了探讨翻译的多样性，进一步了解它的过程、技巧、及作用。沈从文其他作品和语言的翻译仍然等待研究。
Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Fudan University
Final Examination, Second Semester, Academic Year 2012-2013
Course Title: Close Reading of Shen Congwen
Course Code: CHIN130111.01
Department Offering the Course: Department of Chinese Language and Literature (Open to General Visiting Students)
Examination Format: Research Paper
Student Name: Qi Ran (Kieran Maynard)
Major: Chinese Language and Literature
Paper Title: Shen Congwen's "The Husband" and Gladys Yang's English Translation
Gladys Yang's translation of "The Husband" by Shen Congwen
Shen Congwen's short story "The Husband" was published in 1930 and tells the story of a young couple: a young woman moves from a village to the city to engage in prostitution to make money and support her husband. One day, her husband comes to town, feels complex emotions about his wife, and takes her back home with him. As of 2013, this short story has a few different English translations. This paper introduces Gladys Yang's translation, and furthermore analyses the structure of the story, its narrative method, and the translation strategies employed by the translator.
Gladys Yang
Gladys Yang (1919-1999) translated many of Shen Congwen's literary works, including "The Husband," which is collected in The Border Town and Other Stories (1981). Gladys Yang's father was a British missionary in China. From 1917 to 1943, her father taught economics at Yenching University, and her mother was a missionary in Haidian Village (now Haidian District, Beijing) on the outskirts of Beijing. Because her parents considered Beijing unsafe under the warlord regime, the young Gladys Yang was sent back to England for schooling. Later, she entered Oxford University, becoming the first student at the school to study Chinese, and met Yang Xianyi, a Chinese international student, and began a relationship with him. The two moved to Chongqing in 1940 and married in the same year. After the end of World War II, the couple moved to Nanjing. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the two settled in Beijing and both became translators for the Foreign Languages Press. Between 1949 and 1968, they translated a large number of Chinese literary works, such as Ming Dynasty novels, Dream of the Red Chamber, Lu Xun, Lao She, Mao Dun, Cao Yu, and Shen Congwen. Between 1968 and 1972, the two were imprisoned. During those four years, Gladys Yang was held in solitary confinement. She later recalled that at that time, only the Selected Works of Mao Zedong and the People's Daily were available to read, and she was delighted when she finally received a copy of Das Kapital in prison. From her release in 1972 until her death in 1999, she continued to work on literary translation, visited many universities in Asia and Europe, and translated a variety of works, including contemporary literature and feminist literature.
The Structure of "The Husband"
One characteristic of this piece is that the beginning describes a phenomenon (husbands sending their wives to the city to engage in prostitution), its background (economic conditions, etc.), and its foreground (the prostitute boats on the river, etc.). This structure can be seen between the first and second sentences. The first sentence of the piece, "落了春雨，一共有七天，河水涨大了" (literally, "Spring rain fell, a total of seven days, the river water rose"), contains the specific number "seven days," thus indicating that this is a specific period of time. The reason why the second sentence is likely on the next line is because the second sentence describes a general phenomenon: "河中涨了水" (the river water rose) is the premise, and "平常时节" (in ordinary times) such a situation would occur. The contrast here reflects the structure of the whole piece: first describing the general phenomenon, and then focusing on individual characters. This structure itself reflects the change in the "husband's" own cognition. At first, his wife's prostitution was just a concept. Only after the husband went to the city and witnessed his wife's so-called "business" did a psychological change occur. In this way, the structure of this piece first allows the reader to understand a phenomenon, and then understand the individual characters, in order to understand and sympathize with them. If the opposite structure were used, the reader might be surprised and unable to understand the phenomenon of leaving home to engage in prostitution. The author may have anticipated the reader's reaction, thinking that they would condemn such behavior, and therefore deliberately wrote the social phenomenon and economic conditions in the front, and used a relaxed tone, in order to give the reader the impression that in this place you do not understand, such behavior is "not in conflict with morality, nor does it violate health" (Chang). (However, in reality, it is difficult to avoid some criticism of "not violating health".)
In the English translation, this "from general to specific" structure is quite obvious. The first sentence is translated as, "THAT spring, after a whole week's rain, the river rose" (Shen 121). The reason why the translator did not translate "春雨" as "spring rain" may be to emphasize the specific time of the story, so it is translated as "that spring." Other translations are also possible, such as "A spring rain fell, seven days in all, and the river rose" or "Spring rain fell for seven days..." The first and second sentences of the original have a repetitive echoing effect common in poetry, but the English translation emphasizes the generality of the phenomenon, translating "河中涨了水" as "Whenever this happened," thus, "this (kind of thing) happens."
The Narrative Method of "The Husband"
This piece has several paragraphs that mix archetypal characters and specific characters, which is quite interesting. One paragraph begins with, "这种丈夫，到什么时候，想及那在船上做生意的年青的妻，或逢年过节，照规矩要见见妻的面了……" (This kind of husband, at some point, thinks of his young wife doing business on a boat, or at New Year's or some other festival, according to propriety, should see his wife...) The "什么时候" (at some point), "或" (or), and "照规矩" (according to propriety) in this sentence indicate that this is a generalization. However, the narration becomes more and more specific and detailed. The "或者问……或者问" (maybe ask... maybe ask) in the next paragraph indicates that this is not entirely a story of two people. There is a sentence below: "当真转去没有？不。" (Did [she] really go back? No.) This sentence has the characteristics of oral narration; the structure of this piece may be imitating the oral style. This sentence fixes the story on these two specific characters, and at the same time, the "或……或" (either... or) sentence pattern appears below, until "这样的丈夫在黄庄多着" (There are many such husbands in Huangzhuang) completely finishes the generalization, and then starts the story of the couple. In the English translation, because English is a language with tenses, unlike Chinese, translating this part is somewhat difficult. If past tense verbs are used, the story becomes too specific, losing the charm of the original. If the conditional or subjunctive mood is used consistently, it will be awkward and unnatural. Gladys Yang's approach is to use the conditional mood more at the beginning, and switch to the past tense when the specific couple appears. The "伏身在临河一面窗口，可以望到" (leaning out of a window facing the river, [they] can see), "也可以知道" (can also know), and "可以过来好日子" (can have a good life) in the opening part are translated as "if they leaned out of a window over the river, [they] had a fine view," "could also watch," and "could keep… [him] in comfort," which is a direct translation of the Chinese conditional mood, with "可以" corresponding to "could." However, English generally uses modal verbs to express the conditional mood, but due to grammatical differences, sometimes Chinese does not clearly express the conditional mood, and English still needs to use modal verbs, or use other narrative methods, such as the so-called "narrative present tense." The original and Gladys Yang's translation are as follows (I have bolded the conditional mood components):
这种丈夫，到什么时候，想及那在船上做生意的年青的媳妇，或逢年过节，照规矩要见见媳妇的面了，自己便换了一身浆洗干净的衣服，腰带上挂了那个工作时常不离口的短烟袋，背了整箩整篓的红薯糍粑之类，赶到市上来，象访远亲一样，从码头第一号船上问起，一直到认出自己女人所在的船上为止。问明白了，到了船上，小心小心的把一双布鞋放到舱外护板上，把带来的东西交给了女人，一面便用着吃惊的眼睛，搜索女人的全身。这时节，女人在丈夫眼下自然已完全不同了。(Chang)
If a husband missed his wife doing business on a boat, or wanted to see her during a festival, since she could not go home, he would change into freshly laundered clothes, hang at his waist the tobacco pouch he always wore at work and make his way into town with, on his back, a whole crate of sweet potatoes, cakes of sticky rice and the like. He would ask at the wharf, starting with the first boat, till he discovered his wife's whereabouts. Then he would go aboard, careful to leave his cloth shoes on the deck outside the cabin. As he gave his wife the things he had brought, he would eye her from head to foot with stupefaction. For by now naturally, to him, she had changed out of all recognition. (Shen 121)
If using the "narrative present tense" to translate, it could be translated as:
This kind of husband, at some point, misses his young wife doing business on a boat, or at New Year's or some other festival, according to propriety should go see his wife, so he changes into an outfit of starched clean clothes; the pouch of tobacco that never strays from his mouth while working hanging at his belt, [and] a whole wicker basket of sweet potatoes, rice cakes and the like on his back, he makes his way into town; just like visiting a distant relative, he asks from the first boat at the wharf all the way until he finds the boat with his woman. Having found her, he goes aboard, careful to leave his pair of cloth shoes on the deck outside the cabin, and gives the things he brought to the woman while looking her up and down with startled eyes. Of course by this time, in his eyes the woman has changed completely. (My translation)
Conclusions
Indian scholar of translation theory G. N. Devy believes that translation "attempts to resurrect the original in another linguistic and temporal space. Just as a literary text, while remaining identified with its time and ethos of origin, continues to exist in subsequent times, a translation both approximates and transcends the original" (Devy, in Bassnett and Trivedi 184-185). I agree with this view, and I believe that translation can also be a kind of performance. Harvard professor Jay Rubin, a translator of Haruki Murakami, believes that translation is like playing the piano, because "most people in the audience for a piano performance cannot see the score and must rely on the performer to hear the music. Of course, the differences between different interpretations by different musicians can be very exciting, you can buy many recordings of (Beethoven's) Piano Sonata No. 8, compare the emphasis and phrasing of each pianist, and create in your mind the most ideal interpretation that no single musician has ever achieved" (Japan Foundation 13).
My reason for studying Gladys Yang's translation is to explore the diversity of translation, to further understand its process, techniques, and function. The translation of Shen Congwen's other works and languages still awaits study.
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