从陶渊明《归园田居》（其一）的英译看中诗意象的传达
2023-11-25 09:11
论文总字数：26605字
摘 要
古典诗歌是中国文学的瑰宝。作为中国古典文化的缩影，汉诗集政治、历史、文化内涵于一体，而意象是传达这些涵义的重要媒介。意象的生动和优雅同时也造就了诗歌之美。因此，如何传达和翻译意象在诗歌翻译中具有重要意义。
本文首先介绍了意象的语源及其定义，分别从视觉意象、听觉意象、动觉意象、字面意象和修辞意象对陶渊明的《归园田居》作出具体分析。然后比较Charles Budd, Arthur Waley 以及 Amy Lowell笔下三个不同译本对《归园田居》中意象的翻译。通过三种不同译本的比较，探讨了汉诗中意象的传达与翻译。
关键词：中国古诗；意象；翻译；《归园田居》
Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Literature Review 2
2.1 The Etymology of Image 2
2.2 The Definition of Image 3
2.3 Image in On Returning to A Country Life 4
3. Image in Three Versions of On Returning to A Country Life 5
3.1 Introduction to the Three Versions 5
3.2 Visual Image 7
3.3 Auditory Image 8
3.4 Kinesthetic Image 9
3.5 Literal Image 9
3.6 Rhetorical Image 10
4. Translation Methods for Image in Chinese Poetry 10
5. Conclusion 11
Works Cited 13
1. Introduction
With the prevalence of Mandarin fever, Confucius Institute is experiencing an explosive growth around the world. Foreigners are increasingly interested in Chinese culture. As a microcosm of Chinese classical culture, Chinese poetry is combined with connotations of politics, history and culture. Besides, there are more and more abundant researches on translation of classical Chinese poetry.
Chinese poetry has a long history, ranging from The Book of Songs, Gems Of Yuefu Ballads, Poetry of the Tang Dynasty, Iambic Verse of the Song Dynasty to Drama of the Yuan Dynasty. In poetry, poets not only express their appreciation of nature and beauty, but also express their hatred of unfair social system, sorrow and happiness. Their poems attack the cruel reality to express their sympathy to the ordinary people. Those poems not merely reveal the inherent law of things but also voice their emotions and dreams. However, their emotions are not always voiced in direct ways. Instead, a great number of images are created to convey their feelings. As to the translation of these images, there are mainly imagists’ approach and aesthetic approach in the translation of image in Chinese poetry. The imagists’ approach does not focus much on the prosody or the meaning of the original poems. However, they regard image as the most significant element of poetry and devote considerable effort to recreating image in English versions. For example, Ezra Pound is a representative. On the other hand, the aesthetic approach aims at preserving the beauty of poetry. Xu Yuanchong is one of the representatives. From Xu Yuanchong’s point of view, poetry translation is an art rather than science. He thinks that re-creation can compensate what is lost in translation. In addition, Xu Yuanchong argues it unnecessary to retain the original image. He believes that image can be re-created as long as the beauty is preserved (Xu Yuanchong, 2010: 40). Arthur Waley, Amy Lowell and Charles Budd are the three translators of Tao Yuanming’s On Returning to A Country Life (《归园田居》). They all endeavor to re-create the original images in their translations. This is also what this paper is concerned with.
The research of Chinese poetry translation has made considerable achievements. However, there are rare translation studies which can reveal the ways of conveying image in poetry translation more deeply and systematically. The meaning of poetry translation is particularly important. It is directly related to the Chinese and foreign cultural communication even integration. This paper tries to make research on the translation of image in Chinese poetry by comparing the three versions of Tao Yuanming’s On Returning to A Country Life.
2. Literature Review
In the view of western scholars, image seems to be embracive words, which means “Using language to express the things, feelings, thoughts, ideas, behavior, psychology, and sensory or extrasensory experience”, while in ancient China, the word “image” is separated; The “Yi” means the inner abstract thoughts, while the “Xiang” means the external concrete object; That is also to say, the “Yi” comes from the heart and expresses in virtue of the image, the “Xiang” is the sustenance of the meaning.
In modern China, the word “image” is overspread; people are confused with the concepts of image. Jiang Yan (Cong Zihang, 2008: 211-212) writes an article specially enumerating different definitions of image. Some people hold the view that image is not the object itself. Some think that image is the means for creating artistic conception by poets. There are also some people who combine the two into one. In other words, image is the objective things blended in subjective intension.
Domestic scholars have also studied the meaning and characteristics of image. Liao Qiyi divided the image into three kinds: literal image, perceptual image and conceptual image (Cong Zihang, 2008: 210-211). Liu Huawen does researches on the definition and characteristics of image in aesthetic view. From Liu’s point of view, literal translation is better than free translation in translating image.
The previous scholars help the author to have a better understanding of image from varied aspects like its etymology, definition, its cultural features, etc.
2.1 The Etymology of Image
The earliest remark on image appear in The Book of Changes （《易经》）, in which different images are used to denote natural phenomena. In Appended Statements Xi-Ci（《易经·系辞》）, which is the commentary on The Book of Changes, Confucius explained the relation between “the concept in mind(Yi)”, “images(Xiang)” and “what is said (Yan)”.
Confucius said, “What is written does not give the fullness of what is said(Yan); what is said does not give the fullness of the concept in the mind(Yi).” (子曰：“书不尽言，言不尽意。”)
From the etymology and original meaning of image, it can be seen that image should have two basic meanings. Firstly, image means the total symbolic system consisting of the name and description of an objective thing, which origins from “圣人立象以尽意” in Appended Statements Xi-Ci（《易经·系辞》）. Secondly, image means the imaginary experience at conceptual stage, which origins from Liu Xie, who in the 26th chapter of Carving a Dragon with a Literary Mind, asserts that writers should utilize the deice of image to help convey complicated and profound senses（“独照之象，窥意象而运斤”） (Chen Zhi’e, 1990: 64-65). According to Liu Xie, “image” is the result of poets’ imagination and emotional perception based on the natural objects; it is a combination of subjective and objective world.
2.2 The Definition of Image
Although images in the west and China origin from different historical and cultural context with different philosophical foundation and due to the emergence and influence of the image movement, they both have the characteristics of openness, profundity and systematicness, and now have ended up in the same way. Image is a concept being shared both in Chinese and Western literary theory and poetics. Moreover, image is the structure consisting of one or more verbal images with poets’ emotion and sense, it is a part of the content of poems. Image is a kind of artistic concept created by poets with unique emotions. It combines the objective image with subjective feelings and makes poems full of implication. In addition, image is the term of ancient Chinese literary theories; it is combined with subjective intension and external image.
Image is the term of ancient Chinese literary theories. It is combined with the subjective intension of the poets as well as the external and natural scenes of the real society. That is to say, image is blended in poets’ subjective intension of objective things, or their subjective feelings with the description of objective things in their poems. Image, which serves as the materialized form of emotion, suggests that the scene in the poems is not only the objective existence in reality (in other words, the linguistic function of language), but more importantly the expression and conveyance of the poet’s emotions (that is to say, the poetic function). The linguistic function is just a tool of communication. Once the meaning has been conveyed, the tool is inoperative. Just as the saying goes, “The meaning being already known, one’s words are therefore no more necessary”. However, the poetic function is both the tool and the purpose of communication. Imagist poet Ezra Pound defines image not a concept but a central point, which is just like a whirlpool that various views are constantly presented from it.
2.3 Image in On Returning to A Country Life
Tao Yuanming, author of On Returning to A Country Life, creates a great number of poems during his life, including drinking, lyric and pastoral poems. Among them, pastoral poems make the highest achievement. Tao Yuanming’s poems are characteristic of simple and natural language, as well as the profound and lasting artistic conception, which opens up a new road in Chinese poetry. Tao Yuanming’s poems not only enjoy their popularity by Chinese readers but also attract many foreign readers over the years. In addition, many translations are spreading abroad. On Returning to A Country Life is one of the masterpiece.
On Returning to A Country Life is Tao’s important poem and it represents his strong belief of returning to a country life. The poem is narrative and lyrical and manifests the artistic conception of nature. It has five parts in total. This paper talks about the first part of the poem, which describes the poet’s resignation after retirement, and the carefree state of mind after returning to nature. The poem is as follows.
《归园田居》
一
少无适俗韵，性本爱丘山。
误落尘网中，一去三十年。
羁鸟恋旧林，池鱼思故渊。
开荒南野际，守拙归园田。
方宅十余亩，草屋八九间。
榆柳荫后檐，桃李罗堂前。
暧暧远人村，依依墟里烟。
狗吠深巷中，鸡鸣桑树颠。
户庭无尘杂，虚室有余闲。
久在樊笼里，复得返自然。
Image, in terms of senses, can be further divided into the following three types: visual image, auditory image and kinesthetic image. On the other hand, in the perspective of reference, image falls into the literal image and rhetorical image. This paper will discuss image in Tao Yuanming’s On Returning to A Country Life by these five images.
In the first eight lines of the poem, Tao Yuanming described that he was incompatible with the social society. Therefore, he decided to return to a country life and cultivated virgin land. In the middle part of the poem, from the fifth line to the eighth line, Tao Yuanming described a picture of tranquil scenery. In the last four lines, he expressed that he was happy and pleased with himself.
In the poem, “尘网” and “樊笼” are rhetorical images; “羁鸟” and “池鱼” are literal images; “宅子”, “桃李”, “榆柳”, “村落” and “炊烟” are visual images; “狗吠” and “鸡鸣” are auditory images; “开荒” and “归园田” are kinesthetic images. The following table may make it much clearer.
visual image | auditory image | kinesthetic image | literal image | rhetorical image |
宅子 桃李 榆柳 村落 炊烟 | 狗吠 鸡鸣 | 开荒 归园田 | 羁鸟 池鱼 | 尘网 樊笼 |
3. Image in three Versions of On Returning to A Country Life
3.1 Introduction to the Three Versions
This paper chooses three different English translations by Charles Budd, Arthur Waley and Amy Lowell. These three different versions are selected from A Comparative Study on English Translations of Old Gems edited by Lv Shuxiang. All of the three translators are native English speakers and they also have special feelings about Chinese poetry.
As Ezra Pound put it, “Waley was the great transmitter of the high literary cultures of China to the English-reading general public and the ambassador from East to West in the first half of the 20th century. He was self-taught, but reached remarkable levels of fluency, even erudition, in both languages. It was a unique achievement, possible only in that time, and unlikely to be repeated.” His importance for raising awareness and scholarly attention to the English speaking world is considered immense, reaching a wider popular readership with later re-publications in classics series.
Amy Lawrence Lowell was an American poet of the imagist school from Brookline, Massachusetts, who posthumously won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1926. Lowell was an early adherent to the “free verse” method of poetry and one of the major champions of this method.
Charles Budd was a merchant and political figure in Nova Scotia. In 1912, his version of Chinese Poems was published in England, America and Canada.
The three translators’ translation of image in Tao’s poem can be presented in the following table.
Translators | Types of Image | ||||
visual image | auditory image | kinesthetic image | literal image | rhetorical image | |
Charles Budd | my plot; plum and peach trees; elm and willow; 剩余内容已隐藏，请支付后下载全文，论文总字数：26605字
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