論魯迅的翻譯思想

Lu Xun （1881-1936） has been Zhou Shu-ren's pen name since he published Diary of A madman. He was born into a declining feudal family. His extensive reading in youth enabled him to accumulate a great store of national culture. During the Reform Movement，he read translation works of modern social science and literature of the west，in which his favorite was Huxley's Evolution and Ethics and other essays entitled《天演論》.Actually，evolutionary ideals used to be his spiritual weapon against feudalism. In 1902，his academic excellence won him an opportunity to study in Japan where he laid a solid foundation in Japanese，German，English and Russian. In 1906，he gave up medicine and began his lifelong literary creation and translation career. In Chinese history，he is considered as a great man of letters，thinker，revolutionist as well as an outstanding literary translator. He devoted himself to translation of foreign literature. It is he who inherited and developed traditional translation theory in China. On account of his great contribution，he has been regarded as the founder of Chinese translation theory.

Lu Xun's literary activities began with translation of foreign literature. In his whole life，he translated over 200 kinds of works written by 100 writers of 14 countries. His translation activities can be divided into three periods. During the first period （1903-1919），he studied in Japan and mainly translated literary works from Russia，Poland and Balkans. The first literary works he translated is a well-known scientific fiction，A Journey to Moon. At that time，he stood on the side of the weak and the oppressed and called for their fighting against injustice. During the second period（1920-1927），his belief was shifting from revolutionary democratic ideology to communism. In order to provide ideological weapon for people，he translated a great deal of literary works，most of which were from Russia，Northern and Eastern Europe. He even published special issues on literature of the oppressed nations. The third period （1927-1936） is the most splendid one for him to translate foreign literary works. During this period，he had transformed from a democratic revolutionist to a great communist. In 1935，he accomplished his last translation works-- Dead Souls by Gogol，a Russian classicist.

Lu Xun was ardent in translation and was faithful to it. He took translation rather seriously and spared no effort in it. His main translation theories are as follows：

On the purpose of translation： His translation works can be divided into two categories. The first one includes scientific literary criticism and revolutionary literary works. The second one refers to those common works. As for translation of the former，he said that it directly served revolution just as if to transport ammunitions to uprising slaves. But for the latter，he managed to provide some useful and beneficial reference for people. He favored translation of various works for Chinese readers' reference. He hoped that scholars took up translation of proletarian works as well as those so-called proletarian works colored with prejudice of capitalism. After critical judgments，readers can have a correct understanding about them. Of the value and function of translation，Lu Xun had a high evaluation. He said，“Translation is not easier than creation. It has rendered service to the development of new literature in China and done much good to Chinese writers and readers.”

On translation standard： It's no exaggeration to say that this standard is the nucleus of Lu Xun's translation theory. In his opinion，there must be two things involved in translation. One is to seek for understandability and the other is to preserve the original flavor. Actually，this standard inherits and develops Yan Fu's three-character standard （i.e.faithfulness，expressiveness and elegance）. In general，three-character standard aims at content，language and style respectively. Lu Xun's theory aims at seeking for understandability and keeping the original flavor. That's to say，the translation version should be both faithful and smooth to the original. Here，Lu Xun's “faithfulness” means complete and thorough loyalty to the original from the content to the style. It also alludes to meaning of “smoothness” and “elegance”. In a word，translation works should be faithful to the inseparable unity of the original in terms of content and form. What's more，this standard settled a dispute between domestication（歸化） and foreignization（異化）in translation circle. According to him，with a view to fully preserving the originally exotic flavor，the translation version cannot be thoroughly adapted. As a matter of fact，there is no translation version of full domestication in the world. He argued that what translators could do was change its clothes （i.e. transform the language form） instead of slicing off its nose and gouging its eyes. （i.e. change its original flavor）

On translation method： Lu Xun's another contribution in modern translation history is on the reform of translation method. He and Zhou Zuo-ren dauntlessly challenged the traditional translation method （i.e. translation from other versions） and adopted a new method--- literal translation. During the heated dispute of 1930s between the school of literal translation and the school of free translation，Lu Xun was a staunch advocate of literal translation. But he didn't object to any unavoidable free translation. In fact，he proposed both faithfulness and smoothness as the main criteria to be observed in translation. In his practice，as Li Ji（李寄） pointed out，Lu Xun did never set literal translation against free translation and repel it though he put emphasis on the former. Just on the contrary，he held that the method of free translation might be used where and when necessary. And Li Ji cited Lu Xun's own words in the Preface to his translation entitled 《小彼得》as a convincing proof：

“It's not quite proper for foreign language learners to begin their translation with children's stories，for they are apt to rigidly adhere to the original text and dare not translate it in a free way so that the translation is very difficult for the children to read. The manuscript of 《小彼得》had this kind of shortcoming. Thus I revised it on a large scale while reading and correcting proofs. As a result，the translation became more smooth than before.”（The Complete Works of Lu Xun，Vol.14，p.237）

Some scholars argue that his literal translation aims at attacking “bad translation”（歪譯）. Just as Jiang Chun-fang，a scholar has pointed out here “literal translation” actually refers to “correct translation”. Superficially speaking，literal translation and free translation are opposite to each other. At the deepest level，literal translation means correct translation that includes correct free translation. He held a rather dialectical viewpoint on contradiction between the two. He also recognized those deviation caused by overemphasis on literal translation and felt regretful about it. In Lu Xun's Brief Preface to his translation of the work On Art，《藝術論》，in which he said，“If there is someone who devotes himself to the study of the book，it's better for him to reorganize the sentences，make the terms easy to understand and render it in such a free way that the translation may be close to interpretation.”（The Complete Works of Lu Xun，vol.175，p.175） Anyhow，he advocated literal translation but didn't want his translation to be obscure and unintelligible. In terms of faithfulness and smoothness，he preferred faithfulness. His open declaration that he would prefer faithfulness to smoothness was aimed to oppose Zhao Jingshen's one-sided advocation of “preferring smoothness to faithfulness.” He agued that while translating，translators should import not only new content but also the new ways of expression. Readers' critical judgments can enable some expressions to become smooth and others to be washed away completely. He even said that translators should learn from Chinese historical experience in translation of Buddhist scriptures. Those newly imported syntax may be unfamiliar to readers，but later they could become assimilated into readers' culture. Those unaccepted would be got rid of as waste matters. As a matter of fact，he advocated not only literal translation and free translation，but also import of new ways of expression. This is the essence of his literal translation method. In Lu Xun's translation，Li Ji concluded that the method of literal translation and the method of free translation were merged. He merely regarded the former as primary and the latter as supplementary. In a word，he was a successful practitioner who combined literal translation and free translation.

On retranslation and translation from other versions： These are the important components of Lu Xun's translation theory. They serve prosperity of our translation cause and promotion of cultural exchange with the west. As for translation from other versions，he maintained that ideal translation should be performed directly from the original by translators who have a good command of the original. He also confessed great necessity of translation from other versions due to some limitations. He strongly disapproved of those who blindly looked down upon it. He even pointed out inconformity between the original and the translation by means of this method. In terms of concept and style，he held that the original and the translation versions cannot be identical. （Lu Xun and Translation，by Xu Guangping） He expected those who mastered Danish language，Norwegian and Spanish to translate directly from the original. As for retranslation，he argued that there was no perfect translation version. By retranslation，translators could select advantages of the old version for learning and imitation and simultaneously add their own understanding. In his opinion，retranslation was a good approach to defeat bad translation and served to promote the development of new literature. Because of the development of language，retranslation is very necessary.

On translation criticism： Though he is not the first who put forward translation criticism，he laid much emphasis on it. In his Defense for Translation （written on August 14th，1933），he pointed out that translation critics should be responsible for defects of translation version besides translators. It's critics' responsibility to give a credit to those versions with high qualities. If there was none，fairly good ones should also be given a note. In a word，he was undoubtedly the founder of Chinese modern literary criticism. He also guided the further development of modern literary criticism and translation criticism.

On the equal status of translation and creation： In Chinese literary history，creation has been always overemphasized while translation has been ignored. Liu Yuxi（劉禹錫） in Tang dynasty has warned people not to despise translation. It's Lu Xun who first put forward that translation and creation should share equal status. In his Titleless Essay （1） in the second collection of Qiejieting Essays，Lu Xun says，“I have always thought that translation is easier than writing，for at least you needn't work out a plot. But as soon as you put pen to paper，you meet with obstacles. For instance，you can avoid a noun or a verb you can't make good use of in writing，but you can't do so in translation. You will have to rack your brains for it until you get dizzy as if you are feeling in your head for a key to open a box，but in vain.” Even when he came to his old age，he still felt it difficult to do translation. He ever said，“as if you were doing a mere drudgery and had a hard time of it.” （See The Letter to Xiao Hong on March 1，1935） “I felt it to be a painful task to render Gogol. It seems as if I had an attack of some illness whenever I finish translating two chapters.”（See The Letter to Hu Feng on June8，1935） From his experience above，we can see translation should deserve equal status with creation. It's no exaggeration that Lu Xun has greatly elevated the position of translation in our culture.

As a preeminent man of letters and translator，Lu Xun considered literature as a means to serve social reconstruction and liberation. He devoted himself to transporting nourishment for mind，awakening national consciousness，seeking for truth and exploring the way to save our country out of disaster. Chairman Mao ever said，“On the frontier of new culture，Lu Xun represents the majority of the people and is regarded as the most correct，courageous，staunch，loyal and passionate hero who charged directly at the enemies.” In a word，his translation theories occupy an important status in translation history in China.

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