A Hero Reborn: “China’s Tolkien” Aims to Conquer Western Readers

The world’s most popular kung fu fantasy series is finally set to become a UK bestseller. 全世界最受歡迎的武俠系列小說終于將成為英國暢銷書。

Guo Jing, a young soldier among the massed ranks of Genghis Khan’s army and son of a murdered warrior,may soon become as familiar a questing literary figure as Frodo Baggins from Tolkien’sLord of the Rings, or Jon Snow fromGame of Thrones. In fact,this Chinese fi ghting hero is already part of phenomenon1phenomenon非凡的人（或事物）。that can match both of those epics in size. For the books of Guo Jing’s creator, the author known as Jin Yong, have already sold more than 300m copies.

[2] The world’s biggest kung fu fantasy writer, Jin Yong enjoys huge popularity in the Chinese-speaking world. In the west, however, his name is barely known, largely due to the complexity of the world he has created and the puzzle that has posed for translators.

郭靖是成吉思汗大軍眾多將士中的一名小兵，其父也是一名勇士，但慘遭殺害，他可能很快就會像托爾金小說《魔戒》里的弗羅多·巴金斯或《權力的游戲》中的瓊恩·雪諾一樣，成為人們熟知的探險文學人物。其實，這位中國武俠英雄所創造的轟動效應可與那兩部史詩巨著匹敵。而塑造郭靖這個角色的作家金庸的著作銷量已經達到3億多冊。

[2]作為全球最知名的武俠小說作家，金庸在華語世界享有很高的人氣。然而，他的名字在西方幾乎不為人知，主要是因為他構建的武俠世界紛繁復雜，給譯者帶來了難題。

[3] Now, for the fi rst time, the beginning of his extraordinarily popular series,Legends of the Condor Heroes, has been translated into English for a mainstream readership. It is a task that has already defeated several translators, yet Anna Holmwood, 32, from Edinburgh has managed it—or at least the fi rst volume. Her British publisher, MacLehose Press, plans a 12-volume series, with Holmwood’s fi rst volume,A Hero Born,due out in February.

[4] Agent Peter Buckman, who sold the rights to the series to the publisher,came across the works almost by chance as he searched the internet for “bestselling authors”. “Jin Yong was in the top 10, though I’d never heard of him; nor did I read Chinese,” he said this weekend.

[5] Comparisons with Tolkien or George RR Martin might sound overblown, but in and around China, Jin Yong’s works are classics, loved like fairytales or national legends.

[6] “These books are read by so many Chinese people when they are teenagers, and the work really stays in their heads,” Holmwood told theObserver.“So, of course, I felt a great weight of responsibility in translating them—and even more as publication draws near.”

[3]現在，他深受歡迎的系列小說的開篇之作《射雕英雄傳》首次被譯成英語，呈獻給主流讀者。這個任務已經難倒了幾位譯者，而來自愛丁堡、32歲的郝玉青解決了這個難題，至少她譯出了第一卷。她在英國的出版商麥克萊霍斯出版社計劃分12卷發行這部小說，將于2月出版郝玉青翻譯的第一卷《英雄出世》。

[4]版權經紀人彼得·巴克曼將該系列小說的版權賣給了這家出版商，他在網上搜索“暢銷作家”時很偶然地發現了這些作品。巴克曼在本周末說：“金庸名列前十位，可是我從未聽說過他，我也不認識中文。”

[5]將金庸與托爾金或喬治·R.R.馬丁相提并論，可能聽起來言過其實，但是在中國和周邊國家和地區，金庸小說都是經典作品，像童話故事或民族傳說一樣深受喜愛。

[6]“很多中國人在青少年時代就讀過這些小說，這部作品深深地留在他們的腦海里。”郝玉青接受《觀察家報》采訪時說，“當然，我在翻譯這些作品的時候感到責任重大，離出版日期越近感到責任越大。”

[7] Set in China in 1200,A Hero Borntells of an empire close to collapse. Under attack from the Jurchen Jin dynasty,the future of the entire Chinese population rests in the hands of a few lone martial arts exponents. A novel in thewuxia, or fi ghting hero, tradition, it was written under the pen name Jin Yong by Chinese journalist, Louis Cha Leungyung. A founding editor of the Hong Kong daily newspaperMing Pao, in the 1950s he put together a set of stories charting the progress of a young martial arts fi ghter during the Song dynasty and serialised them. The plots were fi ctional but the historical background was real.

[8] They became the biggest Chinese publishing hit of the last century. Cha,who is now 93 and lives in seclusion,created a vast imaginary world over 15 novels, which spawned2spawn大量生產。films, games,comics and television shows.

[9] Buckman bought the rights and sold them on to a British publisher after meeting Holmwood and discovering how little of the series was available in English. “Anna did a sample chapter of the fi rst of the Condor Heroes books and I sent it out to various publishers. My old friend Christopher MacLehose, who specialises in translated masterpieces, had discovered from a Chinese friend how Jin Yong’s work was like Simenon’s is to the French or Tolstoy’s to the Russians—a part of the common culture, with one generation of readers passing on their enthusiasm to the next,” he said.

[7]《英雄出世》以公元1200年的中國為背景，講述了宋朝走向衰亡的故事。面對女真金國的進攻，中原全體大宋子民的未來都掌握在幾個修煉獨門絕技的武林高手手中。這本沿襲武俠傳統的小說出自以“金庸”為筆名的中國記者查良鏞筆下。20世紀50年代，創辦香港日報《明報》并擔任主編的金庸撰寫故事在報上連載，描寫了宋朝少年俠士練就絕世武功的過程，后將這些故事集結成冊，出版了系列小說。這些情節是虛構的，可是歷史背景卻是真實的。

[8]這些小說成為上世紀中國出版界最受歡迎的作品。93歲的金庸如今隱居世外，他撰寫的15部小說創造了波瀾壯闊的虛幻世界，由此改編成多部電影、游戲、漫畫和電視劇。

[9]巴克曼與郝玉青見面后，發現該系列小說的英文譯本極少，于是買下小說版權并賣給一家英國出版商。他說：“郝玉青試譯了《射雕英雄傳》系列第一卷的章節，我把譯文寄給了多位出版商。我的老朋友克里斯托弗·麥克萊霍斯專門從事名著英譯本的出版，他從一位中國朋友那里得知，金庸小說猶如西姆農的作品之于法國人，或是托爾斯泰的著作之于俄羅斯人，已經成為共同文化的一部分，讓一代又一代讀者為之癡迷。”

[10] Although there have been academic translations published over a decade ago, including an edition ofThe Deer and the Cauldrontranslated by John Minford,attempts to tackle the wider work have been abandoned. Holmwood, who studied Chinese at Oxford University, first discovered the book in Taipei and later moved to Hangzhou, in east China, while she worked on her translation.

[11] Fellow translators are now being drafted in to help with the task, but the challenge facing all of them is to faithfully represent the kung fu moves along with the Chinese philosophies and religions that are all woven through the plot. Even the fighting skill of the warrior inA Hero Born, for instance,which literally translate as “the 18 palm attacks to defeat dragons”, is in fact derived from a Taoist classic ascribed to3ascribe to把……歸于。Lao Tzu, dating from 2,500 years ago,and has a strong philosophical element in addition to movement.

[12] “I am of the belief that a lot of readers like a bit of a challenge as they go along,” said Holmwood, who now lives in Malm?, Sweden, with her Taiwanese husband and son. “That is why fans ofLord of the Ringstry to learn Elvish. So I don’t explain everything, although I have written a very short prologue to introduce some of the elements of the story.” ■

[10]盡管十多年前出版過金庸小說的學術譯著，其中包括漢學家閔福德翻譯的《鹿鼎記》，后來又有多次嘗試翻譯更多金庸作品，但這些嘗試都半途而廢了。郝玉青在牛津大學學習過中文，她在臺北發現了這本書，后來搬到中國華東地區的杭州，其間一直從事翻譯工作。

[11]她也請來其他譯者幫助完成這項任務，可是他們面臨的挑戰是如何忠實地表現功夫動作以及貫穿整個劇情的中國哲學和宗教。比如說，《英雄出世》中郭靖的絕世武功按字面翻譯成“降龍十八掌”，實際上是源于2500年前老子的道家經典，除了武功招式以外，還蘊含濃厚的哲學意味。

[12]郝玉青和她的臺灣丈夫及兒子現住在瑞典馬爾默，她說：“我認為，很多讀者在閱讀中喜歡些許挑戰，這也是《魔戒》書迷設法學習精靈語的原因。所以我沒有解釋所有的細節，不過我寫了篇很短的序言來介紹小說的部分內容。”□