NEW LITERARY MOVEMENT It’s Tendency and Future: Fading Vogue of the Unintelligible (I)新文學運動的發(fā)展趨勢與未來：正在消逝的晦澀時尚（上）

【導讀】作者姚克，原名姚志伊，字莘農(nóng)，祖籍浙江余杭，中國著名戲劇家、電影編劇、翻譯家，20世紀30年代初致力于優(yōu)秀外國文學作品的介紹和翻譯。1936年，他協(xié)助斯諾翻譯出版《活的中國》（Living China）；1936年7月起，擔任上海英文刊物《天下月刊》（T’ien Hsia Monthly）編輯，先后把曹禺話劇《雷雨》、昆劇《販馬記》和京劇《打漁殺家》等譯成英文，還翻譯出版了蕭伯納的劇本《魔鬼的門徒》及奧尼爾的《推銷員之死》，后者獲海外作家董橋先生、翻譯家兼翻譯研究家思果先生等人的高度評價。姚克為溝通中西文化做出了卓有成就的貢獻。

本文刊載于1933年4月7日的英文日報The North-China Daily News［《字林西報》，前身為North-China Herald（《北華捷報》），是英國人在中國出版的歷史最久的英文報紙，由英國商人在上海創(chuàng)辦］。在文中，姚克就新文學運動的發(fā)展趨勢和未來發(fā)表了個人看法，其中論及20世紀30年代的各大文學流派、白話文的發(fā)展、翻譯在其中發(fā)揮的作用。歷史證明，這些分析不乏真知灼見，體現(xiàn)了姚克獨到的洞察力和前瞻眼光。無論在中國現(xiàn)代文學研究還是翻譯研究領(lǐng)域，該文均具有重要的史料價值。

Sixteen years have elapsed since Dr. Hu Shih wrote his famous essay， “Some Suggestions for the Reform of Chinese Literature，” and thereby brought about a revolution in China’s realm of letters. The age-long authority of the classical school was overthrown and the new literati have been busily engaged ever since in laying the foundations of an ivory tower for pei hua， the vernacular. However， the builders of the tower are so divided among themselves that it is as yet uncertain what the tower will look like upon completion. It may turn out to be a sort of Temple of Heaven with a fresh coat of paint， or a reinforced concrete skyscraper with a Chinese roof， or an entirely new type of architecture that reflects the genius of the East. One can never tell. Yet， in the light of its present tendency， it is not impossible to envisage the tower with the mind’s eye， however imaginary it may be.

十六年前，胡適先生發(fā)表著名文章《文學改良芻議》，掀起了中國文學界的一場革命。古典主義學派長期占據(jù)的權(quán)威地位被推翻，此后新派文人忙于為白話奠定象牙塔的基礎。不過這座塔的建造者之間分歧很大，以至于還不確定塔建成后會是什么樣子。它可能是一座粉刷一新的天壇，或者是帶有中式屋頂?shù)匿摻罨炷聊μ齑髽牵只蚴求w現(xiàn)東方智慧的全新建筑。誰也說不清。然而，從其目前的趨勢來看，無論多么虛無縹緲，在腦海中構(gòu)想這座塔也并非不可能。

The New Literary Movement is， in fact， a twofold revolution. It involves the change not merely of classical literature into pei hua but of old ideas into new. In other words， it is a revolution both in literary style and in thought. With these two phases combined， it is more complex than all previous revolutions recorded in the history of Chinese literature. The conditions that brought about the change and the motive power behind it need not be discussed in a short article. Let us rather devote our attention to its actual development， taking up the two phases of the revolution separately， for the sake of clarity.

新文學運動實際上是一場雙重革命，不僅涉及文言文向白話文的轉(zhuǎn)變，而且還涉及舊觀念向新觀念的轉(zhuǎn)變。換句話說，這是一場文體和思想的革命。這場雙重革命，要比中國文學史上所記載的歷次革命都要復雜得多。促成這一變化的條件及其背后的動因無須在一篇短文之中探討。為了清楚起見，讓我們不妨先關(guān)注它的實際發(fā)展，分別討論革命的兩個階段。

Change in literary style

文體變遷

The literary style of the pei hua has been influenced by foreign literature since the dawn of the New Literary Movement. This is not at all astonishing when we consider the fact that the movement was initiated by a group of protagonists who were either returned students or modern educated scholars. Nevertheless， the pioneer pei hua writings such as appeared in “The New Youth，” “The Weekly Review，” “The Renaissance，” and other magazines were quite free from the defect of the foreign and unintelligible expressions which come into use later. They betray traces， however， of alien influence; and， as the movement proceeds， the influence gradually grows in intensity. Recently， it is true， its growth has been slackening down， but it is safe to say that it will never lose ground entirely.

新文學運動興起以來，白話文的文體就受到外國文學的影響。考慮到這場運動是由一群海歸學生或受過現(xiàn)代教育的學者發(fā)起的，一點都不覺得驚訝了。不過，《新青年》《每周評論》《新潮》等刊物上發(fā)表的先鋒白話文作品，完全沒有后來使用的外來晦澀表達的缺陷。盡管如此，這些作品還是帶有外來影響的痕跡。隨著新文學運動的推進，這種影響逐漸增強。最近，新文學運動發(fā)展確實有所放緩，但可以肯定地說，它永遠不會完全失去陣地。

One evidence of the influence of the West lies in the imitation of its famous literary works， with the simple exception of the pei hua essay in which we find little imitation. But in fiction， and especially in poetry and the drama， it is only too obvious. Many new novels merely present Young Werther clad in Chinese garments， while others read like paraphrases of the work of Chekhov， Gorki， and others. In the field of poetry， free verse， the Japanese short poem， and Tagore’s style have been set up as models one after another; and recently a certain group of “new poets” undertook to create a golden age by moulding their poems into the form of western sonnets. As to the drama， Ibsen， Wilde， Shaw， Maeterlinck， and a few other great playwrights have marshalled their respective imitators whose plays， of course， are decidedly not suited to the native Chinese stage. Writers there are， indeed， whose works are original， yet even these are not altogether free from foreign influence.

受西方影響的證據(jù)之一，是模仿西方文學名著的作品。不過白話雜文是個例外，我們在其中幾乎找不到模仿的痕跡。但對于小說，尤其是詩歌和戲劇而言，這一點就太明顯了。許多新創(chuàng)作的小說只是為少年維特披上了中式服裝，而另一些小說讀起來像是契訶夫、高爾基等人作品的改述。在詩歌領(lǐng)域，自由詩、日本俳句、泰戈爾風格相繼被追捧為典范。最近，一批“新詩人”著手將他們的詩歌打造成西方十四行詩的形式，意在開創(chuàng)一個黃金時代。至于戲劇，易卜生、王爾德、蕭伯納、梅特林克等數(shù)位偉大的劇作家都有各自的模仿者。當然，他們的戲劇明顯不適合登上中國本土的舞臺。有些作家的作品的確具有原創(chuàng)性，但即使這些也并非完全不受外國影響。

Plethora of translations

大量翻譯作品

Another evidence of the influence of the West is found in the great quantity of western literature translated into Chinese. In fact， so many are the western-educated Chinese engaged in this work that it is not unusual to find one book with several different Chinese translations. As far as the present writer knows， there are at least three translations of Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” and two of Buck’s “Good Earth.”

西方影響的另一個佐證是大量翻譯成中文的西方文學作品。事實上，有太多受過西方教育的中國人從事這項工作，因此一本書有幾種不同中文譯本的現(xiàn)象并不罕見。據(jù)筆者所知，雷馬克的《西線無戰(zhàn)事》就至少有三種譯本，賽珍珠的《大地》有兩種譯本。

The difficulty of adjusting western syntax to Chinese has given rise to what is called “direct translation，” or that which retains the original syntax. Needless to remark， the result is awkward and unnatural. It has， nevertheless， all the novelty of a fashion. The human mind tends to idolatry， and when he who worships Shaw， taking “Candida” as his model， is unable to read it in the original， he has no choice but to imitate a translation. So far， in fact， has this sentiment been carried that apparently many young Chinese writers， ashamed today of writing in their natural way， set out with the purpose of making their writings read like a translation in order to be à la mode1. The first lines of a very recently published novel， for example， read： “Passing over those torn lines of the retreaters， swarming in the open field， the troops of the Imperialist nation are advancing.” This， obviously， is English syntax， as the correct Chinese form places the subject in front of the participle phrases. Yet， the novel in question compares favourably with others which are almost unintelligible either to Chinese or foreigners.

由于很難將西方句法調(diào)整為中文，就出現(xiàn)了所謂的“直譯”，即保留原文句法的翻譯。可想而知，這樣的譯文是突兀和不自然的。不過，這種譯法很新潮。人大抵都有崇拜偶像的情結(jié)，而當崇拜蕭伯納的想效仿《康蒂妲》，卻無法讀懂原文時，他就別無選擇，只能模仿譯文了。如今許多年輕的中國作家因這種情結(jié)，恥于用母語自然的方式寫作，提筆就抱著追求時髦的目的，要讓自己的作品讀著像譯本。例如，最近出版的一本小說的開篇寫道：“越過那些被撕裂的撤退線，在空地上蜂擁而至，帝國主義國家的軍隊正在前進。”很顯然，這完全是英語語法，因為中文習慣將主語放在分詞短語前面。然而，與其他無論是中國人還是外國人都幾乎難以理解的同類小說相比，這部小說還算不錯的。

Transliteration tangle

音譯混亂

In addition to these eccentricities of syntax， many new writers prefer the Chinese transliteration of western words into Chinese equivalents. Thus， ‘inspiration’ becomes yen-shih-po-li-ch’un （smoke-scholar-wave-mile-pure）， and ‘proletarian’ is pu-lo-li-t’a-lin （universal-net-stand-pagoda-forest）， combinations of Chinese characters which are confusing， misleading， and altogether incomprehensible. Moreover， writers are coining transliterations according to their personal whim to such an extent that one foreign word may have numerous Chinese transliterations which are as different from one another as a biped is from a quadruped. The purpose of transliteration is held to be the avoidance of the bad taste of thrusting into Chinese writings such foreign words of which the writer cannot find a convenient equivalent in Chinese. As a matter of fact， many writers do insert foreign words in their writings， and， while this practice may be open to question， it enables the reader to comprehend the insertions by consulting a Sino-foreign dictionary， whereas a dictionary of transliteration is yet to be compiled.

除了句法奇異，許多新近作家還喜歡將西方單詞音譯成中文。于是，inspiration（靈感）變成了“煙士波里純”，proletarian（無產(chǎn)者）變成了“普羅立塔林”。這些漢字的組合著實令人費解，有誤導性，人們根本看不懂。他們還隨心所欲地創(chuàng)造音譯，以至于一個外來詞就有無數(shù)個漢語音譯，而這些音譯之間的差異之大，就如同兩足動物與四足動物的區(qū)別一樣。人們普遍認為音譯的目的是避免將作家無法在中文中找到對等詞的外來詞硬塞進中文作品。事實上，很多作家都會在自己的作品中插入外來詞。盡管這種做法可能會遭到質(zhì)疑，卻能讓讀者通過查閱外漢詞典來理解這些外來詞，而音譯詞典也尚待編纂。

Western classical allusions also play a not insignificant role in the works of many new writers， in which half of the inhabitants of Mount Olympus2 may be met with in the course of one page， though the author may not have read the blind poet’s works， even in translations. Again， in the romances à la3 Romeo and Juliet， the “Old Man under the Moon” of the native legend is dismissed in favour of the winged naked babe with golden arrow and bow. When talking about a recent novel by a ‘Hellenised’ author， the present writer asked Mr. Lu Sin， the Gorki of China， what he thought of it. His reply was： “It is Greek to me. I wonder if the author understands it himself.”

西方古代典故在許多新近作家的作品中也發(fā)揮著不小的作用。盡管新近作家可能沒有讀過盲人詩人荷馬的作品，即使是譯作也沒讀過，但在他們的作品中，一頁紙上就可能出現(xiàn)奧林匹斯諸神中一半神祇的名字。同樣，在模仿《羅密歐與朱麗葉》的傳奇故事時，本土傳說中的“月老”被擯棄，取而代之的是帶著金箭和金弓、長著翅膀的裸體嬰兒。筆者與有“中國高爾基”之稱的魯迅先生談論起最近的一部小說——小說作者熱衷于把作品“古希臘化”——詢問魯迅先生對此有何看法。先生的回答是：“反正我是看不懂，不知道作者自己是否看得懂。”

【本文為廣東省哲學社會科學規(guī)劃2024年度一般項目《中國文學對外翻譯話語研究（1949—1966）》（GD24CWY16）階段性成果，2021年度教育部哲學社會科學研究重大課題攻關(guān)項目“20世紀以來海外中國文學評論中的中國話語與形象研究” （項目編號：21JZD051）子課題“英語世界的中國話語與形象研究”】