Translating the Cryptic “East”

Perceptions of Chinese Classical Poetry in Twentieth Century Russia

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of the interaction between classical Chinese poetry and its Russian translation during the long 20th century through the manifold ways in which translational representations participate in relentless reinterpretation, rethinking, and re-signification. This historical instantiation of the eternal tension between “domesticating” and “foreignising” translations allows a closer look at the strategies exploited by the majority of their Russian creators. Poet-translators of the Belle Époque set the tone for producing “readable” translations oriented towards the regnant literary and cultural norms of their target audience. Presenting a part of the significant avant-garde trend of reinterpreting the cryptic “East”, their taste for using Chinese imagery and poetic principles as a manifestation of cultural transfer was reinforced by translations of Chinese literature by Russian Sinologists published most actively during the 1940s–1960s. Their task was formulated as a cultural objective of producing a familiarised, “fluent” text based upon “the translator’s invisibility”. Their versions were addressed to a reader who acted within the framework of the national/cultural tradition, and who was forced to reckon with this tradition. Then the pendulum swung the other way, producing highly de-familiarised translations of traditional Chinese poetry by contemporary Russian poets within a more nuanced approach that still awaits interpretation.

本文通過對不同翻譯策略的考察，探析20 世紀中國古典詩詞與其俄文譯本的互動關係。文章基於“歸化”與 “異化”兩種翻譯理念之間的內在張力，探討俄文譯者在長期的翻譯實踐中如何解讀原文並定位其譯文。19 世 紀末至20 世紀初，美好年代的詩人譯者更傾向於順應本土文化和文學傳統，追求譯文的流暢性和“可讀性”。 他們在翻譯中移植了華夏詩學原則和異域文化意象，成為揭開東方神秘面紗的先鋒派。1940–1960 年間的俄羅 斯漢學家再接再厲，致力於創作與本土文化傳統相兼容、自然流暢且無明顯翻譯痕跡的譯本。然而，到20 世紀 末，俄羅斯詩人中開始出現一種完全不同的翻譯風格。他們譯介中國古典詩詞時採用較為疏離且脫離傳統的手 法。這種新型翻譯風格對於拓展解讀視角的價值仍有待進一步探討。