About Us

 

 

 

 

As a man of letters, Yu Kwang-chung (1928-2017) excelled in writing poetry, prose, criticism, and translating, which he claimed were “the four dimensions of my life of writing.” Among the genres he translated—namely, poetry, drama, fiction, and biography—he was especially acclaimed for his achievements as a poet translating poetry. Yu started rendering English poetry into Chinese while he was still a senior high school student. His first translated poetry volume, Translations from English Poetry (with notes), was published in 1960, and his last one, the revised edition of Modern English and American Poetry, appeared in 2017, just one year before he passed away. Six volumes of his poetry translations appeared in between: New Chinese Poetry (1960), Anthology of American Poetry (1961, co-translated with Eileen Chang, etc.), Acres of Barbed Wire (1971), Anthology of Modern Turkish Poetry (1984), The Night Watchman(1992, 2004, and 2017), and John Keats’s Famous Works: Translations and Analyses(2012). In addition, Yu wrote numerous articles on the translation of poetry, expounding on his ideas and experiences gained over the years. This talk aims at discussing Yu’s theory, criticism, and practice of translating poetry, and at evaluating his contributions to the translation of poetry in his triple role as writer/translator/scholar.

 

余光中（1928-2017）縱橫文壇七十載，於詩歌、散文、評論、翻譯均有傑出表現，自稱為「寫作生命的四度空間」。他多年來翻譯的文本遍及詩歌、戲劇、小說、傳記等重要文類，其中又以「詩人譯詩」最為人稱道。余光中自高中起便開始翻譯英詩，其後譯筆不輟，1960年出版第一本譯詩集《英詩譯註》（Translations from English Poetry (with notes)），2017年出版生前最後一部作品《英美現代詩選》（Modern English and American Poetry）修訂新版。其間翻譯的詩集計有New Chinese Poetry （《中國新詩集錦》，1960），《美國詩選》（Anthology of American Poetry, 1961〔與張愛玲、林以亮、邢光祖等合譯〕），Acres of Barbed Wire（《滿田的鐵絲網》，1971），《土耳其現代詩選》（Anthology of Modern Turkish Poetry, 1984），《守夜人》（The Night Watchman, 1992, 2004, 2017），《濟慈名著譯述》（2012）。此外，余光中也撰寫了多篇有關詩歌翻譯的評論文章，闡揚譯詩的理念與心得。本講擬探討余光中的詩歌翻譯之理論、批評與實踐，檢視作者∕譯者∕學者「三者合一」的余光中在譯詩方面的貢獻。

 

Te-hsing Shan is Distinguished Research Fellow of the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.  He received his Ph.D. in comparative literature from National Taiwan University in 1986.  He was the former director of the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, the general editor of EurAmerica: A Journal of European and American Studies, and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Humanities, Lingnan University, Hong Kong.  In addition to journal articles and book chapters in Chinese and English, his publications include Inscriptions and Representations: Chinese American Literary and Cultural Criticism, Re(-)acting (Hi-)Story: American Literary History and Cultural Criticism, Translations and Contexts, Transgressions and Innovations: Asian American Literary and Cultural Studies, Edward W. Said in Taiwan, and Translations and Criticisms.  He has also published three collections of interviews: Dialogues and Interchanges: Interviews with Contemporary Writers and Critics, In the Company of the Wise: Conversations with Asian American Writers and Critics and Then and Now: Conversations with Contemporary Writers and Critics.  Moreover, he has translated nearly twenty books from English into Chinese, including Writers at Work, The Challenge of the American Dream, Representations of the Intellectual, Zen Wisdom, Gulliver’s Travels, and Power, Politics, and Culture: Interviews with Edward W. Said.  His research areas include Comparative Literature, Asian American Literature, Translation Studies, and Cultural Studies.

 

單德興為臺灣大學博士（比較文學），現任中央研究院歐美研究所特聘研究員，曾任歐美研究所所長，《歐美研究》主編，香港嶺南大學翻譯系兼任人文學特聘教授。著有《銘刻與再現：華裔美國文學與文化論集》、《反動與重演：美國文學史與文化批評》、《翻譯與脈絡》、《越界與創新：亞美文學與文化研究》、《薩依德在台灣》、《翻譯與評介》等，譯有《英美名作家訪談錄》、《美國夢的挑戰：在美國的華人》、《知識分子論》、《禪的智慧》、《格理弗遊記》、《權力、政治與文化：薩依德訪談集》等近二十種專書，並出版訪談集《對話與交流：當代中外作家、批評家訪談錄》、《與智者為伍：亞美文學與文化名家訪談錄》及《卻顧所來徑：當代名家訪談錄》。研究領域包括比較文學、亞美文學、翻譯研究、文化研究。