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Monkey and the Novelization of Xiyouji
2017/2018 School of Chinese Research Student Seminar
《猴》與《西遊記》的小說化歷程
Monkey and the Novelization of Xiyouji
蔡燕賓 Cai Yanbin
May 25, 2018 (Friday); 5:30-6:45pm
Room 730, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus
Language: English
“小說”是否就是英語語境中的“novel”？當代學者對這個問題的關注和反覆解答恰恰指出，在跨文化語境中，中國古典小說存在著其他解讀可能，這種情況在“小說/novel”的對等關係確立以前尤為如此。作為《西遊記》最為成功的英語譯本，亞瑟·韋利的《猴》為中國古典小說的“novelization”提供了一個極佳案例。是次報告將回顧“小說/novel”的對等形成與中國民族文學生態建構過程的相互關聯和作用。在二十世紀初期，胡適在《文學改良芻議》中呼籲將白話作為中國的民族文學語言，給予了白話小說前所未有的經典地位。此後，魯迅撰寫了《中國小說史略》，兩位學者將中國語言中“小說”的概念和英語中的“novel”聯繫起來，但兩者最終的對等需要在翻譯的過程中完成。當時，許多優秀的章回小說被譯入英語，而韋利的譯作成為了其中的佼佼者。我將集中探討韋利如何通過刪節和文本選擇等策略對百回本章回小說《西遊記》進行改寫，使得《猴》在目標語境中重生為有獨立文學生命的“novel”。
Is zhanghui xiaoshuo really novel? When modern scholars keep returning to the question, their efforts of justification points to other possibilities in the cross-cultural reading of zhanghui xiaoshuo, especially before the xiaoshuo/novel alignment established. As the most successful English translation of Xiyouji, Arthur Waley’s Monkey: A Chinese Folk Novel provides an intriguing example of how one of the best pre-modern Chinese xiaoshuo is novelized. This talk reviews the intertwining process between the cross-cultural xiaoshuo/novel alignment and the birth of the Chinese national literary ecology. In the early years of the twentieth century, Hu Shi called for vernacular Chinese to be recognized as the national literary language, bestowing per-modern vernacular xiaoshuo a canonical status unprecedented. This position is consolidated with the national history on Chinese xiaoshuo written by Lu Xun, their combined efforts forming a link between the Chinese literary term with its counterpart in the English language and culture. The final alignment was completed in translation. Fine specimens in the xiaoshuo genre were translated into English, among which Waley’s rewriting on Xiyouji becomes an unparalleled success. I will focus on how Waley’s strategies transform the hundred-chaptered xiaoshuo in the target language, especially with deliberate abridgment and careful selection of texts for translation. With his effort, not only is Xiyouji novelized in Monkey, this reincarnation of the Chinese xiaoshuo also obtains an independent literary life as a distinguished English novel.
ALL ARE WELCOME!
