水浒传小说论文

水浒传(节选)三种译文赏析Inthisessay,I’mtryingtomakesomecomparisonsamongthethreeEnglishversionsoftheChinesenovel《水浒传》(ALLMENAREBROTHERStranslatedbyPealS.Buck;WATERMARGINworkedoutbyJ.H.Jackson;OUTLAWSOFTHEMARSHbySidneyShapiro.IwouldpickoutsomesentencesfromtheChapter47oftheirworksforanalysisandappreciation.TheversionofPeal’swaspublishedin1933,itisalsotheearliestEnglishversionfor《水浒传》.ThemethodPealadoptedwasliteraltranslation.Intheprefaceshesaidshetriedtokeeptheauthenticstyleoftheoriginalwork.Butsheactuallyskippedmanypoemsinthenovel.WATERMARGINworkedoutbyJ.H.Jacksonhasbeenlargelydeletedandrewritten,itismoreinastyleofwesternculture.SidneyShapiro’sOUTLAWSOFTHEMARSHwastranslatedbyboththemethodofliteraltranslationandliberaltranslation.FollowingIwouldgivesomeexamplestookfromtheChapter47totellthedifferencesamongthesethreeversions.Example1李应出到厅前，连忙问道:“你且言备细缘故，怎么地来？”杜兴气定了，方才道：“小人赍了东人书札，到他那里第三重门下，却好遇见祝龙，祝虎，祝彪弟兄三个坐在那里。小人声了三个喏，祝彪喝道：‘你又来做甚么？’小人躬身禀道：‘东人有书在此拜上。’祝彪那厮变了脸，骂道：‘你那主人恁地不晓人事！早晌使个泼男女来这里下书，要讨那个梁山泊贼人时迁，如今我正要解上州去，又来怎地？’……”InPeal’sversion,thefirstsentenceLiYingsaidwastranslatedas:"Tellusindetail,whathappened?";inJackson’sversion:"takeyourtimeandtellusallaboutit.";inSidney’sversion:"Prayspeakoutallthecauseforthis.Howhasthiscomeabout?"Thefirstversion,Pear’s,isconcise,andfollowsthesequenceoftheoriginalsentence,itiskindofstereotypical.Jacksonmadesomealteration,butthephrase"takeyourtime"maynotaccordwiththeoriginalmeaning,andhedeletedthepartofaskingforthereason.Shapiro’sversionseemstobemoresuitable,itdoesnotchangethestructureofthesentence,andconformtothemeaningoftheoriginalsentence.Theword“prey”showsthecalmnessofLiYingatthattimeandhisself-cultivation.Thenextsentence:“你那主人恁地不晓人事！”.InversionofPeal’s,shetranslateditas:”howcanyourmasterbesoignorant?”,theninJackson’sversion:"Whydoesyourmasternotunderstandhumanaffairs?”,Shapirotranslateditas:"Thatlordofyours---howisitheknowssolittleofpropriety?”Theword“ignorant”Pealchosecan’texactlyexpresstherealmeaningof“不晓人事”，"ignorant"canbeapprehendedas“stupid”.Andthe“humanaffairs”Jacksonchosedoesnotexactlyconformtothemeaningof“人事”，"humanaffairs"emphasizesmoreonthethingsintherelatedtohuman，but“人事”hereismorerelatedtothehumanrelationships.AndabouttheversionofShapiro’s,heusedtheword“lord”insteadof“master”,itseemstomethatthiswordshowedthenobilityofLiYing’sstatus,and“knowssolittleofpropriety”ismoresimilartothemeaningof“不晓人事”。Example2且说石秀挑着柴担先入去，行不到二十来里，只见路径曲折多杂，四下里弯环相似，树木丛密，难认路头，石秀便歇下柴担不走。听得背后法环响得渐近，石秀看时，却见杨林头带一个破笠子，身穿一领旧法衣，手里擎着法环，于路摇将进来。石秀见没人，叫住杨林说道：“看见路径弯杂难认，不知那里是我前日跟随李应来时的路。天色已晚，他们众人都是熟路，正看不仔细。”杨林道：“不要管他路径曲直，只顾拣大路走便了。”InPeal’sversionshetranslated“里”as"li",whiletheothertwotranslatorconverteditintomiles.Ithinkthisisbasedonifthetranslatorisonthesideoftheauthororiftheywantsthereadertogeteasiercomprehension.Andthesame,inPeal’sversionshetriedbesttofollowthelogicalsequenceoftheauthor,andrarelymadechangesontheplot.ButwecanfindthatinJackson’sversion,thetimefortheirleavingwaschanged,hesaidtheywenttogether,healsoomittedthepartofthedescriptionofYangLin’sattire,whichforallIconcernedwillgreatlyaffectreader’scomprehensionforthefollowingparts.InShapiro’sversion,notliketheconcisewordsinPeal’sversion,hegavedetaileddescription,andpayedmuchattentiononthechoosingofthewords.Butthisalsomakesthesentencestoolongtocomprehend,andmaymakethereadersfeelboredsoon.Thesentence“不要管他路径曲直”.Pealtranslateditas"stayoffthepaths",Jacksonagain,omittedit,andaddedthesentence:"weneednotworryaboutthat";inShapiro’sversion:"butlet’spaynoheedtowhetherthepathsgostraightorcrooked".WecanseeShapirotriedtokeeptheoriginalmeaningofthesentence,Jacksonaddedmuchofhisownthoughts,Peal,though,omittedpartsofthesentence,readerscangotthemeaningofthewriter.Fromtheexamplesabove,wecanseeallthethreetranslatorshavegoodpointsaswellassomeweaknesses.Pealemphasizedontheformofthesentence,shetriedtokeepthesamesequencewiththewriter,butitresultedinthatherversiononlyappearstobethesamewiththeoriginalversion.AndforJackson’sversion,peoplecriticisedhisversionasanculturalaggression.Beingputmuchofhisownthoughtsintotheplot,thetranslationversionmightnotbeabletopassonthemeaningoftheoriginalversi