想像西方：論周瘦鵑的「偽翻譯」小說

Imagining the West: Zhou Shoujuan's Pseudotranslations

「偽翻譯」可說是特定社會群體對某一「客方語言」作品之既定想像的樣本，也是譯者對於此種想像成規的操控成果。考察鴛鴦蝴蝶派作家周瘦鵑早期的「偽翻譯」小說，不難發現，清末民初時期被大量翻譯進入中國語境的虛無黨小說、偵探小說、義俠小說、言情小說，都成為這位年輕作家西方想像的重要來源。在周瘦鵑為數眾多的翻譯小說中，目前確知為「偽翻譯」的作品有七篇，包括〈鴛鴦血〉、〈孝子碧血記〉、〈賣花女郎〉、〈綠衣女〉、〈盲虛無黨員〉等。本文即以這些小說為主要的分析文本，並參考其他相關篇章，以勾勒出周瘦鵑此類作品的基本面貌和精神內涵。「偽翻譯」的面具為初出茅廬的周瘦鵑提供了創作的廣闊空間，讓他能夠融合古今中外的小說人物形象和情節典型，發展出新的小說文類。本文探討周瘦鵑如何挪用晚清以降翻譯文學中的西方想像，與中國文學傳統融合，並試圖藉由其「偽翻譯」小說來推廣特定的道德價值。在這種虛實交錯的「文化斡旋」之中，周瘦鵑顯露了最真誠的創作欲望，而他後期作品的重要特質亦由此奠定。

Pseudotranslation is a product of the translator's preconception and manipulation of the collective imagination of a foreign culture and a reflection of stereotypes held by local readers. Instead of criticizing a work's lack of authenticity, we can attempt to understand how contemporary readers see a foreign culture by “decoding” a seudotranslation.Anarchist fiction, detective stories, knight-errant novels, and sentimental novels that were enthusiastically translated into Chinese during the late Qing and early Republican periods became important sources of inspiration for the young pseudotranslator Zhou Shoujuan. In his copious translations of Western literature, there were at least seven stories which he confirmed as pseudotranslations, such as “The Blood of Mandarin Ducks,” “The Story of a Filial Son's Blood,” “The Maid in Green Gown,” “The Blind Anarchist,” etc. This paper takes these stories as the major texts for analysis and tries to discern the paradigms and connotations in them. In these works, the mask of translation, as it were, secured a wide space for Zhou's literary creativity. As a result, he was able to freely mingle different types of characters and archetypes from various Chinese and Western fiction in order to develop new genres that fit his idea of an exotic yet ethical “Western story.” This paper investigates how Zhou appropriated the collective imagination of the West during the late Qing period and how he reshaped it according to his own fantasies and moral standards. During this particular kind of “cultural negotiation,” Zhou expressed his love of fantasy and propagated his ethical ideals. The significant qualities of his later works were thus established.