王際真翻譯選集與中國文學的「現代化」重寫

Chi-chen Wang’s Anthology of Translations and the Modernized Rewriting of Chinese Literature

翻譯選集作為一種重寫，可在目的語文學中塑造源語文學形象。王際真編譯的《中國現代小說選》（Contemporary Chinese Stories）（Wang, 1944）收錄的小說富於寫實，在內容上側重剖析、諷刺社會問題並批判國民性，呈現「中國的另一面」；在形式上突顯西方小說技巧對中國現代小說的影響，呈現「西方的時尚形式」。相較原文，譯文對小說的修辭技法、小說結構及作家個人技巧等藝術表現也進行了重寫。《中國現代小說選》塑造了「五四」及其後中國新文學在精神與方法上「現代化」的形象，意在展現富有現代意識、追求革新的中華民族形象。但選集也同時固化了中國現代小說「成就乏善可陳」，只是西方文學單向影響下的產物這個刻板印象。

Translations collected in anthologies are a form of rewriting and play a key role in developing the conceptualization of source text. Contemporary Chinese Stories (Wang, 1944), which was anthologized and translated by Chi-chen Wang, a May Fourth intellectual, was intended to be conceptualized as modernized literature and, therefore, to lead readers to perceive China to be a modernized nation. Many of the stories included in the anthology focus on alternative aspects of Chinese life; that is, they are realistic short stories intended to present the corruption of Chinese social order. The stories are notably influenced by Western fiction writing, that is, they are presented in the Western style that was considered fashionable at the time. The translator also rewrote the stories to improve the rhetoric, adjust the structuring, and improve upon weak aspects of the author’s writing. Although the intention and methods used to create the anthology demonstrated China’s literary achievement after the May Fourth Movement and presented China as a nation in pursuit of modernity and reform, the anthology also perpetuated the concept that modern Chinese stories are the products of Western influence and have little intrinsic value.