論李仙得與必麒麟──兩個十九世紀福爾摩沙文本的「厚實翻譯」詮釋

On Charles Le Gendre and William Pickering: Interpreting Two 19th-Century Texts on Formosa from the Perspective of Thick Translation

本論文擬從翻譯理論家阿皮亞（Kwame Anthony Appiah）的「厚實翻譯」（thick translation）概念來探討兩個十九世紀「福爾摩沙文本」的重新詮釋。文字作品的翻譯，有時不只牽涉到兩種不同語言的轉換，而是要把文本從某個歷史、文化脈絡移轉到當代讀者的目光下。這個移轉過程既是翻譯也是重寫（rewriting）與重新詮釋，而且從實務看來，譯本的最後樣貌將會取決於譯者的專業背景，甚或他們在政治、文化、社會等各方面的不同訴求（agenda）。在這樣的視角下，本論文要探討的是李仙得（Charles Le Gendre）的Notes of Travelin Formosa與必麒麟（William A. Pickering）的Pioneering in Formosa：前者的翻譯、註釋、校閱參與者包括費德廉（Douglas Fix）、陳秋坤等人，都是歷史學專業背景出身，對於文本的各種歷史、地理細節做出很多說明與詮釋，他們的兩個譯本採用差異很大的翻譯策略，甚至透過序言、譯註等側文本（paratext）提出各自不同的論述；後者的譯者陳逸君則是人類學家，透過譯註提供許多地理、歷史方面的細節，且每逢有需要之處也加入各種與原住民族、經濟、地理、宗教有關的〈延伸閱讀〉（也是側文本的一種），充分發揮人類學家本色；此外，知名台灣民俗學者劉還月則是耗費心力為譯本的每一章寫了〈導讀〉，提供思考方向給讀者。總結來講，本人認為各種與地方史有關的文本（或可稱為「地方書寫」，即“place-based writing”），在翻譯時因為時代背景不同與譯者的觀念不同，很可能會獲得重生的機會，而這或許就是德國哲學家班雅明（Walter Benjamin）所說的，文本會透過翻譯而取得了「後起的生命」（“afterlife”）。

Drawing upon Kwame Anthony Appiah’s concept of“thick translation,”this study aims at exploring how two 19th-century texts on Formosa have been re-interpreted. As a process of literary production, translation sometimes involves far more than transforming a certain text from language A to language B. Rather, translation is obliged to relocate the text from its original historical and cultural context to the focus of a more contemporary readership. This relocation is not just translational, because rewriting and re-interpretation will be needed, in order to address some presumed readers. Furthermore, from the perspectives of how translation is actually practiced, translators usually have the final say and the texts are likely to be subjected to their cultural, or even socio-political, agendas. Beginning with the background stated above, this study focuses first on Charles Le Gendre’s Notes of Travel in Formosa (2012), whose two translations have been made possible by the participation of history scholars such as Douglas Fix and Chen Chiukun. The two versions adopt very different translation strategies, and they even use paratexts (e.g., prefaces and annotations) to provide historical narratives which are distinct from each other. Secondly, a retranslation of William A. Pickering’s Pioneering in Formosa (1898) is discussed in order to show how the translator Chen I-chun provides many geographical and historical details about 19th-century Formosa. In this retranslation, when necessary, Chen brings forth extra information, which would be later named as“further reading,”about Formosa’s Indigenous peoples, economy, geography, and religion, taking this opportunity to show her professional proficiency in anthropology. Furthermore, Liu Huanyue, a renowned folklorist, also plays a key role in this retranslation by writing an introduction for each chapter of the book, inspiring the readers to reconsider related issues. In a nutshell, this study emphasizes a distinctive nature of the writings of local history (or“place-based writings”): i.e., when this type of texts is translated by translators with different professional backgrounds and ideological agendas, borrowing the words from German philosopher Walter Benjamin, they are likely to gain an“afterlife”via translation.