競爭與策略──德庇時（John Francis Davis）《漢宮秋》的翻譯主體性

Competition and Strategy: The Subjectivity of John Francis Davis’s Translation of Hān Koong Tsew (The Sorrows of Han)

作為中英交流史上最早的商人漢學家／中國專家，德庇時（John Francis Davis, 1795-1890）的兩部中國戲劇翻譯，一為少年時期（22歲）的「（接近）足本」《老生兒》（1817），文本前附有慎重介紹中國劇場的前言專文；一為青壯年時期（34歲）所譯的「節本」《漢宮秋》（1829），譯本單薄，〈序〉僅四頁。對照兩本譯作，德庇時的譯筆似有「倒退」之嫌。從1817至1829這十二年間，德庇時的翻譯策略有何轉變？如何以自身文化與閱讀經驗轉譯中國戲劇？本文提出，德庇時筆下可見其縈繞於心的英法戲劇及英法中國學的競爭情結；與此同時，其閱讀、理解、轉譯元雜劇的思維架構，實來自於莎士比亞戲劇。如此一來，看似輕薄短小的《漢宮秋》譯本，實為中英文學史上第一部帶有莎士比亞戲劇與元雜劇交流痕跡的印記作品，其譯筆之下隱伏的視角與脈絡，具有跨文化比較戲劇的重要意義。

As the earliest merchant sinologist and Chinese expert in the history of Sino-British exchanges, John Francis Davis (1795-1890) undertook the translation of two Chinese plays. At the age of twenty-two, he translated the nearly full-length version of Laou-Seng-Urh老生兒(An Heir in His Old Age) in 1817, which is accompanied by a careful introduction to Chinese theatre. Twelve years later, at the age of thirty-four, he produced an“abridged”version of Hān Koong Tsew漢宮秋(The Sorrows of Han) in 1829, prefaced by a short and concise four-page introduction. A comparison of these works suggests a retrospective shift in Davis’s translation approach. What prompted this evolution over the twelve-year period? How did his cultural knowledge and reading experiences influence his translations of Chinese plays? This article argues that Davis’s translations reflect a complex interplay between English and French theatrical traditions and their studies of Chinese. His approach to reading, understanding, and translating Yuan dynasty opera was notably influenced by his exposure to Shakespearean drama. Consequently, his short and concise translation of Hān Koong Tsew marks a pioneering moment in the exchange between Shakespearean and Yuan theater within the history of Chinese and English literature. This uncovering of the underlying perspective and contexts enriches our understanding of cross-cultural dramatic influences.