「蛇蝎美人」之改寫與重生：「黑暗元素三部曲」原著及中文譯本比較

The Reinvention of the 'Femmes Fatales' in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials' (1995~2000) and Its Chinese Translation

The idea of the femme fatale is not new in the world of art and literature. In popular children's stories such as Snow White and C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (1950-1956), the main antagonist is often a femme fatale who is beautiful but scheming, powerful and dangerous. At the end of the story, the deadly woman is often punished and killed for the evil deeds she has done. Such negative portrayal of strong, independent female figures, as feminists have noted, is a prejudice against women and a reflection of the biased assumptions held by sexists and misogynists in our society. In Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials (1995 - 2000), Mrs. Coulter, the female antagonist, is a character developed from the femme fatale archetype. In Northern Lights (1995), Mrs. Coulter shares more or less the same features that most typical femme fatales have. Surprisingly, in the second and third books, i.e. The Subtle Knife (1997) and The Amber Spyglass (2000), Mrs. Coulter manifests characteristics of a loving mother and a virtuous redeemer. The traditional representation of the femme fatale is disrupted. More interestingly, further disruptions can be found in the trilogy's Chinese translation (2002) of Pullman's fiction. In this paper, I will look into the representation of Mrs. Coulter in both Pullman's His Dark Materials and its Chinese translation. Gender stereotypes and / or other alternative, subversive gender forms will be analyzed and discussed.被譽為「全英國最危險作家」的菲力普.普曼，無論在英國或國際、兒童文學或主流文學當中，均享負盛名。其巨著＜黑暗元素三部曲＞，更是為人津津樂道，獲獎無數。其中普曼對「蛇蝎美人」的改寫與重新演譯，十分惹人注目。最令一眾女權主義者關注的是，普曼對「蛇蝎美人」的演譯，有否為一度被貶低、描黑的女角帶來重生？普曼是否擺脫了，甚至顛覆了主流架構中傳統的女性角色規範？還是，一切不過是舊酒新瓶，再次重複一般通俗小說的男女角色定型和慣例？此外，＜黑暗元素三部曲＞的台灣中譯本於二零零二年出版，將普曼天馬行空的作品與激進思潮，帶進華人讀者的世界中。耐人尋味的是，譯者王晶有否將作者對「蛇蝎美人」的描寫與演譯，如實地傳達至譯本當中呢？她會否在不知不覺中，揉合了中華文化，於字裡行間注入了一層屬於中華文化的主體意識？有見及此，本文的重點有兩方面：（一）從普曼對「蛇蝎美人」考爾特夫人的描寫，觀察作者如何挑戰父權意識型態，衝破傳統對「蛇蝎美人」角色定型的界限，以及（二）比較＜黑暗元素＞的原文及台灣中譯本，探索中譯本之翻譯異化，細看譯者如何掌握作者改寫「蛇蝎美人」的意念，並利用何種翻譯手法將普曼的考爾特夫人用華文演譯出來。