理雅各英譯《書經》及《竹書紀年》析論

A Critical Assessment of James Legge's Translations of the Book of Historical Documents (Shu-Ching) and the Bamboo Annals (Chu-Shu Chi-Nien)

十九世紀著名西方漢學家、蘇格蘭傳教士理雅各（James Legge, 1815-1897）在一八六一至一八七二年間陸續發表了極有份量的英文譯注《中國經書》（The Chinese Classics）。理氏來華，本為傳播基督教，卻被中國傳統學術，尤其是儒家經典所吸引，致力於翻譯手中國經書。《中國經書》第三卷為《書經》（The Shoo King）（其中包括《竹書紀年》，出版於一八六五年。理雅各譯注《書經》，乃是他克服了重重困難和融合了許多前人的研究成果之後所作出的一項重要學術成就，確為中國古典文獻的翻譯注釋開闢了不少新的途徑。本文旨在通過討論理雅各英譯《書經》和《竹書紀年》，以彰顯他對於中國學術史的貢獻。事實上，理氏譯注《中國經典》不僅屬近代西方漢學開山之作之列，向為國際漢學界所注重；而且對於中國的讀者而言，他所從事的工作也大有助於我們體會一位西方牧師對中國文化的理解。理氏譯注《書經》、《竹書紀年》的正面成果至今仍不失為學術參考的權威見解，而他的失誤之處對於我們也是一份珍貴的學術遺產，因為這些可以使後人從其中獲得經驗和啟發。從現代學術的眼光看，儘管理氏的英譯之中存在著一些誤解和誤譯，然而他所譯《書經》、《竹書紀年》迄今仍是唯一的英文全譯本，一直是西方漢學家從事研究的不可缺少的參考著作。並且他所提出的若干深思卓見，作為思想史之寶貴資料，仍然值得我們繼續思考。

During a period of fifteen years of vigorous translation effort James Legge (1815-1897), a 19th century Scottish missionary, completed the first full edition of the Chinese Classics. This included the Analects, the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, the Mencius, constituting the Four Books, as well as the Book of Historical Documents, the Book of Poetry, and the Spring and Autumn Annals accompanied by the Zuo Commentary. The English translation and annotation of the Book of Historical Documents, as James Legge called his publication of the rendering of the Shoo King (Shu-ching) in 1865, was the third volume in the five-volume-in-eight-tomes set of the Chinese Classics (1861-1872, Hong Kong). It was the first of two translations of this Confucian scripture by Legge, the second appearing as part of the third volume in the Sacred Books of the East published under the editorship of F. Max Mueller in Oxford in 1879. Nevertheless, it is this first translation which has remained a standard work in sinological circles for over 130 years, due in a large degree to Legge's extensive ''prolegomena'' and multifaceted commentarial footnotes to this ancient and complicated text. It arguably stands as one of the most important sinological achievements of the 19th century, bridging the gap between the two intellectual worlds of Qing scholarship and English sinology of that time. In this article we intend to create a new, more comprehensive and more nuanced assessment of Legge's monumental translation corpus by examining his translations and assessments of the Book of Historical Documents and the Bamboo Annals that accompanied it.