無法（不）翻譯 從「語言友好」論水村美苗與約翰妮森的混語書寫

The Untranslatables: Reading Minae Mizumura’s and Jessica Gaitán Johannesson’s Multilingual Novels Through the Lens of Linguistic Hospitality

本文旨在探討當代混語書寫內部及外部涉及之語言、文學、翻譯的深刻勾連關係，取徑於呂格爾「語言友好」論述，並援引沃蔻薇姿「生而為翻譯的小說」概念來思考今日文學多語主義實踐在英語霸權時代裡所代表的意義與樣貌。以日本小說家水村美苗的《私小說from left to right》與瑞典裔青年小說家約翰妮森的《我們是如何被翻譯的》為例，思考這兩位英語為非母語作家如何藉混語書寫走出一條既能實踐語言友好又能保有流通的路徑，再現移／異／譯鄉人主體所面臨的（不）友好多語境況與倫理侷限，並探討翻譯如何穿透其小說作品的內外結構，使其成為生而為翻譯的小說，在創作語言、閱讀效果、翻譯和流通等實際層面回應「無法（不）翻譯」的倫理呼求，以翻譯作為協商差異的範式。期望此探求能對翻譯與當代混語書寫之關聯性帶來些許啟發與貢獻。

This study explores the intricate relationships between language, literature, and translation inside and outside contemporary multilingual novels. It draws on Paul Ricoeur’s“linguistic hospitality”and Rebecca Walkowitz’s“born-translated novels”to investigate what the practice of literary multilingualism means and looks like in the context of English dominance in world literature today. Two non-native English writers’novels, Minae Mizumura’s An I-Novel and Jessica Gaitan Johannesson’s How We Are Translated, are taken as examples to explore how they employ hybrid writing to navigate a path that both fosters linguistic hospitality and facilitates circulation, and how they represent their characters as immigrants, foreigners, and translators who maneuver their way in an ethically challenging (in)hospitable multilingual world. Moreover, the study observes how the theme of translation permeates both the internal and external structures of these two novels to make them“born translated”and how these writers engage with language choice, reader reception, translation strategies, and global circulation as well as respond to the ethical calling embedded in the concept of the“untranslatables,”which positions translation as a paradigm for negotiating difference. Finally, it is hoped that this study may offer some insights into the relationship between translation and contemporary multilingual novels.