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换一种语言读金庸(十三)

2018年11月12日 学习小计, 心情故事 暂无评论 阅读 2,491 次

作者:王晓辉

2018年10月30日,金庸先生走完了94岁的人生旅程,驾鹤西去。他的离世,引发了无数金庸迷的怀念与感慨,也让人们重新审视金庸的贡献和传统武侠小说的文学地位。

中国传统的武侠文学是一种独特的文学形态,从基因的角度来看,它更接近中国古典诗词中的边塞诗,是中国文人(主要是男性文人)英雄主义情结的文学表现。满腔的英雄气概无法在现实生活中发挥时,便会化作诗歌和小说渲泄出来,连自幼体弱多病只活了二十九岁的唐代诗人李贺,也发出了“男儿何不带吴钩,收取关山五十州”的铮铮强音。沿着这条文脉,我们很容易找到罗贯中、施耐庵、王昌龄、金庸、古龙这样一批标志性的人物。

资料图:著名作家查良镛(笔名金庸)[视觉中国]

西方也有骑士文学的传统,但与中国的武侠文学差异甚大。金庸先生在《鹿鼎记》英译本的序言中谈到了中国武侠小说的独特性:

There is nothing quite like Martial Arts fiction in the Western literary tradition. There are certain similarities with the works of Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Alexandre Dumas. But there are also huge differences. If someone were to try to explain Martial Arts fiction to a Western reader by simply calling it 'Kung fu fiction', that person would be guilty either of extreme ignorance, or of excessive laziness. There is something more subtle involved. Western people believe in the Christian faith. Their idea of what is right is determined by God and interpreted for them by their priests. The Chinese have no pronounced religious sense. They have to decide for themselves what is right. If something is not right, if there is injustice, the weak may submit to it; but the strong will resist, they will often go to the aid of others, and be willing to sacrifice themselves in so doing. This is the spirit of the Chinese knight-errand. If a knight-errand employs Martial Arts skill to achieve that chivalrous, altruistic end, that's a fit subject for Martial Arts fiction.

金庸认为西方文学没有武侠小说,Walter Scott和Robert Louis Stevenson等人的作品虽有相似之处,但仍有巨大差异。如果有人告诉西方读者武侠小说就是功夫小说,此人不是无知便是懒惰。西方人信基督教,凡事正确与否,均由上帝来裁定,由牧师来解释。中国人则不然,是非要自己决定。面对不平,弱者顺从,强者抗争。仗义助人,舍身无悔,这是中国“侠”的精神,以武行侠,扶危济困,即是武侠。

其实,除了那些专业学者之外,普通读者一般不会去关心武侠小说如何定位,在文学大系中处于什么地位,就像我们吃炒鸡蛋,只要吃得心旷神怡就行了,用不着考虑那个生蛋的鸡到底住在哪里,是京派鸡还是海派鸡。读小说也是如此,我们喜欢武侠,喜欢金庸,这就足够了。

金庸的作品有那么长久的生命力,受到那么多人的追捧,绝非偶然。他笔下几百个鲜活的人物,帝王将相,文人雅士,草莽英雄,和尚道人,各有各的面孔,各说各的语言,南腔北调,大俗大雅,却丝毫不会混淆。读者往往能在金庸塑造的人物身上看到自己或者身边人的影子,读到自己常说或者常听到的话。

先举一个俗的例子。“宁碰阎王,莫碰老王”,这里的“老王”是金庸小说中镇远镖局的总镖头王维扬。这句类似于口头禅的表达方式在老百姓日常生活中经常会听到,似乎每个人心中都有一个老王。《书剑恩仇录》第八回:

威震河朔王维扬今年六十九岁,自三十岁起出来闯道走镖,以一把八卦刀、一对八卦掌打遍江北绿林。他手创的“镇远镖局”在北方红了三十多年,经过不少大风大浪,始终屹立不倒。绿林中有言道:“宁碰阎王,莫碰老王。”

Graham Earnshaw英译:

Wang Weiyang was sixty-nine years old. The Zhen Yuan Security Agency, which he had built up with his own hands, has prospered in North China for more than thirty years in spite of strong and sometimes violent opposition. Everywhere they went Wang's Eight Trigrams swordplay and his Eight Trigrams fist kungfu were a byword. There was a saying in the fighting community: 'You'd be better off bumping into the Devil than into old Wang.'

这是一段非常干净利落的译文,Graham Earnshaw调整了次序,使译文更符合英语习惯。他完整地翻译了“他手创的‘镇远镖局’在北方红了三十多年”,省略了“自三十岁起出来闯道走镖”,因为这句话的意思已经包含在前句之中,翻译出来反倒显得累赘。“宁碰阎王,莫碰老王”是百分百的直译,形象生动,通俗易懂。最有趣的是Graham Earnshaw将“八卦掌”译成Eight Trigrams fist kungfu(八卦拳),我想他是有意为之。西方人搏击讲究实效,多用拳而少用掌,更别说什么一阳指、二指禅之类的指头功夫了。如果直译为Eight Trigrams Palm,外国读者很有可能理解为“掌掴”一类的功夫,他们也许会觉得很纳闷,不就是扇耳光嘛,为什么要用八卦的方式呢?

再举一个大雅的例子。《书剑恩仇录》第八回,乾隆皇帝在海宁见到红花会总舵主陈家洛,因是一母所生,所以似曾相识,顿生好感。他从身上解下一块佩玉,送给了陈家洛:

玉色晶莹,在月光下发出淡淡柔光,陈家洛谢了接过,触手生温,原来是一块异常珍贵的暖玉。玉上以金丝嵌着四行细篆铭文:“情深不寿,强极则辱。谦谦君子,温润如玉。”

Graham Earnshaw英译:

Chen accepted the stone. The jade emanated a pale radiance in the moonlight and holding it in his hand he found it slightly warm to the touch. He realized it was a piece of the incalculably valuable variety of jade known as 'warm jade'.

很明显,最后一句没有翻译。乾隆到底有没有这样一块暖玉,上面是否刻着这四句话,我们无从查考,很有可能这是金庸改编、组合、创造出来的。这四句话含义很深刻,前两句是道家,后两句是儒家,意思是用情太深就会损寿,过于强硬反而会弄的灰头土脸,真正的君子,谦和儒雅,好像玉一样温润。

可是,Graham Earnshaw为什么没有翻译呢?是太难了,还是他认为对于外国读者来说可有可无?其实这句话还是很重要的,它能让故事更丰满,让文字更增色,如果翻译得准确,还能向外国读者介绍一下中国人的人生哲学。我班门弄斧,试译如下:

The jade bore four columns of gold-inlaid inscriptions in fine seal characters:

Blind passion health injures,

Ultimate power humiliation incurs;

A modest gentleman is like jade,

Warm and mild.

十几年前我在香港工作,与Graham Earnshaw是同事,时常在一起聊天吃饭,他给我看过《书剑恩仇录》英译的电子版,遗憾的是当时没有就此向他讨教。

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