Rewriting a foreign novel through a collaborative approach between an interpreter and a writer: the translation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the Chinese landscape

ABSTRACT

Whether readers decide to accept or reject the translation of foreign literary works depends on a variety of linguistic, literary, cultural and social factors. This paper attempts to explore how the collaborative approach between an interpreter and a writer can effectively address these interrelated factors that constrain the reception of translations of foreign literary works through a case study of Wei Yi and Lin Shu’s translation of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the early twentieth-century China. By leveraging their respective expertise as an interpreter and a writer, they rewrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in the linguistic, literary, cultural and social landscape of China through various translation strategies such as additions, deletions, abridgments and adaptations. The paper argues that Wei Yi and Lin Shu’s collaboration as an interpreter and a writer facilitated a more appropriate contextualisation and reception of the Chinese translation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin among the target readership in the early twentieth-century Chinese landscape. By studying the collaboration between an interpreter and a writer in rewriting a foreign novel, this research is expected to provide some valuable insights into literary translation across different countries.

KEYWORDS:

• Collaboration
• interpreter and writer
• rewriting
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
• Chinese landscape

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. 譯才並世數嚴林。

2. 予不審西文，其勉強廁身於譯界者，恃二三君子為余口述其詞，餘耳受而手追之，聲已筆止，日區四小時，得文字六千言。其間疵謬百出， … …

3. 譯書非著書比也。著作之家，可以抒吾所見，乘虛逐微，靡所不可; 若譯書，則述其已成之事蹟，焉能參以己見？

4. 偶爾翻開一本林譯小說，出於意外，它居然還沒有喪失吸引力。我不但把它看完，並且接二連三，重溫了大部分的林譯，發現許多都值得重讀，儘管漏譯誤譯隨處都是。

5. 是中國以古文筆法譯西洋小說的第一人。

6. 以華文之典料，寫歐人之性情，曲曲以赴，煞費匠心，好語穿珠，哀感頑豔， … …

7. 林翁深于史漢，出筆高古而又風華，大家以為很好，靡然從風的學他的筆調。

8. 問何以崇拜之者眾，則以遣詞綴句，胎息史漢，其筆墨古樸頑豔， … …

9. 今世小說界之泰斗也。

10. 平心而論，林紓用古文作翻譯小說的試驗，總算是很有成績的了。古文不曾做過長篇的小說，林紓居然用古文譯了一百多種長篇小說， … … 古文裡很少滑稽的風味，林紓居然用古文譯了歐文與迭更斯的作品。古文不長於寫情，林紓居然用古文譯了《茶花女》與《迦茵小傳》等書。古文的應用，自司馬遷以來，從沒有這種大的成績。

11. 《迦茵小傳》 … … 這怕是我讀過的西洋小說中的第一種。這在世界的文學史上也沒有甚麼地位，但經林琴南的那種簡潔的古文譯出來，真是增了不少的光彩！

12. 是書為美人著。美人信教至篤，語多以教為宗。顧譯者非教中人，特不能不為傳述，識者諒之。

13. 是書言教門事孔多，悉經魏君節去其原文稍煩瑣者。本以取便觀者，幸勿以割裂為責。

14. 其中累述黑奴慘狀，非巧於敘悲，亦就其原書所著錄者，觸黃種之將亡，因而愈生其悲懷耳。

15. 余與魏君同譯是書，非巧於敘悲以博閱者無端之眼淚，特為奴之勢逼及吾種，不能不為大眾一號。

16. 蓋非僅悲黑人之苦況，實悲我四百兆黃人將為黑人續耳。

17. 曼思故國，來日方長，載悲黑奴前車如是，彌益感喟。

18. These English quotations in the article are the author’s own translations from the source texts listed in the Notes.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by British Writings from the Sea Travels to China in the 17th-19th Centuries (Grant No: 22BTQ011), funded by the National Social Science Fund of China [国家社会科学基金项目“英国17—19纪来华航海日记书信整理、翻译与研究”（批准号: 22BTQ011）]. Besides, the author is a member of the research project “Study of Circulation and Reception of Western Translated Novels in the Late Qing China” (Grant No: 20BXW067), funded by the National Social Science Fund of China [国家社会科学基金项目“晚清时期西方小说在中国传播与接受研究”（批准号: 20BXW067)].

Notes on contributors

Yanbo Yao

Yao Yanbo is an Associate Professor of English in the School of Foreign Languages at Zhejiang Ocean University, China. She teaches interpreting, translation, and English language and literature. Her research interests are mainly in the areas of interpreting, translation and cultural studies. She has published research papers in various academic journals and translated works. She has received scholarship from the China Scholarship Council and has been engaged in research projects at the municipal, provincial, and national levels. She is currently heading a research project funded by the National Social Science Fund of China.