57


Exploiting Literary Fame?: A Study of Chinese Translations of Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse 利用文學聲譽?:吳爾芙《燈塔行》中譯研究

作者
李根芳
Author
Ken-fang Lee
摘要

Virginia Woolf with her great talent as a writer and thinker has achieved canonical status in world literature. There is no doubt that she is one of the most distinguished modernist writers in the twentieth century and her works continue to impact on today’s world. But what would happen when Woolf speaks Chinese? This article applies André Lefevere’s theoretical framework to investigate translations of her most autobiographical fiction and how different publishers exploit her literary fame to deliver various Chinese translations of one of her most famous works. I look at how Woolf’s To The Lighthouse is translated/re-written and examine in what context and forms these works are represented. Interestingly, this research finds that no matter how good or bad the qualities of these re-writings are, Woolf’s canonical status would not be shaken. It seems obvious that, as Lefevere’s model suggests, re-writers do play an important role in the consolidation and constitution of Woolf’s fame on the foreign soil. Throughout her life, Woolf has an intense and ambivalent relationship to institutions (broadly speaking, the university, the publishing houses, and nation-state). Yet, her fame is still very much influenced by these institutions even after so many years and so far away from her homeland.

Abstract

當前在臺灣的翻譯研究,除了以翻譯做為隱喻,探討文化交流與理論旅行之外,對於臺灣中譯作品實質探討仍稍嫌欠缺,證諸全球翻譯學者的重要討論與貢獻,無不援用具體翻譯事例及翻譯史上諸多譯作做為舉證,可見深化翻譯研究仍須從不同的觀點來檢視翻譯作品在接受語文化的傳布和影響。因此本論文就英國現代主義重要作家維吉妮亞‧吳爾芙作品的譯介為研究對象,特別以其自傳性色彩濃厚的經典作品《燈塔行》為例,檢視過去二十餘年來臺灣各主要出版社如何扮演重寫者的角色,透過譯文及各種附文本,呈現出風格殊異的吳爾芙面貌,期望藉此進一步深化臺灣之翻譯研究。吳爾芙獨特的敘事手法及豐富詩意的語言,奠定了現代主義文學風格的基石,同時她對於女性地位與女性特質的探討,也為後世女性主義發展開啟了研究和想像的空間,這是她在歐美文學史上已蓋棺論定的地位,但譯成中文後,她的作品是如何受到臺灣當代文化政治所影響,再現呢?本論文援用雷飛維(AndréLefevere)的理論架構,探討各類重寫者,如譯者,出版社編輯及專家學者,如何包裝操縱,甚而有剝削利用吳爾芙文學聲譽之嫌,來譯介其作品,進而印證她的作品一方面透過諸多重寫者不斷述說譯介,更加鞏固了她的經典地位,一方面也提出世界經典文學翻譯至臺灣所帶來的若干反思。