Chapter 32 Research, Creation and Translation Simultaneously

This is purely my own summary, as very few people do it. I do this entirely because of circumstances.Research is my lifelong interest, and almost all my energy is devoted to it.However, when I was studying in Jinan High School, I was influenced and encouraged by Mr. Hu Yepin and Mr. Dong Qiufang (Dong Fen); after I arrived at Tsinghua University, I was rewarded by Mr. Ye Gongchao, Mr. Shen Congwen and Mr. Zheng Zhenduo, so I wrote Articles come.I wrote a poem or two, all of which are lost now.I don't want to write fiction because I hate fiction.Therefore, I only write prose and have not stopped for more than sixty years.People are vain, and I am no exception.The prose I wrote has been favored by the above-mentioned gentlemen from the very beginning, and has gradually been encouraged by the readers.The reason why I write prose without interruption, to put it bluntly, is here.Sometimes, when you are tired of doing those boring and rigid academic research, you can change your desk, write some prose, and change your mind.It's like sharpening a knife. After the knife is sharpened, it becomes sharp again. When you go back to do academic research, you will be refreshed again, like a tiger with wings added.I knew that I owed a fire. Although I have successively become a member, director, and consultant of the Chinese Writers Association, I have never dared to call myself a writer.In my eyes, a writer is a "sacred" title and an object of my worship. How dare I pretend to be a fake?

As for the translation work, it was completely out of helplessness.After I returned from Germany in 1946, I had already started a good research work in Germany, but due to the complete lack of domestic materials, I was forced to change course.It was extremely painful.Apart from my administrative work, I was a restless person and I had to find some work, I mean writing work.When writing prose, I don't have so many true feelings to express.I advocate that prose should not be fabricated, nor can it tell lies; if you force yourself to squeeze out and show off some fancy rhetoric, I don't think it's impossible, but I'm ashamed to do so.After much deliberation, there is only one way out, which is to engage in translation.I started from the short stories of Anna Seghers in Germany and expanded to Sanskrit and Pali literature.The longest and most important translation is that of the Ramayana, one of the two great epics of India.This translation came about when I was most unlucky and mentally miserable in my life.At that time, the "Cultural Revolution" had not yet ended, although I had already been sent home; the "gang compound" at Peking University had been disbanded, and every "criminal" returned to his own unit, the dictatorship of the masses, and supervision of reform through labor; That pile of unwarranted hats, which seem to exist or not, seem to be real or false, are still pressed there heavily.I was ordered to dig manure, water the vegetable garden, guard the door of the building, and guard the phone, living a life of "untouchable".I sat in the concierge, other than making phone calls and distributing newspapers and letters, I was really bored.I was thinking about finding a job that would drag on for a long time, but with absolutely no results, to pass the time, so I thought of the 20,000-verse "Ramayana".From a stylistic point of view, this great epic is not too difficult, but there are still problems and difficulties in some places.At that time, there were translations of this book in different languages ​​in India, and no complete translation was heard outside India, and there was only one compiled version in English.I ran into difficulties and couldn't solve them, only refer to the Hindi translation which I didn't take too seriously.At that time, the ultra-left wind had not yet been holographic, and reading focused on business, which was considered "revisionism".What's more, a half-prisoner like me, how dare I openly spread out the Sanskrit original in the porter's room and translate it as if no one was there.This is simply breaking ground on Tai Sui's head, and he will have to be criticized at least five times.Where do I have the courage!So I went home at night, translated Sanskrit into Chinese prose, wrote it into a small note, and put it in my pocket.Sitting in the concierge during the day, I kept thinking in my head, changing prose into poems with rhymes.After I was further liberated, it took me another year or two to finally complete the translation of the entire book.Later, when things turned around, and with the benefits of the reform and opening up, the People’s Literature Publishing House published the full text, which I never imagined beforehand.

I often think that if there had been no "Cultural Revolution" and if I hadn't become an "untouchable", I would have been sent to us all day long, busy with administrative work, and the translation of "Ramayana" would never have been possible.Some people say: bad things can turn into good things, believe it.There are so many people and things, and the cause and effect are intricate, I really can't help feeling that it's all about it. "Summary" is temporarily written here.There are a few points that need to be explained: First, this book is written with the main axis of recalling the content of academic research in the past 60 to 70 years of my life. It is not a general "self-report", and even literary creation and literary translation do not belong to the scope of narrowly defined academic research. , are not included.There is no other purpose, but to highlight the key points and clear clues.However, considering that literary creation, literary translation and academic research work are closely related, a section is added at the end of the "Summary".

Second, the "Self-Report" was intended and should have been written until 1997.However, as I said above, the older I am, the more work I do and the more articles I write, the clues are so complicated that it is difficult to collect them all at once, and it is also difficult to write the "self-report". No day.After thinking about it for a long time, I finally made up my mind to write the "Academic Self-Report" after 1994, and now I have come to an end. Third, however, I am running into a contradiction here.It stands to reason that which year the "self-report" was written, the "summary" should also be done in that year.However, in fact, it is difficult to achieve. "Self-report" can stop abruptly, but "summary" is difficult to do.Many jobs are continuous. "Summary" must summarize the whole process, and you cannot stop and stop.Therefore, this "Self-Report" cannot be carried out simultaneously, and the "Summary" has been written until the present.When the "self-report" is written in 1997 in the future, the "summary" does not need to be changed, and it will still be suitable and useful.

Fourth, the purpose of "summarizing" is to sum up experience and lessons.My life has been too long and I have done too much work, so the experience and lessons are complicated and confusing.Although I racked my brains, I tried my best to think about it in all aspects.However, I am not sure at all, and there will definitely be things that I missed.In the process of continuing to write the "Academic Self-Report" in the future, as long as I think of any omissions, I will make a temporary report in the "Self-Report"-I can only make a temporary report. When will I end my life, only God knows-at the end, I Will make up for it.

1997