Chapter 14 Todtnau Mountain Postscript Cai Hongjun (5)

Li Ou and Yang Li were invited to translate "The Burgtheater", which is the most difficult script to translate. Many words are written in Vienna dialect and Graz dialect, so it is very difficult to translate.This couple has lived in Vienna for more than 20 years. Taking advantage of this unique advantage, they consulted many Austrian friends and drama experts. They also went to the "Burst Theater" in Vienna to watch the "Burst Theater". show.In terms of translation style, Mandarin was chosen as the basis, and some more elegant or vulgar expressions were adopted according to each person's speaking style.Ding Na and Xu Jinghua live in Munich and Berlin respectively in Germany. In addition to learning from each other and asking German friends for advice, they also thought of a way to directly ask the author for advice.Ms. Ding Na wrote me a letter in German on March 29, 2005. She wrote: "Because the author is very unique in language, some Germans we consulted in the translation helped us a lot this time. They either say that they are not smart enough to understand the text, or we get completely different interpretations, often inconsistent." She asked me to forward the questions she and Ms. Xu Jinghua had in translation to Ye Lineke herself, who also put "SOS!!!" on the front of her letter. I forwarded her letter to Ms Jelinek. On April 8, Dina received an email from Jelinek himself:

"Dear Mr. Translator, I received your SOS and those questions. I am very sorry, really! I would not like to be in your position. Please be a little patient. I have just returned to Vienna, (I have gone out long time), need some time for the most urgent things. But I will try my best. The problem is that I often write not 'standard' (kein "normales" Deutsch) German, but an artistic language (Kunstsprache) You must find something corresponding in Chinese, (Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about Chinese, so I don’t know if this is possible), you can deal with my text very freely and creatively, or Rather, you must paraphrase (nachdichten). Goodbye and hearty greetings. Your Elfriede Jelinek. Thank you very much for taking the trouble to do this!"

However, just four days later, Ms. Braun from Rowalt wrote to me saying: We have referred the translator's questions to Ms. It is impossible to answer these questions, because there are many places in her text that cannot be rationally explained. Therefore, in order to translate her book into Chinese well, translators and publishers can only do their best now Ding Na and Xu Jinghua were of course disappointed, but within a few days, Ding Na received an email from Dr. Katrin Rausch, who is from Jelinek My friend, who lives in Vienna, is engaged in German-English-English translation, understands Chinese, was once sent by the German Academic Exchange Foundation (DAAD) to teach at Tongji University in Shanghai, and is now entrusted by Jelinek to answer questions in translation for the translator .With her assistance, the two translators successfully resolved the last few difficulties.Associate Professor Xu Xiaochun from the Department of Foreign Languages ​​of the University of Science and Technology of China and Ms. Chen Zhao, a graduate of Nanjing University's German master's degree, also regard the translation of Jelinek's works as a "sacred job". I carefully read the script translations of many older translators, "I want to find more feelings about script translation". Although the two of them are in China, they are surrounded by some German experts and scholars, and they naturally become teachers who answer questions.After submitting the manuscript, Ms. Xu Xiaochun wrote to me:

"This is the most difficult time since I have been engaged in translation. How to maintain the best balance on the tightrope of 'faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance'? How can I take into account both the author's style and the reader's reading habits? The choice and grasp of the translation style is the most difficult. Yes, especially for such a work, I dare not lose faith in the pursuit of 'expression', and feel unprecedented restraint and pressure. Although I also know that this is a matter of personal preference, no matter how I do it, it is impossible to be perfect, and it is difficult for everyone to agree... But I still want to do better... Literary translation is really difficult! Jelinek's works are even more difficult!! This script involves many historical facts, but the quotations are not clearly marked, I am really worried about not adding annotations, readers I can't read it, but adding annotations may also cause controversy... I haven't enjoyed the sun for two months... The life I have lived in these two months is really inhuman: inhuman hardship, inhuman pain, and inhuman fulfillment... ...Also, inhuman happiness, inhuman satisfaction, inhuman...all because of Jelinek, because of "Clara S". Spring is here, and I am also eager to get out of Clara's cold winter with satisfaction and emotion..."

Thanks to all translators, you have completed high-quality translations with a serious and dedicated attitude, which saved me a lot of effort in the subsequent review work.In fact, I should have been one of the translators of this book in the first place, and I would not be regarded as an editor who is greedy for fame as I am now.From the end of November, I began to translate "After Nora Left Her Husband". I was a little selfish at the time. First, because this script is a representative play of Jelinek, I think it is also the most likely to be translated. The second is that this script is relatively easy to translate in terms of language. I translate a little every day, and it can be completed within three months without affecting my other work.However, in mid-January 2005, when I was talking on the phone with Du Xinhua, I accidentally learned that the magazine "World Literature" would publish this script, and the translator was my former colleague Jiao Zhongping, deputy editor (Jiao Yongjian is his pen name). .After hesitating for a few days, I called Jiao Zhongping and asked him for a draft.Of course, I also put down the work of translating this script.It is very interesting that on January 31, I invited Ms. Qi Kuaige, a doctoral student in German literature at Shanghai International Studies University, to translate other articles. "After Nora Left Her Husband", which she translated and published in the first issue of "Foreign Literature and Art" in 2005, is included in this collection. "World Literature" and "Foreign Literature and Art", two authoritative domestic magazines that publish foreign literature, unanimously selected the script "After Nora Left Her Husband", which seems to be in response to the old saying: Heroes see alike.However, these two authoritative foreign literary magazines hired translators to translate and publish foreign works protected by copyright without prior permission from the copyright owner, and did not send sample books to the copyright owner afterwards. Should it be changed too?

three After the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2004, the attention of the domestic media has greatly exceeded that of the past. The Nobel Prize in Literature is not limited to literature, but has become a highly anticipated news event.In a very short period of time, at least hundreds of domestic newspapers introduced Jelinek's life and creation, "Beijing Evening News", "Beijing News", "Beijing Entertainment News", "China Reading News", "China Bookseller Daily, Global Times, Beijing Youth Daily, Jing Bao, Wen Wei Po, Wen Hui Reading Weekly, Xinmin Evening News, Oriental Morning Post, Southern Weekly, Southern Metropolis Daily News, Shenzhen Commercial Daily, Nanjing Morning News, Yangtze Evening News, Jiangnan Times, Xiaoxiang Morning News, etc., also dedicated full pages or even several pages of special reports, even People's Daily, Guangming The national newspaper "Daily" also published several lengthy articles introducing Jelinek. "World Literature", "Foreign Literature and Art", "Translation", "Shanghai Literature", "Book City", "People", "Publisher", "Bund Pictorial" and other media also launched Nobel Prize winners according to their respective orientations. Most of Lineker's albums or headlines are placed in important positions on the headlines.Numerous media interpreted Jelinek in an all-round way, and within a few weeks, she became the most popular foreign writer in mainland China.