Chapter 5 Translation Preface: It’s about writing, it’s more about distance

Chen Jianming In 1949, EB White was living in a small hotel in Midtown, New York City.Sitting in a "breathlessly narrow, hot and stuffy" room, he sweated and wrote the popular "New York Talk" (Here Is New York), which was once selected by the New York Times as "the best book about New York City ever written". One of the ten best books"), which says: "No one should move to New York unless he makes up his mind to let his luck happen to him." , "The Trumpet of the Swan" and other classic fairy tales, as well as countless beautiful and timeless prose writers, still continue to embrace his consistent destiny and optimism, wandering in the free and joyful cultural sky of New York.

But at the same time, another poor writer who has lived in this city for nearly half his life is not so lucky.She is a bit lacking in talent but loves to read good books—good books at a real price; she thinks the city has no temperament, which makes her always unable to buy the books she wants to read (in the movie version ((movie 84Charing Cross Road in 1987) Produced by British director David Hugh Jones from a screenplay by Hugh Whitemore; Anne Bancroft as Helene Hanve, Anthony Hopkins as Frank Dell, Judi Dench as Nora Del. The performances of every actor in the film are very vivid; the achievements of the writer and director are also quite good (won the Best Actress Award from the British Film Academy in 1988 and nominated for the Best Adapted Screenplay Award; a In 1989, the Writers Guild of America awarded awards to Helene Hanff and Whitemore for this). Some video rental stores may still be able to find the authorized version of Time Company. Pay special attention to: Taiwanese translation of the title It turned out to be "Blood Shadow", and the film's subtitles are also terrible, which makes people feel uneasy. I translated this book, to some extent, I want to atone for it.

In addition to the film, in 1975, directed by Mark Cullingham and written by Hugh Whitemore, the book was staged in the form of a TV unit in the UK.The above-mentioned movie was made according to this script.To this day, theater troupes in Europe and the United States still perform stage plays adapted from this book from time to time. )), the actress who played Helene Hanff began to curse: "No one in New York City reads English literature?"), so she had to mail order these "this An English book written by a British guy that no one wants to buy in the early years" (quoting the manager of a bookstore in the United States who was rejected by Hanfu at the beginning of the movie).As a result, what was originally a simple business relationship turned into a twenty-year-long transatlantic friendship involving many people.

My vision is not as high and deep as that of Hanfu, but I am also a book lover who lives in another city with no temperament, and occasionally picky readers who lament that good books are hard to find. I was attracted by this book at first, Naturally, it is about "old books", but what moved me immediately was about writing—how writing (and reading, of course) at a distance can undertake a great spiritual construction project. I have always thought that a letter written by hand in an envelope, addressed, stamped, and delivered over a long period of time has an indelible magic power—for both the sender and the recipient.The meaning lies in the "distance" - or "waiting" - waiting for the other party's letter to be delivered; also waiting for one's own letter to be delivered to the other party's hands.The time difference caused by the delay between these exchanges is only comparable to the subtle difference in the germination time of natural yeast.

I have always been unwilling and unwilling to surrender to emails that appear on the other party's screen in a flash; naturally I even view ICQ (online real-time chat) as a daunting way.Thanks to the continuous operation of the traditional post, I still maintain the old trick of handwriting and delivering letters with my old friends and relatives, all because I sincerely believe that it is unwise and useless to devote ourselves to eliminating the distance of space and time.Just in the gaps of time and space that I thought I had saved, a lot of beautiful things were lost.I am not only referring to the irreplaceable handwriting left by handwriting; more importantly: once the communication becomes too efficient, it is no longer necessary to look at each other with heads and necks, and some affection will quickly depreciate and lose value. unnoticed.I like the process of being quiet and patient, pondering every sentence, and writing every word because I can't convey it immediately. I also cherish reading the other party's previous letter and thinking about the scene and emotions when the other party reads the letter a few days later.The old movie "The Shop Around the Corner" (The Shop Around the Corner  1940) was recently remade into "Electronic Love Letter" (You ve Got Mail  1998) ((The Shop Around the Corner, directed by the hall-level master Ernis Lubitsch; James Stewart and Margaret ·Saravin plays the story of two department store employees who are in the wrong place every day, have frequent quarrels, and secretly admire pen pals they haven't met. Years ago, I watched it on the TNT channel that specializes in showing old movies at night However, it is still unforgettable.

After the adaptation of "Electronic Love Letter", we can still vaguely see the shadow of paying tribute to the front, for example: the code name of the heroine when communicating anonymously is "shopgirl"; and the name of the children's bookstore she runs is "ShopAroundTheCorner"!In addition, I also suspect that she is obsessed with the magic pen of Yijie, but it seems to have come from it. )), there are many interesting dialectical relationships between the two, readers may wish to consider for themselves. I selfishly thought that was what the whole book was about.

Ms. Hanfu, who has never been "lucky", finally had a unique opportunity in her later years. With the nostalgia that has been brewing for 20 years, she sat in the cabin (this is also quoted from the movie) and went to another dream city. .A man sitting next to her asked her: "Is this your first time back to London?" Then he said: "Listen to my advice: don't trust the taxi driver, he will drive you five miles to your destination three blocks away. ; and don't waste your time reading maps, nobody can find their way in London, not even a Londoner." But, "You're going to love her, London is wonderful."

When I stand on the streets of London, I really can't compliment this city from the bottom of my heart - the streets are narrow and messy;But after all, it is inevitable that I gradually—starting from Charing Cross Road—fall in love with this city (Thanks to Hanfu, the house number "84 Charing Cross Road" is almost the same as another address in the City of London "Block B, 221 Baker Street" has the same name).Even firmly believing that she can make me think about her for twenty years afterward—from a distance—without a problem. Translating this book into Chinese will surely fulfill the expectations of many book lovers for many years.I know: All the book lovers who have read 84Charing Cross Road—like myself—always keep this little book by their side, and reread it many times, letting Hanfu’s witty words and old-fashioned heart warm them from time to time. Dust-covered hearts; and I believe that the reason why the Chinese world has not seen this book for many years must be that all those who cherish this book—like myself—can’t bear to change every word and every word in the book. Character.

One afternoon many years ago, in the ancient bookstore where I used to work, I chatted with Zhong Fangling that this book really should have a Chinese version.For this job, she naturally does her part, and as the number one diehard fan of this book, and her personal relationship with Hanfu himself, I also agree that she is the best candidate for the Chinese translator, but now I am because of Can't wait and plundered her original task.I believe that Fang Ling did not pursue this plan because she would rather maintain Hanfu's original appearance because of the aforementioned reasons.Therefore, although I tried to retain the taste of the original book as much as possible during the translation process, I still have to report here: I deliberately made minimal changes.In addition to making it more adaptable to the Chinese environment; I secretly hope that this momentary "distortion" can also turn into a foreshadowing for readers of the Chinese version to read the "authentic" original Hanfu.

This is my first translation work.If this Chinese translation is lucky enough not to embarrass the original text a little, first of all, I must thank Serena and Jianxing here, and thank them for their perseverance in pursuing the copyright ownership of this book. and Zhong Fangling, who spares no effort to promote the culture of physical bookstores, they are the real descendants who inherit the spirit of Hanfu, and they are also the behind-the-scenes heroes who make this book have the opportunity to enter more people's hearts. In addition, Dai Hanfu expressed his gratitude to Tang Nuo for agreeing to give the preface to the Chinese version ((See the appendix for the original Tang Nuo preface of the Taiwan version.——Editor’s note)).I myself often read a bunch of books I didn't intend to read in order to read Don Nuo's preface, but this is not entirely because of my wishful thinking about this translation, but because I know that Charing Cross Road is the place where he always goes when he is in London. It's the street I've been lingering for the longest; besides, if Hanfu is still alive, he will definitely ask him to write.