《Finnegans Wake》前兩章的中譯跨譯本分析

Abstract

詹姆斯•喬伊斯的曠世巨作 Finnegans Wake 從1939問世以來，共出現了兩本中文譯本：戴從容的 《芬尼根的守灵夜˙第１卷》（2012年出版），以及梁孫傑的《芬尼根守靈：墜生夢始記 (卷一:1-2章)》（2017年出版）。本篇論文旨在討論這兩本譯著，希望從內容、風格、精神、可讀性等各方面比較兩本譯著後，能讓讀者對於Finnegans Wake 的中文譯本有所了解。在研究方法上，本篇論文主要採用的是 Patrick O’Neill 所提倡的深入跨譯文本分析 (transtextual analysis)。該分析方法以爲，將多數譯本與原著比較的同時，不但能讓讀者更了解各譯本的本質，同時也能增進我們對於原著的認識。

本篇論文也對於兩本中文譯本提出許多建議，希望對於未來譯者能有所幫助。What follows is an in-depth transtextual study of two independently published Chinese versions of the first two chapters of Finnegans Wake, the latter being modernist Irish author James Joyce’s fourth and final work and first published in its entirety in 1939. The respective translations are:Dai Congrong’s 2012 simplified Chinese version (as contained in Finnegans Wake Vol. 1, andLiang Sun-chieh’s 2017 traditional character rendering of the first two chapters of Book I, titled A Selected Translation of Finnegans WakeThe above-mentioned target-language texts are compared with regard to the extent to which they have remained true to the content, style, and spirit of the original text, their overall readability, their respective stylistic approaches to Wakean wordplay and humour, their domesticating and annotative efforts to ensure greater accessibility for Chinese readers and, finally, their creative endeavors to enhance the overall reading experience in translation.

Several overall findings are offered with which readers and scholars might draw conclusions as to the respective merits and shortcomings of each translation, and gauge the extent of each individual contribution to the Wakean macrotext. Apart from aiming to break new ground, this analysis, being the first and only of its kind (at the time of writing), seeks to introduce readers not only to the multi-associating genius of Joyce and his works, but also to how the fantastic riches of the Chinese language and its inimitable writing system(s) might be adapted and best utilized in order to do justice to this modernist masterpiece.Finally, it’s hoped this dissertation might be of value and assistance w.r.t. translating the rest of Joyce’s cryptic masterpiece into Chinese, not only in order to contribute to the completion of this task, but also to ensure an effective, accurate, and vibrant rendering of Finnegans Wake into arguably its most unlikely target text.