翻譯：轉換的歷程—以高行健《八月雪》為例

Abstract

本研究運用米勒翻譯即「跨越邊界」的理論，分析《八月雪》一連串跨文本、跨媒介的轉換歷程。高行健將《六祖壇經》慧能生平故事轉換為《八月雪》中文文本，再從中文文本改寫為劇本，而後搬上舞台，透過演員表現、舞台設計、服裝、燈光及音樂等戲劇符碼呈現禪宗精神；另一方面，方梓勳將中文文本翻譯為英譯文，也是跨語言的轉換過程。 高行健將《八月雪》定位為全能戲劇，融合京劇、歌劇、舞劇與話劇，混融東西文化要素與不同媒介，充滿實驗精神。本文發現，從文本到劇本，從劇本到戲劇表現，以及從中文文本到英譯文，一連串轉換過程即是連續加碼、解碼、再加碼，在轉換過程中混融出新的異質文化，有助於刺激新的藝術表現方式，並提昇整體文化水準，此即為翻譯的作用與貢獻。 從劇本的文字、題材而言，《八月雪》做了成功的詮釋；從情節安排而言，最後一幕的大鬧參堂顯得過於紊亂，且與之前其他各場次營造的基調相去太遠。整齣戲劇運用無調性音樂，表現太過艱澀、陰暗，不一定可以引起觀眾共鳴；相對而言，複調音樂較為成功，可將不同時空呈現在同一舞台，豐富戲劇的表現方式。而本劇充滿宗教色彩，英譯並非易事，方梓勳運用不同翻譯策略解決文化詞、韻文、雙關語的問題，值得其他譯者參考。本研究從文本、劇本、戲劇表現及英譯文各層面的分析方式，可作為其他戲劇翻譯研究之參考。Built upon “Border Crossings”, a celebrated theory by J. Hillis Miller, this thesis aims to analyze a series of transforming process that transpire in different texts and media, in Snow in August. Gao Xingjian transforms Tan Jing ( Platform Sutra ), Huineng’s biography, into a Chinese text, Snow in August, the Chinese text into a play, reenacting it into real performance on stage. He highlights the spirit of Zen in the play through a variety of theatrical codes: actor/actress performance, stage design, costumes, lighting arrangements, and music. Furthermore, Gilbert C. F. Fong translates the Chinese text into English text. The translating process is also a transforming process across different languages.

Gao Xingjian calls Snow in August as “omnipotent theatre” which combines Beijing opera, opera, dance and stage play to fuse Eastern and Western cultures and different media. Snow in August reveals a series of encoding, decoding and re-encoding process by means of transforming text into script, script into performance, and Chinese text into English translation. In the process of transforming, a new different culture is created. The transforming process also helps to create new art expressions and upgrade the overall cultural level. That is one of the primary functions and contributions of translation work.

In the concluding scene, In Which Pandemonium Reigns in the Hall of Worship, in Snow in August becomes too chaotic. The tone of the last scene is different from that of previous scenes. And atonality in Snow in August thus becomes too difficult to be understood, while polyphony is more successful because it expresses different time and space in the same stage. As for the English translation, Gilbert C.F. Fong works out different strategies to translate culture-specific concepts, verse and puns. This thesis employs a method of analyzing different aspects such as text, script, performance and English translation. I’d like for this work to inspire fellow researchers for reference, and resort to the same methodology for analyzing other theatre translation materials.