Is the threshold for translation or literature lower? Literary translation is no longer a "sacred career" work | Translation | Threshold
"I think there are many knowledgeable and knowledgeable readers nowadays, but the literary quality of translation sometimes declines. Translation has gone from a 'sacred career' to something anyone can do." The second "Translation Biennial Selection" award ceremony and theme salon was held on the 17th at Shanghai Shiji Publishing Park, proposed by Liu Wenfei, a researcher at the Institute of Foreign Literature, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"Not only has the threshold for translation become lower, but in the current era of increasingly diverse creation, the threshold for creation is also decreasing." Yuan Xiaoyi, a professor at the French Department of the School of Foreign Languages at East China Normal University and Vice President of the Shanghai Translators Association, believes that literary translation is also a classic movement. "Even if the pace of this era is fast, we still need some time to judge. Activities such as the 'Biennial Selection of Translations' and our translation of contemporary works may be a classic gesture, which may to some extent affect its fate of classicalization."
"In my opinion, a novel requires at least two translations. The difference between translations constitutes the aesthetic point in literary reading," said writer Bi Feiyu.
The birth of excellent translations is inseparable from the efforts of translators, as well as the cooperation between translators, editors, and publishing houses. In 2021, Shanghai Translation Publishing House established the "Translation Annual Selection" award, reviewing foreign literary translations published by the company in recent years, and selecting translation works that have achieved remarkable social impact, academic content, literary value, and translation quality. The first "Translation Annual Selection" will award the award to the translator Yang Ziwu for his translation of "A History of Modern Literary Criticism", which took decades for the translation and revision of the imperial masterpiece. The awarding of this award aims to reaffirm the ethics of translation, explore and establish higher standards for translation. It is hoped that through rigorous selection year after year and year after year, the spirit of translation will shine brightly and the standards for translation will become more clear. Starting from this year, the "Translation Annual Selection" has been renamed as the "Translation Biennial Selection", further expanding the scope of work selection. "A good translation is first and foremost a good Chinese work. Translation has been a part of Chinese literature since modern times, and its role has never been 'for reference only', but directly participated in the construction process of modern Chinese language and literature." Li Jingze, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Writers' Association, who has served as the chairman of the jury, views the value of translated literature in this way.
This year's "Biennial Selection of Translations" was launched in April. There are 17 works that have been shortlisted in the preliminary selection, including six languages: English, French, Japanese, Russian, German, and Italian. Many of them are written by literary giants and classic writers, and their genres involve novels, poetry, letters, literary criticism, and non fiction literature. To ensure the professionalism, authority, and high standards of the selection to the greatest extent possible, the Translation Society has formed a first-class team of expert judges, bringing together authoritative representatives from the domestic literary, translation, and critical fields. Li Jingze, Vice Chairman of the China Writers Association, serves as the chairman of the judging panel. After rigorous review by the jury and combined with online voting results, eight of the 17 works were selected for the final selection, including the novel "The Seaside", "Ulysses", "Serotonin", and "How to Travel with Salmon", the poetry collection "I Face the Cold Alone - Mandelstam's Complete Poems", the letter collection "Herman Hesse and Thomas Mann's Letters", "Dear Bonnie, Dear Volodya: Nabokov Wilson Correspondence Collection, 1940-1971", and the non fiction work "Reflections on Things: Fuxia Food Essays". Zheng Tiwu's translation of "Facing the Cold Alone - Complete Works of Mandelstam's Poetry" and Liu Xiangyu's translation of "Ulysses" ultimately won the award. Li Jingze, Liu Wenfei, Bi Feiyu, and Wei Yuqing, President of the Shanghai Translators Association, jointly announced the award and speech.
The award speech for "Facing the Cold Alone - Complete Works of Mandelstam's Poetry" is: "Mandelstam is one of the most outstanding poets of the Silver Age in Russia, and his poetry is a reflection of the tragic fate of humanity during the war. Mr. Zheng Tiwu's translation is full of emotion, reflecting the translator's superb skills in controlling both Chinese and Russian languages, as well as his meticulous and refined translation attitude. It conveys tremendous spiritual power and artistic charm, allowing today's readers to engage in dialogue with that painful soul. The publication of this poetry collection is of great significance for both poetry translation and poetry writing."
The award speech for "Ulysses" is: "Ulysses is the pinnacle of modernist novels, an untranslatable and unrestrained work of language innovation. Through a large number of avant-garde language experiments and detailed descriptions, it constructs an intertwined and chaotic time and space, posing a huge challenge to the translator's translation. Mr. Liu Xiangyu, like Joyce, dares to" explore the extreme peak ", spending more than 20 years, painstakingly and repeatedly pondering, and doing his best to convey the style of the original work to the fullest extent possible in Chinese, supplemented by detailed annotations, achieving an unprecedented level of learning and becoming a classic." The translation of the book has set an example
"Translators play a crucial role in the life cycle of books. Excellent translators can faithfully convey the charm of the original work, and their're creation 'can even give the original work more vibrant energy." Huang Qiang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Shanghai Century Publishing Group, said that he hopes the "Translation Biennial Selection" activity can speak up for translators, tap into the potential of new talents, and gather outstanding translators here to create more high-quality books, allowing translators to move from behind the text to the front, and let their hard work and love be seen by society.
