Linguistic Hybridity in the Poetry Translation of Hong Lou Meng

Abstract

Hong Lou Meng is regarded as one of the “Four Great Classical Chinese Novels”, and there have been many translated versions of Hong Lou Meng. Hybridity theory claims that all the translated versions are hybrid texts. The paper aims to investigate the linguistic hybridity phenomenon of the poetry translation in Hong Lou Meng from lexical and Syntactic aspect, by comparing its two full-text translated versions (the Yangs’ version and Hawkes’ version). Keywords—Hong Lou Meng; hybridity theory; poetry translation I. THE BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF HYBRIDITY THEORY AND HONG LOU MENG Post-colonialism was initiated in 1970s, and has been widely concerned in the academic researches. It rapidly becomes one of the most influential literary and cultural theories. Homi K. Bhabha, one of the outstanding representatives of postcolonialism, put forward the famous “hybridity theory”, aiming to deconstruct and demystify the classical canon of the Western imperial colonialism, to resist the Euro-American cultural hegemony, to diminish the West centrism, to eliminate the binary opposition, and to reconstruct the subjectivity of the Subaltern and the “minorities” or the weak culture with the aspiration to help them find their own cultural identity. [1] Hong Lou Meng is a fairy blossom in the garden of world literature. The author Cao Xueqin, with his own experience and his remarkable writing skills, presents before readers a vivid and realistic history of the declining feudal society. Hong Lou Meng is abundant in contents, including many such aspects as the art of architecture, food culture, medicine, health preserving, custom, etiquette, poetry, all forms of life and so on, due to which it is considered as the encyclopedia for studying the ancient Chinese literature and culture. Hong Lou Meng has been translated into many languages in the worldwide, but most of them are selected translations. This paper mainly focuses on two full-text translated English versions: one is The Story of the Stone translated by David Hawkes and John Minford, the other is A Dream of Red Mansions translated by Yang Xianyi and Gladys Yang. Hybridity theory claims that all translated versions are hybrid texts, whose differences lie in the degrees of hybridity.The present paper, based upon the „Hybridity Theory‟, will be conducted by comparing and analyzing the two full-text versions so as to investigate the linguistic hybridity phenomenon of the poetry translation in Hong Lou Meng from lexical and Syntactic aspect. II. LINGUISTIC HYBRIDITY IN THE POETRY TRANSLATION OF HONG LOU MENG A. Lexical Hybridity In chapter three, Baoyu and Daiyu meet each other for the first time. Cao Xueqin gives a vivid description about Jia Baoyu with a poem named “Xi Jiang Yue”. Here are some lines from it. ...... 富贵不知乐业,贫困难耐凄凉。可怜辜负好时光, 于国于家无望。...... a. Version by the Yangs: Left cold by riches and nobility, Unfit to bear the stings of poverty, He wastes his time and his ability, Failing his country and his family. [3] b. Version by Hawkes and Minford: Prosperous, he could not play his part with grace, Nor, poor bear hardship with a smiling face. So shamefully the precious hours he‟d waste, That both indoors and out he has disgraced. [4] In ancient Chinese, words like 富, 贵, 国 and 家, bear their own independent meanings respectively, which are different from the modern Chinese. Yang Xianyi has a very good command of ancient Chinese, while Hawkes, although he had a rich knowledge of Chinese language and culture, he International Conference on Contemporary Education, Social Sciences and Humanities (ICCESSH 2016) © 2016. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 410 may still be confused sometimes. In the whole process of translation, understanding is the first step, without correct understanding, there would be no good translation. The Yangs translated “富贵” into “riches” and “nobility”, “国与家” into “country” and “family”, while for Hawkes, it is very difficult for him to recognize these tiny differences, so he just simply translated them into “prosperous” and “indoors and out”, which failed to transmit the meaning of the original text. Therefore, from the perspective of lexical hybridity, the Yangs kept more heterogeneous elements of the original poem, and of course their version has high degree of hybridity, while Hawkes‟s version has low degree of hybridity. In chapter sixty-four, Lin Daiyu writes down five poems to express her sadness and pity for the miserable endings of five beauties in ancient times. Here is one of them: 五美吟 • 虞姬 断肠乌雅夜啸风,虞兮幽恨对重瞳。 黥彭甘受他年醢,饮剑何如楚帐中。 a. Version by the Yangs: Lady Yu Heart-broken as black steed neighing at night in the wind, In silent grief she stayed beside her lord; The renegades Qing Bu and Peng Yue were doomed to be slaughtered; Better, then, in Chu‟s tent to fall on her own sword [3]. b. Version by Hawkes and Minford: Yu Ji The very crows are grieving as they caw in the cold night air. She faces her beaten Tyrant King with a haggard look of despair: Let the others wait for the hangman, to be hacked and quartered and rent; Better the taste of one‟s own steel in the decent dark of a tent[4]. In this poem, there is a story about the battle between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu in Gaixia. Xiang Yu is defeated, and commits suicide after Yu Ji‟s suicide. Qing Bu and Peng Yue, who were subordinates of Xiang Yu, later betrayed him and were finally slaughtered by Liu Bang. By comparing the different endings of these four persons (“虞” refers to Yu Ji, “重瞳”refers to Xiang Yu, “黥彭”refer to Qing Bu and Peng Yue), Lin Daiyu speaks highly to Yu Ji‟s love and loyal to Xiang Yu. In the Yangs translation, in order to maintain the heterogeneous elements of the source text in the target text, they use “heart-broken black steed”, “In silent grief”, “Qing Bu and Peng Yue”, “Chu‟s tent”, “fall on her own sword”, and etc. Their version successfully transmit the otherness of the original text into the English language and culture. On the contrary, in Hawkes‟s version, some cultural points are misunderstood or even omitted, for instance “ 乌 雅 ” is translated as “crow”, “重瞳” is omitted, “黥彭” is simply replaced by “the others”, and “ 饮剑 ” and “ 楚帐 ” are respectively translated as “the taste of one‟s own steel” and “the decent dark of a tent”, all of which are not adequate translation. From the example mentioned above, it can be easily found that in the Yangs‟ version, the degree of hybridity is much higher than that in Hawkes‟s. And also, when translating words with culture specialty, if translated under the guidance of hybridity strategy, it could bring new elements, making English no more as pure as what the foreign readers used to see, and defying the authority of English language and culture. This will help to rewrite the superior culture and hybridize it with the inferior culture so as to weaken and dethrone the authority of the former and enable the inferior culture to get its legitimate identity. Meanwhile, this kind of translation helps to enhance readers‟ sense of cultural difference and promote the equal communication between different cultures [5]. B. Syntactic Hybridity In chapter seventeen, when playing in the Grand View Garden, Baoyu is caught by his father and forced to compose some poems by which to test his talents. The following poem is one of them.