Qian Daosun and His Chinese Translations of Japanese Classical Literature:

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  • 銭稲孫と日本古典文学の中国語訳
  • 銭稲孫と日本古典文学の中国語訳 : 『源氏物語』「桐壺」巻の訳を中心に
  • ゼニ イネ ソン ト ニホン コテン ブンガク ノ チュウゴクゴ ヤク : 『 ゲンジ モノガタリ 』 「 キリツボ 」 マキ ノ ヤク オ チュウシン ニ
  • ―『源氏物語』「桐壺」巻の訳を中心に―
  • On the Chapter of Kiritsubo of <i>The Tale of Genji</i>

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Abstract

<p>　Qian Daosun (1887-1966) was the first scholar to seriously take on the Chinese translation of the Manyôshu and The Tale of Genji. But although he published two selections of the Manyôshu's translation respectively before and after his death, and was highly complimented for his splendid classical style translation of the Manyôshu’s uta, only the chapter of “Kiritsubo” among the five translated chapters of The Tale of Genji survived his death.</p><p>　Documents show that Qian started the translation in the same year that Arthur Waley completed the publication of his six-volumed English translation. Apparently this was an important incentive for Qian, even though he decided not to imitate Waley’s free style.</p><p>　There were two remarkable characteristics of his translation of “Kiritsubo.” First, Qian used the Ming-Qing period Baihua (written vernacular) as the main style without any modern words or expressions in order to parallel it to the Heian period monogatari-style of The Tale of Genji.</p><p>　Second, apparently different from his other translations, many expressions and sentences in Qian’s “Kiritsubo” preserved the original Japanese expressions and syntax in order to convey the tone and atmosphere of the original, making the translation in places foreign and obscure to modern Chinese readers.</p><p>　Qian’s translation forces the readers to concentrate on the language form itself, instead of the meaning. In doing so, the translator himself is made visible, reflecting the prominent theory put forward by Lawrence Venuti. It is an example of how foreignization can reveal a source culture more clearly, and provide a more faithful and ethically appriopriate vision of it.</p>

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