A Comparative Study on Chen Dengyi and Wan Zi、Yu Ning’s Translations of “Rip Van Winkle”

【Abstract】 “Rip Van Winkle” is a short story by Washington Irving. This tale， together with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”， marked the beginning of American Romanticism as well as the acceptance of the short story as an important literary form in America. It has many Chinese translations. The essay chooses the translations by Chen Dengyi and Wan Zi、Yu Ning， and compares the differences of the first paragraphs of the two translations through stylistic analysis.

【Key Words】：“Rip Van Winkle”; translation criticism; stylistic analysis

1.Introduction to the First Paragraph of “Rip Van Winkle”

“Rip Van Winkle” is a short story written by American author Washington Irving and is included in his collection titled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon， Gent. published in 1819. Many would argue that the story “should be rightfully regarded as the first bona fide American story” （童明，2014：71）. The story is set around the time of the American Revolution and is about a man named Rip Van Winkle， a kind， meek and henpecked farmer. One day， he wandered off to the mountains and met some strange men and then fell into a twenty-year sleep after drinking some wine， sleeping through the American Revolution.

The first paragraph of the story is an expository writing about the scenery of the Catskill Mountains. In this paragraph， Washington Irving gives a refined， attracting and romantic description about the location， height， hues， shapes， and grand views in typical weathers of Catskill Mountains， in the foot of which the protagonist’s village set. The scenery before the American Revolution was splendid and magnificent， when combined with the peace， simplicity and harmony of village life， making an innocent， unsophisticated and relatively isolated existence， set in a classical past untouched by the Revolutionary War. Human society changes quickly， but the nature maintains almost the same however time flies. In this paragraph， Irving’s style is similar to that in his other works， there “burns a passion for life; and in the sadness of his romantic melancholy one feels the presence of the immutable law of change”（同上：81）.

Most of the existing essays analyzing the translations of “Rip Van Winkle” focus on the overall text， but the first paragraph， as a vivid scenery description providing the setting， is somewhat different from other parts of the story in theme and style and deserves further study.

2.The Chinese Translations of Source Text

Numerous Chinese translators have given Chinese translations of “Rip Van Winkle”， among which translations by Lin Shu， Chen Dengyi and Wanzi、Yu Ning are best-known. Lin Shu translated “Rip Van Winkle” as 《李迫大夢》 in 1981 in classical Chinese. His translation is relatively remote to contemporary Chinese readers. Chen Dengyi and Wan Zi、Yu Ning translated “Rip Van Winkle” respectively in the late 20th century in vernacular Chinese. Their translations have a language similar to today’s literature works and are still widely read in modern China. So the essay chooses the first paragraphs of their translations as the objects.

Chen Dengyi was born in a literary family and received traditional Chinese education in his childhood. His grandfather Chen Qingfeng， “the Scholar in Jiang Province”， once had the same reputation as Liang Qichao. Chen Dengyi translated quantities of literary works and western music theoretical works from Russian， German and English to Chinese. Qinghai Daily praised him as “the only preeminent recluse translator in Qinghai” （黃少政，2012.3.19：009）. His translation of “Rip Van Winkle” is collected in his work《世界小說100篇》， first published in Oct. 1982. Wan Zi is a professional translator and was a member of Shanghai Translators Association. He was graduated from Zhejiang University majoring in English and his translating cause lasted for more than 50 years. He translated “Rip Van Winkle” with Yu Ning， another Chinese translator， in 1980.

Here are the source text and the two target texts：

Whoever has made a voyage up the Hudson must remember the Catskill Mountains. They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family， and are seen away to the west of the river， swelling up to a noble height， and lording it over the surrounding country. Every change of season， every change of weather， indeed， every hour of the day， produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains， and they are regarded by all the good wives， far and near， as perfect barometers. When the weather is fair and settled， they are clothed in blue and purple， and print their bold outlines on the clear evening sky; but sometimes， when the rest of the landscape is cloudless， they will gather a hood of gray vapors about their summits， which， in the last rays of the setting sun， will glow and light up like a crown of glory.

（Irving， 1896： 17）

凡是在哈得遜河溯流而上的人，想必記得卡慈吉爾群山，那是阿帕拉欽山脈的一支斷脈，在河之西岸，巍巍然高凌云天，威震四野。寒來暑往，晴雨風雪，群峰的姿容色彩，都會發生奇妙的變化，甚至每日每時也變幻不定，真是山光巒影，儀態萬千。遠近的主婦都會根據山色來判斷晴雨。天氣晴朗恬靜的時候，層巒疊嶂披上青翠紫黛的的衣衫，雄渾奇偉的山影忖著清澈的夕空，輪廓異常分明。但有時，雖然晴空萬里，山頂上卻纏繞著團團云嵐，在夕陽返照之下，像一頂璀璨的皇冠熠熠然光彩奪目。

（歐文，1983：62;陳登頤譯）

凡是在哈得遜河上游航行過的人，必定記得卡慈吉爾叢山，那是阿帕拉欽山脈的一支斷脈，在河的西岸，巍巍然高聳云端，威凌四周的鄉村。四季的每一轉換，氣候的每一變化，乃至一天中的每一小時，都能使這些山巒的奇幻的色彩和形態變換，遠近的好主婦會把它們看作精確的晴雨表。天氣晴朗平穩的時候，它們披上藍紫相間的衣衫，把它們雄渾的輪廓印在傍晚清澄的天空上，但有時，雖然四處萬里無云，山頂上卻聚著一團灰霧，在落日的余輝照耀之下，像一頂燦爛的皇冠似的放射著異彩。

（歐文，1980：6;萬紫、雨寧譯）

3.Translation Criticism on Chen Dengyi and Wan Zi、Yu Ning’s Target Texts

2.1Language Features

When depicting the scenery， Irving chooses not ornate words but simple and appealing expressions such as “noble”， “lording”， “magical” and “crown of glory”， giving a romantic setting for the whole story.

For syntactical structure， the first paragraph consists mainly of complex sentences and uses conjunction， parenthesis， postpositive attributive， adverbial clause and attributive clause to achieve a detailed， mild and moderate description and a well-arranged structure. For example， the second sentence “They are a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family， and are seen away to the west of the river， swelling up to a noble height， and lording it over the surrounding country” uses the conjunction “and” to link clauses， and present participles “swelling up” and “lording” to serve as post attributive. These changing sentence patterns make the whole paragraph free from being dull and rigid.

Here is the specific comparison about the lexical features of the two translations：

Source Text Target Text 1 Target Text 2

are seen away to the west of the river， swelling up to a noble height， and lording it over the surrounding country 在河之西岸，巍巍然高凌云天，威震四野 在河的西岸，巍巍然高聳云端，威凌四周的鄉村

Every change of season， every change of weather 寒來暑往，晴雨風雪 四季的每一轉換，氣候的每一變化

clothed in blue and purple 披上青翠紫黛的的衣衫 披上藍紫相間的衣衫

print … on the clear evening sky 忖著清澈的夕空 印在傍晚清澄的天空上

gather a hood of gray vapors 纏繞著團團云嵐 聚著一團灰霧

glow and light up 熠熠然光彩奪目 放射著異彩

The above list shows that， in Chen’s translation， classical expressions and four-character phrases are more frequently used， making the text much more refined and elegant. Wan and Yu’s translation is relatively plain in wording， because there are less classical expressions， and more short clauses instead of four-character phrases. For example，“寒來暑往，晴雨風雪”is more musical and concise than“四季的每一轉換，氣候的每一變化”， giving a general description on the original utterance. And“威震四野”shows the royalty and supremacy of the Catskill Mountains while “威凌四周的鄉村”would make readers associate with the negative meaning “bully”. Also， the frequent appearances of indicative pronouns like“這些”“它們”in Wan and Yu’s translation makes the target text less literary.

As for syntactical structures， because of the use of classical expressions， sentences in Chen’s translation are better-proportioned， with short and long clauses appearing interlaced， making the whole text rhythmical. Here is an example： “寒來暑往，晴雨風雪，群峰的姿容色彩，都會發生奇妙的變化，甚至每日每時也變幻不定，真是山光巒影，儀態萬千”. In comparison， Wan and Yu’s translation uses more long sentences and less syntax transformations， making the target text less literary， and that could be partly attributed to their strict conformity with the source text and more attention on conveying the original idea not the rhythm. We may take the same sentence to make a comparison， Wan and Yu’s translation is “四季的每一轉換，氣候的每一變化，乃至一天中的每一小時，都能使這些山巒的奇幻的色彩和形態變換”.

2.2Artistic Skills

Artistic skills employed in the source text include personification， metaphor， simile， parallel， consonance and alliteration. The sentence “lording it over the surrounding country” uses personification and compares the mountains as an emperor who enjoys great authority and prestige in the neighborhood. The expressions “a hood of gray vapors” and “glow and light up like a crown of glory” in the last sentence use metaphor and simile to respectively compare the vapors about the summit of the mountains as hood and crown of glory， giving a visual and expressive description on the scenery. Parallelism in “Every change of season， every change of weather， indeed， every hour of the day”， consonance in “hues and shapes of these mountains” and alliteration in “setting sun” all increase the rhythmicity of the text.

Both versions remain the personification and simile of the source text and develop other artistic skills like reiterative — “巍巍然”“熠熠然” and assonance — “璀璨”“照耀”“燦爛”， making the target texts more classical and rhythmical. Besides， Chen’s translation also uses allusion to increase the literariness of the text. The expression “云嵐” comes out of the verse “熙熙風土暖，藹藹云嵐積” in 《春游二林寺》by Chinese poet Po Chü—I.

2.3Translation Strategies

For translation strategies， Chen’s translation is more liberal while Wan and Yu’s translation is more literal. Literal translation is to remain the content and form of source text while liberal translation is to remain only the content not the form of source text（董曉波，2012/2015：17）. Chen makes more syntax changes in translating by inversing， dividing and combining clauses and sentences. In addition， Chen paraphrases some phrases and adjusts some contents of source text while Wan and Yu make sentence-for-sentence translation and even word-for-word translation.

For example， “Every change of season， every change of weather， indeed， every hour of the day， produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains” is translated word-for-word in Wan and Yu’s translation as “四季的每一轉換，氣候的每一變化，乃至一天中的每一小時，都能使這些山巒的奇幻的色彩和形態變換”， while Chen illustrates “every change of season， every change of weather” into general description of several seasons and weathers， and translated the clause as “寒來暑往，晴雨風雪”. Also， in translating this sentence， Chen makes some adjustments by exchanging the place of “every hour of the day” and “produces some change in the magical hues and shapes of these mountains”， and translated as “都會發生奇妙的變化，甚至每日每時也變幻不定”. These adjustments in Chen’s translation make the target text in accordance with the convention of Chinese language.

Considering foreignization and domestication， Wan and Yu’stranslation is more foreignizing while Chen’s translation is more domesticating. Chen’s translation minimizes the strangeness of the foreign text for target readers， while Wan and Yu’s translation retains some foreignness or exotic flavor of the translation.（陳德彰，2012/2014：8） Both target texts adopts foreignization when translating the river’s name “Hudson” and the mountains’ name “Catskill Mountains” and “Appalachian”. They transliterate the names as “哈得遜河”， “卡慈吉爾群山” and “阿帕拉欽山脈”， following the third category in the Five Categories of Untranslated Terms put forward by Xuanzang， that is， transliteration of words for things not existing in China.

Chen’s translation is relatively more domesticating because of its paraphrasing of “barometer” and the general wording of the whole text. Barometer was widely used in America， but most Chinese people in the late 20th century have no idea about it and cannot imagine its shape and function. So different from “晴雨表” in Wan and Yu’s translation， Chen paraphrases this term by telling its function， and translated the whole clause as “根據山色來判斷晴雨”. Apart from this， Chen uses numerous four-character phrases and idiom such as “高凌云天，威震四野” “寒來暑往，晴雨風雪” “山光巒影，儀態萬千” “晴空萬里” “光彩奪目”， which may better satisfy the reading convention and preference of Chinese readers.

4.Conclusion

Chen Dengyi and Wan Zi、Yu Ning are all professional translators. And both versions exert their influences on the popularity of the story “Rip Van Winkle”. The above analysis shows that Chen’s translation is more delicate in wording， more rhythmical in sentence structure， and these language features， together with the allusion it employs， adding the elegance and literariness of the target text. The two versions use different translation strategies， and Chen’s liberal and domesticating translation may better suit the taste of Chinese readers. These differences between the two translations are related to the identification of the translators. Chen’s literary family background， traditional Chinese education and translation experience on music theoretical works contribute to his classical and rhythmical language and liberal and domesticating translation. Wan Zi received modern education in Zhejiang University and was a member of Shanghai Translators Association， so his translation with Yu Ning is closer to modern Chinese， less literary， more literal and foreignizing.

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