儿子眼中的莎翁译者朱生豪
2017-09-07王湛
王湛
被称为综艺界清流的《朗读者》里,捧红了很多人,也捧红了一句话:朱生豪和他的那句“醒来觉得甚是爱你”。一对来自成都的夫妇,朗读了一段《朱生豪情书》,感人至深。作为浙江人的朱生豪,也被网友称为“世上最会说情话的人”。
父亲去世70多年后突然以这种方式走红,朱生豪的儿子朱尚刚却感到有点不适应。他在接受采访时说:“节目中好几次提到‘朱生豪情诗,其实那不是诗,虽然的确很有诗味。”
朱尚刚:不想让人片面了解我父亲
朱生豪生于1912年,嘉兴人,毕业于杭州之江大学,也就是现在的浙大之江校区。他的儿子朱尚刚毕业于老浙大电机系,父子俩算是校友。
“《朗读者》中念的词句,并不是来自同一封信中,而是从不同信件中摘抄出来的。”朱尚刚说,“我父亲1929年进入之江大学读书,我母亲则在1932年入校,他们在大学只相处了一年时间。之后,我父亲前往上海工作,只能与母亲鸿雁传情。”
这些书信,都收录在《朱生豪情书全集》里。“出版社觉得要用‘情书集这个名字较能吸引人,其实我觉得这些书信应该比情书的内涵更广。据说《朗读者》播出以后,这本书更热销了,出版社马上要加印。”
“很多人给我发了那段视频,我也看到很多网上的评论,发现在一些人心目中,父亲更多地成了一个‘谈情说爱的达人。”朱尚刚说,“尤其是年轻人,很少有人知道朱生豪其实是一个将毕生都献给文学艺术的翻译家。”
的确,在中国的翻译界,朱生豪是一个了不起的存在。他的主要译作是31个莎士比亚剧本。那是他在日本侵华战争期间,译稿两度被毁,三次从头开始,在极其困难的条件下完成的,为的就是回答日本人“没有老莎的译本,中国就是一个无文化的国家”的讥笑,为中华民族争一口气。
朱尚刚特别希望人们也能了解朱生豪文字中“豪放”的一面,也极具文采。
将莎士比亚引进中国的翻译家
1944年12月26日,朱生豪因贫病交加,加上翻译工作过度劳累,英年早逝。在病中的日子,他仍在坚持翻译《莎士比亚戏剧全集》,告别人世之时,已经译完三十一部半,还有五部半尚未完成,留下遗憾。
于是,在人们的脑海中,朱生豪便一直是32岁时的样子,一个有些文弱的江南書生。
事实上,后来者从未忘记这位以他年轻的生命为代价,将伟大的莎士比亚引进中国的翻译家。
去年,北京国家大剧院,《哈姆雷特》上演。舞台之上,有哈姆雷特和奥菲利亚,也有在炮火和螺旋桨声中的朱生豪与宋清如——宋清如是朱生豪的妻子,就是“醒来觉得甚是爱你”那个人。
去年,朱尚刚为父母写的传记《诗侣莎魂》重新修订出版。文中描述,朱生豪与宋清如的感情,发端于杭州。
朱尚刚定居嘉兴。这些年,因年龄之故,他来杭州的次数并不多。倒是1998年,他写《诗侣莎魂》之时,特地去过如今的浙大之江校区,寻找父母的踪迹。
浙大之江校区很多老建筑都保持着原貌,这让朱尚刚搜寻而来的有关父母的材料,落到了实处。
“我父母读书时的主教学楼慎思堂,让父亲流连忘返的图书馆,还有父亲下山吃饭常走的小道,见了都备感亲切。特别是前年初的探访,陪同那位学生还特地指给我们看我父亲当年住过的宿舍房间,我原来是不知道的。”
朱尚刚说,母亲是在之江诗社的活动中和父亲相识的。两人在之江大学一年的交集中,“互相谈诗词,谈自己的生活经历和理想抱负,从来不曾认真地谈过恋爱,甚至单独的约会也极少。”
但就是在那一年,他们与莎士比亚的戏剧真正结下缘分,这才有了后来那些传世的佳作。
闷葫芦写出如诗般的情书
《朱生豪传》作者、浙江大学学者朱宏达、吴洁敏夫妇曾在1984年暑假,利用回家探亲的机会,访问了宋清如老人。
“她告诉我们,到她这里来访问欲为朱生豪写传的人已经不少,但他们写的都不像那个年代的朱生豪。首先,朱生豪不爱说话,连谈恋爱都不说话,跟他共事的同事说,一年也难得听他说满10句话。还有一点呢,他自己没有什么著作留下来,他所有的心血就是莎士比亚。但莎士比亚翻译得再好,也是人家的东西。”朱宏达说。
出乎他们意料的是,在和宋清如多次接触之后,他们很快找到了切入口,有了共同语言。
很多读者在看了《朱生豪传》后,都感动于书里引用的多篇朱生豪写给宋清如的书信,那也是朱宏达夫妇最为珍视的。“刚开始,宋清如不肯把朱生豪的信件公之于众,认为那只是谈情说爱的东西。好说歹说,她也只捡了几封并手抄了几段给我们。”
“忆昨秦山初见时,十分娇瘦十分痴。席边款款吴侬语,笔底纤纤稚子诗。交尚浅,意先移,平生心绪诉君知。飞花逝水初无意,可奈衷情不自持。”
这是朱生豪赠给宋清如三首《鹧鸪天》词中的一首。这些文稿如今已经发黄,宋清如珍藏了一辈子。词写得情真意切,专门研究汉语韵律的吴洁敏吟诵起来也是婉转动人,“这也可以看出朱生豪的国文造诣和词人本色。这也是他的莎译能胜出一筹并广为读者喜爱的原因。”
译莎是文弱书生的拍案而起
从一个家人的角度来说,您如何评价父亲翻译的莎士比亚作品?
可以说,译出的31个莎士比亚戏剧作品是我父亲用他年轻的生命换来的。这中间倾注着他的心血,也融入了他的才智。现在学界把它推崇为我国莎学发展中的一个里程碑,我觉得是当之无愧的。
父亲在《译者自序》中说“十年之功,不可云久,然毕身精力,殆已尽注于兹矣……倘因此集之出版,使此大诗人之作品,得以普及中国读者之间,则译者之劳力,庶几不为虚掷矣”。
翻译作品和其他别的艺术作品一样,都是一定历史背景下的产物。随着历史的发展,人们认识的不断提高和创新,翻译作品不断推陈出新,是很正常的现象。父亲的译作能经过大半个世纪之后还长盛不衰,继续为广大读者所青睐,很不容易。父亲的“毕身精力”确实已经“不为虚掷”了。这是我为之高兴的。
对于父亲译作的具体评价,学界已经有了许多论述,总的来说评价还是相当高的。但是一切事物都有一定的局限性,父亲的译作也绝不是完美无缺的。有误译的地方,这一方面是由于当时条件的限制,因为莎士比亚所处时代的社会习俗和语言习惯都和当代有相当差异,“然才力所限,未能尽符理想;乡居僻陋,既无参考之书籍,又鲜质疑之师友”,要完全准确地理解和表述,确实难度很大,对于一个二三十岁涉世尚不深的年轻人,不出错误反倒成怪事了。另外,父亲对于原作中一些似乎“不雅”的表述,在认为不致影响全文表述的情况下,也作了不少删节,对此现在学界一般是不赞成这样做的,但这也反映了他们当时所处的时代和他们所在的那个社会阶层对这个问题的认识和处理方式。现在的校订本中基本上都把这些删节的内容补上了。
莎士比亚戏剧原来基本上是诗体的,父亲在翻译过程中觉得仍用诗体翻译太难处理,所以基本上使用了散文体(但普遍认为散文体中诗的意味也很浓),这一点也是当前学界广为讨论的话题。也有一些学者使用诗体进行了翻译嘗试。但正因为用诗体翻译很难,所以要用诗体翻译得好更难。随着历史的发展,我们也希望能有更好,更贴近莎翁原貌和更为人所欢迎的译作出现,相信这也是我父亲最愿意看到的。
很多读者对于您的父亲的了解,仅限于他翻译了莎翁的作品,并知道他是一个极度浪漫且有些柔弱的书生,从您的书中,可以读到他抗战期间写的一些犀利的短评。您觉得父亲是怎样的人。
母亲曾经说过,父亲“首先是一个诗人,一个爱国者,然后才是一个翻译家”。是诗人的气质使他能驾轻就熟地将莎士比亚这位天才诗人和戏剧家的神韵介绍给中国人民,而炽烈的爱国热情则是他能完成这一工作的根本动力。我觉得这应该是对父亲“是怎样的人”的一个最基本的评价。
换个角度说,父亲基本上是一个文弱书生,几乎是“手无缚鸡之力”,偶尔烧个灶火也会弄得满屋子烟。他有多愁善感的一面,在理想和现实的矛盾面前曾经感到迷茫彷徨,但在国破家亡的关头,他还是拍案而起,义无反顾地投身到和侵略者短兵相接的斗争中,直到最后以身相殉自己的事业。
“文如其人”,从父亲的作品中也很可以看出他的为人。早年在他以婉约为基调的诗词作品中,也有如《庆春泽》为代表的豪放之作,而到了“孤岛”时期,他写的“小言”也好,其他的诗文(最典型的是《满江红》中的“屈原是,陶潜非”)也好,则完全显示了他“金刚怒目”的另一面。
One of the recent big hits on the Chinese TV turned out to be , a CCTV variety show that has brought a good many people into the national limelight, including Zhu Shenghao and his famous line: I wake up every morning, feeling more in love with you than ever. The quote from a love letter by the man is hailed by Chinas vigilant netizens as “super romantic”.
For his son Zhu Shanggang, seeing his father shot to fame again as a ‘web red 70 years after the man left the world feels a little bizarre. “The line has been repeatedly mistaken as from a love poet, but it was just something my father blurted out when it crossed his mind. It IS very poetic, I should say.” Zhu Shanggang said in an interview.
The prominent Chinese translator was born in Jiaxing in 1912 and graduated from Zhijiang University (todays Zhijiang Campus of Zhejiang University). His son Zhu Shanggang also graduated from Zhejiang University, majoring in Electrical Engineering.
“The lines used in the TV show are from several different letters my father wrote to my mother,” the son reveals. “My father entered Zhijiang University in 1929 and did not meet his dream girl – the one he woke up every morning feeling more in love with - until 1932, the year my mother entered the same school. They dated for about one year and had to rely on writing letters after my father graduated and started his first job in Shanghai,” the son recalls. They got married in Shanghai in 1942.
“It is a pity that young people of today get to know about my father from such a TV show not because of what he contributed to Chinas translation academia but because of his love life.”
In 1943, the couple moved to Jiaxing and settled down, where Zhu Shenghao translated Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, and Hamlet into Chinese. In the autumn of the same year, Zhus health suffered a decline. In failing health and stricken circumstances, he worked on his translations of Shakespeare until his death on December 26, 1944, due to pulmonary tuberculosis, at the age of 32.
He was among the first few in China who translated the works of William Shakespeare into Chinese language. His translations are well respected by domestic and overseas scholars. While many critics and readers regard Zhu Shenghaos translations of Shakespeare as classics in their own right, others have criticized certain omissions of obscene language in Zhus rendering.
He translated a total of thirty-one plays, all of which were published posthumously. In order to adapt the plays to Chinese reading habits, Zhu did not adopt the chronological arrangement of the original Oxford Edition; instead, he divided these plays into four categories: comedy, tragedy, historical play, and miscellaneous. The first printing of Shakespeares complete works in Chinese marks a significant event in the study of Shakespearean drama in China.
Based in Jiaxing, Zhu Shanggang visited Zhijiang Campus in 1998, to relive the romance of his parents. He went home with a lot of new clues found in the main teaching building and in the school library his father loved so much. His love letters to Qingru reveal a passionate personality. The letters address not only his personal life but also his professional aspirations as a poet and translator.
Zhu Shenghao and Song Qingru met during one of those events organized by the schools Poetry Society. “That year, they fell in love with each other, or rather, in love with Shakespeare,” says Zhu Shanggang, “They were not really dating; all they did was talking about poetry, dreams and ideals.”
Zhu Hongda and Wu Jiemin, co-authors of , had a meeting with Song Qingru in the summer of 1984. According to Song, Zhu Shenghao was not good at talking at all. “He was a silent man and put all his life into his translation,” Song clarified.