Mr. Qian Zhongshu commented: "Xu Yuanchong's translation is flexible and surprising. Ye Jiaying, a master of classical literature, praised: the sound and rhyme are beautiful and the love is long. "
there are four classical poetic dramas in the history of China: The West Chamber in Yuan Dynasty, The Peony Pavilion in Ming Dynasty, The Palace of Eternal Life and Peach Blossom Fan in Qing Dynasty.
The Romance of the West Chamber describes the contradiction between love and feudalism, while The Peony Pavilion goes a step further and describes the life-and-death struggle of love. If love triumphs over the feudal thought of parents' life in The West Chamber, then Du Liniang in The Peony Pavilion is resurrected and brought back to life, which can be said that love triumphs over death. The four major poetic dramas are almost at the same time, and Shakespeare's historical tragedies can be compared with them.
Xu Yuanchong, a great translator, translated the masterpiece Peony Pavilion by Tang Xianzu, a playwright in the Ming Dynasty, into English, making readers feel the unique charm of China's traditional literary classics in a foreign language context.
On the road of translation, Mr. Xu Yuanchong has been pursuing not only to convey China's literary talent to foreigners through words, but also how to make foreign friends feel the essence of China's literature.
Xu Yuanchong is a famous translator in China. He has translated more than 1 works in Chinese, English and French, and is known as the "English-French translator of poetry". In 21, he was awarded "Lifetime Achievement Award of Chinese Translation Culture" by translators association of china. In 214, he won the Outstanding Literary Translation Award of Northern Lights in 214 by the International Translators Union (international federation of translators), one of the awards in the international translation field. In 217, he won the Overseas Influence Award of the Global Chinese Sinology Ceremony.
The Peony Pavilion is written by Tang Xianzu, a dramatist and writer in China in the Ming Dynasty, whose achievements are based on the creation of traditional operas. Known as "China's Shakespeare".
The Peony Pavilion has distinct romantic features, and Tang Xianzu enthusiastically endowed "emotion" with power beyond life and death. Du Liniang has experienced three realms: reality, dream and ghost, which is obviously the product of the author's fantasy. The author uses the artistic contrast of three realms to express his ideals and thoughts, and contrasts the cruelty of reality with dreams and ghosts.
Du Liniang's dreams are so tender and colorful. What I wake up to is my mother's nagging and desolation. Although the judge in the nether world is ferocious, after all, he checked the marriage book for her and let her out of the city of death, which reflects a kind of human touch. The father behind the resurrection is only cold and stiff. All these well reflect the author's critical power to Neo-Confucianism.
The works are grotesque in color. The flower god, the land, the judge of the underworld, the ghost pawn, and the real character structure form a dual world of reality and spirit, which profoundly depicts the essence of feudal society. Let the impossible love ideal come true in reality, which embodies the author's strong idealism.
Quwen in the play shows the author's achievements in artistic language. Especially in lyricism, it is very detailed and true in depicting characters' personalities and Du Liniang's psychological activities and spiritual world.
The Peony Pavilion is one of the four classical dramas in China, which describes the legendary love story between Du Liniang and Liu Mengmei. In The Peony Pavilion, Du Liniang ruined her youth for love, but she was destined to marry Liu Mengmei, so she got married three times in her dream, after death and after resurrection. The Peony Pavilion is implicit and profound. For example, "When the Yushan Mountain is pushed down, it will warm up day by day", which means "Yushan Mountain" and Li Niang's body. What I said is "smoking", which refers to the joy of men and women.
The famous sentences in Peony Pavilion are fascinating and unforgettable.
people are easy to get old, many things hinder them, but dreams are hard to grow. A little affection, three points shallow soil, half of the setting sun.
short dreams and long dreams are all dreams. What year will you go next year?
it's as beautiful as a flower for you, like water passing by. It's a question of searching around and feeling sorry for yourself in the secluded boudoir.
what's going on in the world is beyond the reach of the world.
This kind of flowers and plants are loved by people, and life and death are what people want, so it is sour and clear that no one complains.
Occasionally, my heart seems to be tied to the plum tree, and it seems that flowers and plants are loved by people, and people complain about life and death, so no one cares about them.
When I am beaten, I will be fragrant and keep a rainy and beautiful day.
At the end of each poem, all poems are in the whole Tang Dynasty. It can be seen that Tang Xianzu's foundation is profound.
For example, "The plum blossoms in front of the door are rotten with spring glow (Zhang Yaotiao),
I dream that the king feels suspicious afterwards (Wang Changling).
The heart is like a hundred flowers in bloom (Cao Song),
It takes thousands of years to support the body. (Han Wo) "
before the door spring shines on mume and willow trees.
How could I dream of royal favorites as I please?
Unlike the flower in full bloom my heart appears.
Could I grow old as a pine of ten thousand years？
In the play "Cijie", Lao Dan said, "Yesterday is better than today, and this year is older than last year. Poor little children grow up at the embroidered window. "
Not so good as yesterday today may appear,
But we grow older this year than last year
Thanking of my daughter,I sighed.
How could she sit all day by window side?
In Mr. Xu Yuanchong's translation, the beauty of rhythm, intention and expression coexist, which not only has neat rhyme in traditional cultural format, but also has artistic conception in traditional cultural thought.
The translation of Mr. Xu Yuanchong, a centenarian and translator, vividly explains the artistic conception and text tension of Chinese classical plays. This book is a Chinese-English version of the legendary drama Peony Pavilion in the Ming Dynasty, with elegant and beautiful style. Bilingual reading improves English reading ability, which is beneficial to English learning, but also gives people a refreshing feeling and turns the beauty of China into the beauty of the world.
On the centenary of Mr. Xu's birthday, the book "Xu Yuanchong's Translation of Peony Pavilion" was re-published by China Translation Publishing House in a Chinese-English way, in which the English part was examined and approved by native English experts, and the uncommon words in Chinese were annotated and explained, which was more convenient for reference and study.
Mo Yang is unparalleled in the world. Give you a plum!