Abstract
Ibsenism needed to be disseminated if it was to become an ideology for Chinese revolution. The most effective means to propagate Ibsenism, other than performance, was to translate Ibsen’s plays so that the ideology could reach the readers. Drama is unique in its medium of expression, which can be literary and theatrical. Depending on the purpose, the translation of dramatic texts can place emphasis on either of these two media of expression. In the Chinese translations of Ibsen’s plays, both emphases can be found. Since modern Western drama was first regarded in China as a way to spread political messages, the translation of Western dramatic works was selective, mostly based on social needs. Ibsen’s plays were selected among others for the sake of their provocative effects. Hence, many early Chinese translations of Ibsen have a high degree of adaptation for the purpose of bringing out the social messages in Ibsen’s texts.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Ge Yihong 葛一虹, “Three Letters on Foreign Drama in China” [Guanyu waiguo xiju zai Zhongguo qingkuang de san feng xin 關於外國戲劇在中國情況的三封信], Studies in Drama [Xiju yanjiu 戲劇研究], no. 12 (1982): 66.
- 2.
Pan Jiaxun 潘家洵, trans., Ghosts [Qun guei 群鬼], New Tide [Xin chao 新潮] 1, no. 5 (May 1919): 824. Reprinted in Collected Works of Ibsen [Yibusheng zuopin ji 易卜生作品集], II (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1931), 3.
- 3.
Michael Meyer, trans., Ghosts, in Ibsen Plays: One (London: Eyre Methuen, 1980b), 78–79.
- 4.
Zhang Shewo 張舍我, “Preface” [xu 序], in The Pillars of Society [Shehui zhushi 社會柱石], trans. Zhou Shoujuan 周瘦鵑 (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1921), 1–3.
- 5.
Yang Xichu 楊熙初, trans., The Lady from the Sea [Hai shang furen 海上夫人] (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1920), 1.
- 6.
Ibid., 4.
- 7.
In 1956, a new edition of Yang Xichu’s translation of The Lady from the Sea was printed in Hong Kong by Literature Promotion Book Company [Jianwen shuju 建文書局].
- 8.
Zhang, 3.
- 9.
For a more detailed discussion of the adaptation, please refer to Chapter Eight, which deals with Chinese stage productions of Ibsen’s plays.
- 10.
Liu Boliang 劉伯量, trans., Rosmersholm [Losmazhuang 羅斯馬莊], 2nd ed. (Shanghai: Xueshu yanjiu zhonghui, 1930), 1–4.
- 11.
See A Catalogue of the Commercial Press Publications 1897–1949 [Shangwu tushu mulu 商務圖書目錄 1897-1949] (Beijing: Commercial Press, 1982), 227.
- 12.
Qian Gongxia 錢公夏, and Xie Bingwen 謝炳文, “Preface” [Xu 序] in Nora [Nuola 娜拉], trans. Shen Peiqiu 沈佩秋 (Shanghai: Qiming shuju, 1937), 1.
- 13.
Shen Peiqiu, 1. During a later period of resurging interest in Ibsen, there appeared in Taiwan a reprint of A Doll’s House in 1958 under the Chinese title The Puppet’s Family [Kuilei jiating 傀儡家庭]. According to the publisher, Enlightenment Book Store [Qiming shuju], the play was translated by its own translation department. But the text shows no difference from Shen Peiqiu’s 1937 version. Shen’s preface to the play remained unchanged in this new printing with the exception that the authorship became the Translation Department of the Enlightenment Book Store.
- 14.
Shiling 石靈 (Sun Shiling 孫石靈), trans., John Gabriel Borkman [Bao Zhiyuan 鮑志遠] (Shanghai: Wenyi xinchao she, 1940), 139.
- 15.
Li Jianwu was the inventor of the Chinese socialist theory of drama in the 1960s, in which he proposed to replace “dramatic conflicts” with “class conflicts” as a central idea.
- 16.
Lu Xun had warned in 1922 that the lack of standardization in the translation of foreign names would create confusion and misunderstanding. In his essay, “Incomprehensible Transliteration” (bu dong de yinyi 不懂的音譯), Lu Xun expressed his dissatisfaction with the trend of turning foreign names into Chinese ones in translation. As an example, he gave a Chinese name “Tao Si Dao” 陶斯道, which might refer to either Dostoyevsky or Tolstoy. In the same way, the Chinese transliteration of “Ke Bojian” 柯伯堅 can be Kropotkin or Kuropatkin, the latter being a Russian general whose photograph was erroneously used in a Chinese newspaper in memory of Kropotkin. In the 1940s, there were the same problems of translation versus transliteration in China, because Chinese language was flexible and allowed variations to fit different contexts and needs. For more details of Lu Xun’s view, see Lu Xun 魯迅, “Incomprehensible Transliteration” [Bu dong de yinyi 不懂的音譯], in Hot Wind [Re feng 熱風] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 1973), 88–89.
- 17.
Shen Zifu 沈子復, trans., A Doll’s House [Wan’ou zhi jia 玩偶之家] (Shanghai: Yongxiang yinshuguan, 1948), 120.
- 18.
Shen, trans., Ghosts [Gui 鬼] (Shanghai: Yongxiang yinshuguan, 1948), 105.
- 19.
Ibid., 106.
- 20.
Shen, trans., The Lady from the Sea [Hai fu 海婦] (Shanghai: Yongxiang yinshuguan, 1948), 143.
- 21.
Shen, trans., John Gabriel Borkman [Bukeman 卜克曼] (Shanghai: Yongxiang yinshuguan, 1948), 117.
- 22.
Shen, trans., The Master Builder [Jianzhu shi 建築師] (Shanghai: Yongxiang yinshuguan, 1948), 136.
- 23.
Textual Studies Library, National Bureau for the Publishing Industry [Guojia chuban shiye guanli chu banben tushuguan 國家出版事業管理處版本圖書館], ed., A Catalogue of the Chinese Translations of Foreign Classical Literature 1949–1979 [Fanyi chuban waiguo gudian wenxue zhuzuo mulu 翻譯出版外國古典文學著作目錄 1949–1979] (Beijing: Zhonghua Book Company, 1980), 20–21.
- 24.
Ibid.
- 25.
Zai Yiwo 翟一我, trans., The Puppet’s Family [Kuilei jiating 傀儡家庭] (Hong Kong: Shijie chubanshe, 1963), n. p.
- 26.
Michael Meyer, trans., A Doll’s House, in Ibsen Plays: Two (London: Eyre Methuen, 1980a), 26.
- 27.
Liu Jinmei 柳津美, trans., The Puppet’s Family [Kuilei jiating 傀儡家庭] (Taipei: Wuzhou chubanshe, 1960), 8–9.
- 28.
Ibid., 102–3.
- 29.
Xiao Mengneng 蕭孟能, “Foreword to the Literary Star Collections” [Wenxing jikan chuban qian yan 文星集刊出版前言] in John Gabriel Borkman [Bukeman 卜克曼] and The Master Builder [Jianzhu shi 建築師], trans. Shen Zifu 沈子復 (Taipei: Wenxing shudian, 1965), 1.
- 30.
Yen Yuan-shu 顏元叔, ed., A Collection of Ibsen’s Plays [Yibusheng xiju xuanji 易卜生戲劇選集] (Taipei: Jingsheng wenwu gongying gongsi 1970), 2.
- 31.
Textual Studies Library, 21.
- 32.
Department of Dramatic Literature, Shanghai Theatre Academy [Shanghai xiju xueyuan xiju wenxue xi 上海戲劇學院劇文學系], ed., An Anthology of Foreign Drama [Waiguo juzuo xuan 外國劇作選], V (Shanghai: Shanghai wenyi chubanshe, 1981), 136.
- 33.
Xiao Qian (Hsiao Ch’ien) 蕭乾. “Ibsen’s Peer Gynt ” [Yibusheng de “Pei’er Jinte” 易卜生的《培爾金特》], Foreign Theatre [Waiguo xiju 外國戲劇], no. 4 (1981): 74.
- 34.
Xiao, 72, 74.
- 35.
Hsiao Ch’ien (Xiao Qian ), Etching of a Tormented Age, 44.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tam, Kk. (2019). Chapter Four Translation and the Dissemination of Ibsenism. In: Chinese Ibsenism. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6303-0_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6303-0_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-6302-3
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-6303-0
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media StudiesLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)