In 1938, Qian Zhongshu’s family left Europe and returned to China, which was in a full-scale war of resistance. However, he did not stop paying attention to the dynamics of British thought and culture. After the “World War II”, he was commissioned by the British Embassy in China to participate in the compilation of “British Culture Series”. Published by the Shanghai Commercial Press, from August 1948 to December 1949, published an overview of twelve pamphlets covering English literature, art, education, science and technology, politics, economics, etc. Translator Including Ren Hongjun, Zhang Yuanshan, Jiang Fuying, Quan Zengqiang, Zhang Junxiang, Fu Lei, Lin Chao, Shao Xunmei and other “well-known people in China”. Asking the young Zhang Zhilian to translate “British University” is somewhat “tailor-made”: he is the son of Zhang Shouyong, the founder and president of Guanghua University. In addition to his experience in studying abroad, he is also the English secretary of the series editor-in-chief Zhu Jingnong when he was the president of Guanghua University. Zhang’s translation preface mentioned that the choice of this topic was due to Qian Zhongshu’s good intentions. At the end of the book, he explained: “The Latin verses in the book can only be translated with the advice of Mr. Qian Mocun. I would like to express my thanks to Mr. Qian.” Translated by Quan Zengyu Qian Zhongshu’s help was first mentioned in the thank you speech for “British Fiction Since 1939”. In addition, Fu Lei (translated “British Paintings”) and Shao Xunmei (translated “British Poems since 1939”, the publication status is unknown) are both friends of Qian Zhongshu; “Modern Scientific Inventions” is also a draft by Qian Zhongshu.
Yang Jiang’s translation of “English Prose Works Since 1939” (hereinafter referred to as “Prose Works”) came out in September 1948, with less than fifty pages. This little book was praised unreservedly by Fu Lei, which was a bit exaggerated when compared to the unkind criticism of many translators that Mr. Nuan later criticized. In the “Notes of Rong’an Pavilion”, a story of an Englishman was read. Alexander Pope’s translation of the “Iliad” was criticized by a nobleman at the time. A few months later Pope re-dedicated the original manuscript to the knight without changing a word, saying: It has been revised in accordance with his opinion and has been praised as “Nothingcanbebetter”. This is exactly the same as Vasari’s “Famous People in the Italian Art Garden” that the Florence consul was critical of Michelangelo’s sculpture of the young David’s colossus. The consul thought that David’s nose was too big. Michelangelo made the revision based on the proportion of the angle of view. Michelangelo placed the stone chips chiseled from another piece of marble at David’s feet, which looked as if it had been changed. After asking the consul’s opinion, he was full of praise. Michelangelo was “secretly proud of his ingenious way of pleasing the lord, for he was always full of sympathy for those who did not pretend to understand”. There is also Bocchio’s “Facetiae” (Facetiae), in which Vicenza criticizes the draft of the secretary’s official letter, which was affirmed when the latter reprinted it and presented it again. Later, Qian Zhongshu, who was once ridiculed by his friends as a “favorite wife”, recalled:
Six years ago, Jiang translated a pamphlet for the British Council to show Fu Nuan, who said he was too restrained. Jiang tell me, give this formula to teach, Jiang Ru said. The Nuan fruit fell into the trap, and he was still arrogant and conceited as “the eye of the moon”.
He is determined not to revise it under Fu Lei’s advice, and he is confident, but Yang Jiang has never read many new books in the fields of “including biography, criticism, history, politics, religion, philosophy, textual research, etc.”. If you want to properly distinguish those few comments like an expert, it is very difficult to accurately translate them and various book titles. It can be determined that it is Qian Zhongshu who is diligent in reading and ensures the accuracy and vividness of the translation behind the scenes. Wu Xuezhao’s “Listening to Yang Jiang Talking About the Past” mentioned that when it comes to related titles, the translator “in order to avoid mistakes, he often consults Zhong Shu and his British friend McReevey, who is also a member of the series. For example, “Devil’s Correspondence” by Oxford scholars “(The Screwtape Letters) is the title of the book, which was translated after listening to McReevey tell the content of the original book review.” The article “If Hayward Had a Conversation with Qian Mocun” by Lu Hao said:
CS Lewis, the author of “Devil’s Correspondence”, is the author of “The Chronicles of Narnia”. Notes on this book (pp. 411-415), … After Mr. Yang’s translation was published, Mr. Qian added a detailed note, … “Because the book has not been reprinted since, this note in Zhongshu has so far only been kept in Yang Jiang’s only remaining notebook.”
In 2014, the “Complete Works of Yang Jiang” “Translation Volume” republished “Prose Works”, and this detailed note by Qian Zhongshu has been added. Check carefully the “Notes from the Four More Rooms” “One” photocopied in “Notes in Foreign Languages”. The notes on “Devil’s Letters” should have been made before Yang Jiang’s translation. It was added on purpose for re-reading. Therefore, it is necessary to listen to the content of outsiders to determine the title of the book, which may not be an accurate and credible memory. In fact, for a large number of British writers and works introduced in this volume of “Prose Works”, Qian Zhongshu has taken reading notes, not all of them have been read earlier, but most of them are still tracked and read in time. For Yang Jiang’s translation, this kind of reading experience and vision is of course a very important guide.
First of all, this little book by John Hayward (ProseLiteraturesince1939) was originally one of the “Since 1939” series published by Longman Books for the British Parliament. Zhong Shu selected several books in this series. The caption, translated at the front of the book, introduces the biographical writings of the author, John Hayward, who says that he has compiled collections of those writers. Among them, Qian Zhongshu should be most familiar with John Dunn’s Poems and “Oxford Edition of Nineteenth Century English Poems” edited by Hayward. These are the books he often cites. He also mentioned that Hayward had written for Criterion and The Times Literary Supplement (TLS) for a long time, which are also English magazines that Qian Zhongshu often read. For example, in the newly discovered diary at the end of 1933, there are two records of “reading the four volumes of Criterion”.
The opening chapter summarizes the prose works that reported and commented on the war, many by famous writers. For example, David Garnett (David Garnett, 1892-1981), who was good at writing novels and a senior pilot, copied and read his novels “The Man in the Zoo” and “The Man in the Zoo” about his flying career in the 1920s when Qian Zhongshu was studying abroad. The Grasshopper’s Arrival” (“Notes on Rong’an Pavilion” cited this book), and read one of his memoirs “Familiar Faces” in his later years. There is also the poet laureate John Masefield (1878-1967), who described the appearance of the British army during the Dunkirk retreat. Qian Zhongshu read his adventure novel “The Fighting Qi” Huck when he was studying abroad. A place called “Santa Barbara” in Central America, and a few words were transcribed in the notes; a sequel to the “Santa Barbara” adventure ODTAA appeared in the notes a few years later, with the title meaning “OneDamnThingAfterAnother” ( Bad things keep going) an abbreviation for this phrase. There is also the novel work of the Hungarian British writer Arthur Koestler (1905-1983) mentioned by the author by exception. We can find at least seven of his works in Qian Zhongshu’s notes, among which the book introduces “Darkness at Noon” (Darkness at Noon, 1940, Chinese translation titled “Darkness at Noon”; “Foreign Language Notes” Volume VI, p. 76). The novel was later included in the Random Company’s “Top 100 English Novels of the Twentieth Century”, depicting personal encounters in the era of the “Great Purge” of the Soviet Union. Even Hayward, who has always been known for his “poisonous tongue,” called Kessler “passionate, insightful, and true to his descriptions.” There is a shocking revelation.” In terms of the length of his reading notes, Qian Zhongshu seems to be more interested in Kessler’s novel Arrival and Departure (1943) about the life of Hungarian refugees during World War II. Like the book calls Kessler “Austrian”. There is a sentence in Yang Jiang’s translation:
His essay “Birthofa Myth” happened to begin Hillary’s “deification”.
Combined with the above, because I just mentioned the posthumous writings of the fighter pilot Richard Hillary’s single-soldier air combat experience, he described his book as being sought after by British compatriots, forming a prototype of the “Hillary Myth” , which means that it all started with Kessler’s original tribute essay. The “Complete Works of Yang Jiang” failed to distinguish the common use of book titles and quotation marks in the first edition. The word “apotheosis” here was added to the book title, which became a bit puzzling. Qian Zhongshu may not have paid much attention to it, but he obviously knew about Kessler’s article. He had read the prose collection “Yoga Believers and Political Commissars”, which included an expanded version of “The Birth of a Myth”.
In the chapter “Biography and Autobiography”, there are as many as fifteen or sixteen writers Qian Zhongshu is familiar with, almost all of which cover the scope discussed by Hayward. For example, George Stuart Gordon (1881-1942), an English literature researcher who was born in Oxford, we find in his reading notes a collection of letters collected and printed after him mentioned in this book, “produced from a mature and calm mind, This ever-changing, spasmodic society still clings to an illusion of permanence and stability.” Like art historian and critic Herbert Read (1893-1968) and writer Sir Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969), Qian Zhongshu not only read the biographical works mentioned , many other books they have written are also included in their own notes. For example, in the book “Poetry of English Poetry” (Phases of English Poetry, 1928) written by Li De before, it was mentioned in “Tan Yi Lu”. Exhausted energy, nothing to make up for the end.” The “Childhood” here is actually the first part of the original title (Annals of Innocence and Experience, 1946). It is regarded as a representative of the autobiography of obsessed with childhood. I suspect that Hayward may be mistaken, because the “InnocentEye” in the first part is actually early. It was published in 1933, and he only took it in one stroke. When Qian Zhongshu copied this autobiography, recalling the rich imagination he gained from reading Haggard’s adventure novels in his childhood, he must have cited him as a favorite. Rozzi criticized the casual discussion of the origin of the style as “almost faint”. The chapter “Prose and Criticism” also mentions Li De’s “Coat of Many Colours” (1945), which is praised as “having a broad scope, worthy of a teacher’s understanding, and discussing the modern understanding of literature, art, politics, The repercussions of architecture, society, etc.” Qian Zhongshu has reading notes, but he doesn’t seem to be that interested. As for Sir Sitwell’s autobiographical tetralogy, which was hailed by George Orwell as the best contemporary biography, Hayward is only known for his first book, Left Hand, Right Hand! ” is the most interesting, Qian Zhongshu’s notes read these four books in two separate readings, and he seems to give a higher evaluation in the eyebrow criticism: he thinks that the technique and style of this autobiography are reminiscent of Proust’s novel “In Search of the Lost”. Time”—this is the “recherchedutempsperdu” given in “Works of Prose” instead of the later popular “reminiscence of the past”. “Reminiscence” literature has played an “escapism” role for most readers: total war forced everyone to give up their personalities for the public good, so they urgently needed to find some spiritual comfort in biographical literature. – This is not just Gu Ying’s self-pity and nostalgia for the past, but the human heart of the world in an extraordinary period.
This chapter of the biography also mentions Virginia Woolf. Qian Zhongshu’s reading notes do not involve any of her novels, but he attaches great importance to her prose works and a collection of diaries and letters, among which Hayward was used in battle here.” According to the detailed biography, the most worthy of praise” first masterpiece, “Roger Fry Biography” (Roger Fry, 1940). The master of the biography is the famous British painter who once painted Woolf’s portrait, and is also a member of the Bloomsbury circle. The first edition of “Tanyilu” mentioned Frye when Western critics held the opinion that “poetry and music interfere with each other”. ‘s writings. Since then, other excellent works of the same kind by Hayward Lechen, as well as the Yeats biography by the Yeats expert Joseph Hone, the George Bernard Shaw by Hesketh Pearson, and Grant ·Grant Richards’ memoirs of the poet and classicist Housman (AE Housman) and Qian Zhongshu have reading notes. He often later quoted Joseph Hung’s biography of an artist Henry Tonks, seemingly never mentioning The Biography of Yeats. According to Fan Xulun’s discovery, “Tan Yi Lu” “hiddenly quoted” an interesting incident mentioned in Billson’s “Bernard Shaw Biography”: an
old Western joke, a scholar-speaking girl said: “I am the most talented person in the world, but I regret it.” Appearance sleep. Qing is a peerless beauty, but she seems too naive. If Qing is willing to couple me, then he will have a son, with Qing’s beauty and my talent, and he will surely be the best thing in the world. But the girl said, “This child will be as ugly as a prince and as short as me, and if he is ugly and ugly, he will be abandoned in the world.” You are resting!
——It can be proved from the reading notes that only the roles of male and female characters should be reversed; and there is also an explicit quote to this book in “Pipe Piper”. However, judging from the notes, Qian Zhongshu may have a higher evaluation of Conan Doyle’s biography written by Pierson. According to Qian Zhongshu’s preference for the scholar and poet Hausman, it is natural to not miss this book by Ruichais. “The Collection of Qian Zhongshu Manuscripts” allows us to see that he also read the biography written by Hausman’s younger brother for his brother Nai ( MyBrother, AE Housman, 1938): The front of the original notes is handwritten by Rui Chass, and the back is recorded by Lawrence Housman on a typewriter. It is difficult to judge the chronological order, but it is obviously deliberately put together for comparison. Later, in the three hundred and fifth monograph of “Notes on Rong An Guan”, which was devoted to the biography of Lawrence Hausman, only occasionally referred to Rui Chas, and the judgment of superiority and inferiority became clear. In addition, Hayward mentions Herbert Gorman’s “Joyce Biography” (1941), but finds it “incoherent”, and Qian Zhongshu is written by this author Another “Dumas Biography” (1929), the notes copied from the typewriter, according to the diary fragments, can be seen to be written in the days after New Year’s Day in 1937.
The chapter “Prose and Criticism” mainly introduces literary criticism essays, and ends with a list of Elliott’s sporadic essays, which are uncollected. Judging from Eliot’s notes read by Qian Zhongshu, he read a lot of articles during this period, but only “The Classics and the Man of Letters” (“The Classics and the Man of Letters”, 1942) and “What is Classic? (“WhatisaClassic?”, 1944) was mentioned by Hayward, calling Eliot “who was engrossed in the traditions of European culture”. Qian Zhongshu read all the texts collected later, which shows his recognition of Eliot’s “classicist” position. Qian Zhongshu is probably no stranger to books written by other critics. From the reading notes, we found that Hayward named the book: Sir David Cecil (Lord David Cecil, 1902-1986). Hardy at Home, Milton and the Modern Milton Critic by Logan Pearsall Smith (1865-1946), Milton by Geoffrey Tillotson (1905-1969) Essays on Criticism and Research, Sir Herbert Grierson (1866-1960), Essays and Lectures, Pritchett (VS Pritchett, 1900-1997), My Favorite Books, A collection of essays by Charles Morgan (1894-1958), Reflection in the Mirror, etc. A newspaper writer Cyril Connolly (1903-1974), who took the pseudonym of Virgil’s drowned boatman “Palinurus”, wrote what Hayward called “”Palinurus”). The Unquiet Grave (The Unquiet Grave, 1944). In Qian Zhongshu’s notes, he is mainly interested in the words of some French writers that he excerpted. Hayward also mentioned a collection of his essays (The Condemned Playground, 1945), the title of which was difficult to understand, and Yang Jiang translated it as “Forbidden Playground”. In Qian Zhongshu’s notes about this book, we see that the explanation of the meaning of the title in the author’s introduction is copied at the beginning: “Forbidden playground” refers to art, which is the most elegant way to defend the imagination from the influence of the times. try; For the famous editor of Horizon magazine, it also means the “quiet and cultural event space” in London’s Chelsea district where Konnoli wanders and works. In the “007” novel published in recent years, this is The sentence also became the lines of James Bond, who was also born in Chelsea. Academic critics aside, the short-story writer and book critic Pritchett has long been a reader favorite for his prose. In 1936, Qian Zhongshu bought the famous “Diary of a Little Man” at a used book stand in Paris. Later, he found that Eliot and Pritchett were very fond of the book “My Favorite Book”. I keep writing notes.
In subsequent chapters there is a great figure, George Orwell (George Orwell, 1903-1950). Qian Zhongshu has reading notes for all of Orwell’s novels, and has also read some of his non-fiction prose works, including the “Critical Essays” (1946) mentioned by Hayward here, but Qian Zhongshu read this book The notes were only two pages long, and he must have disagreed with Hayward’s claim that “he was the most intellectually sophisticated critic of the interwar generation.” At the end of the chapter dealing with “History and Politics”, he talked about the power of satirical literature, and Hayward once again made an exception to introduce a novel work that is not out of the question, namely Orwell’s famous “Animal Farm”, thinking that “this satire illuminates like an electric light. The gloom that shrouded everything in the six years of the war”. “Prose Works” also quoted the famous saying in the novel: “All animals are born equal; but some animals are born more equal than others.” sentence.
In the first chapter of “Works of Prose”, it praises the British people’s active life style of writing, publishing and reading in the difficult war environment:
the hopes and fears of all British people during the war, active work, passive enduring, all It is literary material.
This should be deeply touching to Qian Zhongshu, who once thought about how to express the “ubiquitous war” in literature. This “Works of Prose” can be seen everywhere, but there is a special paragraph discussing “The Bishop in Grey” (Grey Eminence, 1941), a historical biography written by Aldous Huxley, the author of “Brave New World”. Qian Zhongshu has naturally read this book in detail. Unlike Hayward’s high-level generalization (“one cannot faithfully serve God and the God of Wealth at the same time”), he pays more attention to various details. For example, the book mentioned that there was a strange problem with the Duke of Neville who always kept his eyes open when he slept. Later, he was listed as the same type as Zhang Fei in “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, which is really interesting. Evelyn Waugh’s “Brideshead Revisited” (1945) is also mentioned in “Works of Prose”, and Yang Jiang’s literal translation is “Brideshead Revisited”. Years later, sinologist Hu Zhide asked Qian Zhong’s book “Besieged City” whether Huxley and Woo were influenced by Huxley and Waugh, because there was a similar tone. Qian Zhongshu actually replied that he had never read it. – This is obviously not the truth. From his “Notes in Foreign Languages”, we can find his notes on reading many works of these two writers, and it started very early and lasted his whole life. So, how to understand Qian Zhongshu’s negative answer? In my opinion, Yang Jiang’s answer to the reporter’s question is the best explanation:
You heard that Qian Zhongshu read Aldous Huxley and Evelyn Waugh, and was influenced by it. He has read all the ones mentioned in your letter, and there are many more. We read from beginning to end, and we read a lot. Qian Zhongshu could not be influenced by one or two of them.
