Traditional translation studies stayed at the language level and sought one-to-one correspondence in language forms in order to obtain the equivalence between the original text and the target text. Gradually, translation theorists turned their attention from the linguistic level to the scope outside the text, and began to study translation theories in a cross-cultural context. The “cultural turn” in contemporary translation studies has made translation studies begin to involve factors such as social culture, politics, power, and ideology that affect translation activities. For the first time, they linked translation and politics, and boldly revealed the power relations that have always existed in translation and their roles in translation.
This essay will focus on the three Chinese version of Uncle Tom’s Cabin, the best-selling book in the 19th century, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This anti-slavery novel is believed to be the most important reason to stimulate the rise of abolitionism in the 1850s. This novel’s view on African Americans and American slavery have had profound implications, and to some extent, have intensified regional conflicts. Although this novel and the various scripts inspired by it have created many stereotypes of the black, and its negative elements have weakened the novel’s historical role as an important anti-slavery tool to some extent, it is still, a great book with author’s kind original intention. This essay will not make any critical comment on the style, theme or other relevant elements. Instead, it will compare the three different Chinese translation from Lin Shu and Wei Yi, Huang Jizhong, and Wang Jiaxiang, and demonstrate the social impact on translation. These three version also reflects the different influences and roles of Chinese and western cultures in different historical periods in China.
1. Introduction of the three translations
Uncle Tom’s Cabin has three different Chinese version since it was introduced into China. The first Chinese version was translated by Lin Shu and Wei Yi in 1901, followed by Huang Jizhong’s version which was published in 1982. The last and most popular version was translated by Wang Jiaxiang in 1998. According to Gadamer (1999, 249-252), individual’s understanding belongs to historical reality and is produced by tradition. The tradition that we were born and brought up in leads to a mode of thought and behaviour engraved in us. The three translators live in different eras (although the last two translations are only 16 years apart, the time has changed dramatically), their background and life experience are completely different, which lead to the great differences in the version they translated.
a. Lin and Wei’s translation and the translation intention
In 1901, Lin and Wei’s translation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published. Lin Shu is the first person in China who translate foreign novels in Classical Chinese. His translation has had a considerable impact on the Old Democratic Revolutionary stage in China. The translation of this novel came at a time when the US government was persecuting the Chinese workers living in the US. The Chinese version of this novel prompted the rebellious emotional of Chinese people. The translation intention for Lin is to revitalise Chinese people’s aspiration, call on their vigilance and fight for the independence, freedom and equality. Therefore, Lin abridged the fussiest preaching parts (He felt that there are too many preaching in the novel). Lin Shu himself knows nothing about English. His translation relies on Wei Yi’s dictation.
In the process of translation, the translator mainly considers how to be loyal to the original work. There was a time when the translator were regarded as the “servant”, who is not only be manipulated by the “master”—the original work, but also should be faithful to another master, the reader. However, according to Hermans (1985, 2014) and his Manipulation School, translation means a certain degree of manipulation of the original text for a certain purpose. Based on Hermans’s theory, Lefevere (1985) proposed the conception “translation is rewriting”, and rewriting means “manipulating”. One of the three factors that controls rewriting is “ideology”.
In the three chosen translation, there are more or less traces of rewriting, reflecting the role of ideology plays in translation, and this role changes along with the society, history and culture. Compared with the other two translators, Lin and Wei’s translation has the most “rewriting” parts. As Pickering (1999) said, “we only develop historical understanding through working with the realisation of our own historicality”. Their conscious rewriting is to let the Chinese Scholar- officials accept western ideas. Therefore, they replaced western Christian thought with traditional Chinese Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. At the end of 19th century and the very beginning of 20th century, instead of being faithful to the original work, translators focus on how to conform to the social and cultural trends of the late Qing Dynasty. In order to meet the reader’s taste, most of the translators adopt the “rewriting” method when translating. At that time, the New Culture Movement has been carried out, vernacular was prompted, and Classical Chinese was considered only understood by scholars. The translators, expect for a few, refused to use “vernacular”, and insisted on using the Classical Chinese to do the translation. Classical Chinese is not only difficult for the readers to understand, but the translators feel the restraint when translating. Hence, they have to abridge the original text. Lin (1901, 7) claimed in the preface of his translation that he changed the style of some paragraphs, but the meaning remained.
b. Huang Jizhong’s translation and Wang Jiaxiang’s translation
Huang is another famous translator in China who has profound knowledge in both Chinese and English, and a huge passion in literary translation. He was also a lecturer at Peking University. In addition to giving classes to students, Huang devotes himself to the translation of classic works for many decades, even when he was suffering from the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).
He began to translate Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1956, and planned to complete it in two years. At that time, he had already signed a contract with People’s Literature Publishing House. Unfortunately, the plan was aborted due to the “Anti- Rightist” Campaign. As for him, Uncle Tom’s Cabin is one of the few books that touched his heart. In the next 20 years of his “Lao Gai” (reforming through labour), he used the fragmentary time to translate Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello and revised his translation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. According to Zhou (2004), Huang often translated Uncle Tom’s Cabin with tears, “because he feels that his fate is the same as the fate of the black slaves when working on the farm”. 27 years after he first started translation this novel, his translated version was finally published in 1982. He linked his life to this novel in a quarter of a century. Back that time, it was the transition period of contemporary culture, Huang translated the novel into modern vernacular (simplified Chinese), and almost kept the original style.
Wang’s translation was published in 1998, and it is the most widely known version in China. It is more advancing with the time, and more in line with the taste of people these days. She is a translator specialising in female writers and African American literature studies.
For Huang Jizhong and Wang Jiaxiang, the rewriting in their translations is more unconscious: Huang is deeply influenced by ancient Chinese literature, and his emphasis of rewriting is mainly on the use of idioms, while Wang focuses on syntax. The difference between these three translations also reflects the penetration of western culture into Chinese culture.
2. The comparison of their translation
To illustrate clearer the influence of social environment on translation, several examples are listed below.
a. The translation of the title of the novel
Lin’s translation of the title of the novel is “黑奴吁天录”, which literally means “the collection of the black slave appeal to the heaven”. However, “吁天” (appeal to the heaven) here does not mean that the translator is appealing for the black slave. It is because that in the original novel, when describing the hard labour and oppression, the writer will always use the Bible and appeal to the god. In addition, Uncle Tom, Eva and some other characters will pray to the god when they are suffering from pain. They also prompt the Bible to the world, hoping people convert to the Christian religion, the wicked to be influenced by the Bible and become a kind person. According to Venuti (1995), in order to make readers better understand the translation and enhance the readability and appreciation, translators always use domestication method. The Christian religion is not widely believed in China (especially back that time), so Lin replaces “the all- mighty god” with “天” (heaven), to make it understandable for the Chinese Scholar- Officials. Lin also totally ignored “or, Life Among the Lowly”. He only translated the first part of the title.
“黑奴吁天录” is not the literal translation of the title. Lin understood the meaning of the original title, however, he found it not refined and elegant enough. Lin changed the original title “uncle Tom” （汤姆叔叔）which focuses on one specific person with “黑奴” (black slave), a collective, while “吁天” is the summary of the novel’s plot. It is his habit to use a collective to indicate one specific person, use the summary of the plot, and add words such as “录”(collection or record)、“外史” (unofficial history) in the Chinese title.
Huang and Wang both use literal translation to translate the title of this novel. Huang translated the title as 《汤姆大伯的小屋- 或贱民生涯》(Uncle Tom’s Cabin- or The Life of the rabble). While in Wang’s version, the title was translated as 《汤姆叔叔的小屋》(Uncle Tom’s Cabin).
The word “uncle” can indicate both “大伯” and “叔叔”. However, Huang (1982) believes that the person who calls Tom “uncle” is George, the son of Tom’s first master Mr. Shelby. Tom is 8 years older than Mr. Shelby, so George should call Tom “大伯”. In addition, “大伯” is often used to address someone elderly respectfully. Compared with Huang’s translation, Wang used “叔叔” (uncle) instead. “叔叔” is used to describe a man of the same age as one’s father, but younger. Therefore, “大伯” is the most appropriate translation here.
Huang was also the only translator among the three who translated the part “or, the life among the lowly”, and was printed on the cover of the Chinese version. “贱民” (rabble, or untouchable, but in a more vulgar way) was used, and it indicates that Huang tried to keep the original style in his translation.
b. …said Marks, “… Now, I bought a gal once, when I was in the trade,… -but, Lord, yer oughter seen how she went on,… as if she’d lost every friend she had. Lord, there ain’t no end to women’s notions.”
Lin’s: 马概日: “大凡购取人家乳下之子，其母必留连，万不能割。”
Back translation (BT): Marks said, “When you buy someone’s child, his mother will always be reluctant, and can never leave her child.”
Huang’s: 麻克斯说，“我从前做这行买卖的时候，有一次贩来一个婆娘，嘿! 说真的仿佛她的亲人全都死光了似的。天哪! 女人的名堂真是说不尽。”
BT: Marks said, “When I was doing this business, I once sold a woman. Oh! It seems that all her loved ones were dead. Christ! Women’s notions are endless.”
Wang’s: 马克斯说，“嗯，我干这行的时候有一次买过一个女的！ 可是上帝? 真是的? 好像她失去了所有的朋友似的。上帝，女人的念头真是没边。”
BT: Marks said, “Well, I used to do this business, and sell a woman. But Lord! Really? Seemed like she lost all her friends. God, women’s notions are endless.”
Marks is a human trafficker. However, in Lin’s translation, Marks is more like a man with a good demeanour, with a soft heart. As a Chinese Scholar- officials, the language used in most of the traditional Chinese literature Lin read is decent, and the characters in these literature are mostly heroes. Lin had few experience with vulgar people (or the untouchable), and his translation work is hugely influenced. Moreover, with the Classical Chinese, it is almost impossible to use rough language. This is the flaw of the Classical Chinese, the words using seems unchangeable, even when describing the wicked, the language is euphemistic.
Huang’s translation uses slang in Chinese to reflect the speaker’s nonstandard language (black language). To be sure, it is a bold but praisable attempt to reproduce the original style. To me, his translation version is the most touching one that is also faithful to the original novel. Wang uses standard Chinese to translate the black’s nonstandard language. Although the translation is readable, but it also sounds too formal and rigid.
3. Conclusion
This essay compares three translation of Uncle Tom’s Cabin from different times. It emphasises the essential influence of social environment on translation. Toury’s (1980) Descriptive Translation Studies pursues social and historical cultural factors that influence the translation process. He believes that the translation of the same literary works produced under different historical conditions can be hugely different. However, no matter the circumstances have changed, the translator’s translation always need to be adapted to the culture of the translated language and serve for a specific purpose. The translation always connect with the social environment and the culture of target language, in order to promote social progress.