Category: Culture/Art >> Literature

Analysis:

The Chinese reading circle’s understanding of Kundera benefits from the work of the translation circle. As far as I know, the earliest domestic translation of Kundera was Han Shaogong, who collaborated with his sister to translate "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (now translated into Chinese as "The Unbearable Lightness of Being") in 1987. Published by Writers Press. Over the past fifteen years, almost all of Kundera's works, except for the poems and plays written in Czech in his early years, and the French version of the novel "Ignorance" which was released in March 2003, have been introduced to China, and some have several A translation. I don’t know which publishers purchased Kundera’s simplified Chinese copyright before Shanghai Translation Publishing House officially introduced the thirteen works of Kundera, but it can be said with certainty that most of them did not purchase the copyright through legal procedures. . I particularly agree with what Ai Xiaoming said in Hong Kong's Ming Pao Weekly in 1996: "In order to avoid the fate of the work 'Oranges overflowing with water, they become tangerines', I think we need to go back to a basic question. It is impossible to treat Mr. Kun (Dela) courteously in accordance with the Berne Convention and existing copyright laws. However, if you think about it again, is it possible to introduce his text as it is? "Shanghai Translation Publishing House now offers both possibilities. We delivered. I think that with these two possibilities, we have the possibility of further understanding Kundera.

Speaking of Kundera, some people will say that he has little influence in his native Czech Republic. How come he has such a big response in China? Isn’t it a bit abnormal? In fact, before moving to France, Kundera was already a member of the 4th Czech Writers Association Presidium. He was expelled from the party only because he took the lead in telling the truth. According to Jiang Chengjun, in 1977, 76 people's artists, 360 meritorious artists, and more than 7,000 art workers in the Czech Republic signed and published the "Manifesto" of the Czechoslovak literary and artistic circles, which once wrote: "...We extremely despise such a group of people. They are arrogant, vain, have a strong sense of superiority, are selfish, and are especially cruel. They even sell out the interests of their motherland and join the traitors for a few stinky money." The group has separated itself from the people and their lives, abandoned the people's real interests and embraced imperialism, becoming a tool of anti-humanism and degenerating into a mouthpiece for those who subvert and create discord among countries. "In this way. Amid the condemnation, Kundera's works certainly cannot be spread in the Czech Republic, and if they are not spread, they cannot have any influence. I think this situation will definitely change, and history will speak for itself.

Kundera’s influence in China is indeed not small, but in the West, Kundera’s influence is more lasting and extensive. He has won literary awards in the United States, France, Italy, Spain, and Israel. As far as we know, his works have been translated into at least 20 languages, and almost all of his works have translations and are widely circulated around the world. In fact, it is translation that creates Kundera with international influence, and it is translation that gives Kundera's works rich life.

Kundera's works have been widely translated and even constantly re-translated, which shows that his works have strong vitality. The vitality of Kundera's works lies first in its unique personality and multiple interpretation possibilities. It should be said that the possibility of multiple interpretations is one of the distinctive features of Kundera's works. Domestically, some philosophers, such as Yu Wujin of Fudan University, have interpreted Kundera’s discourse world from a philosophical perspective and believe that his works “cast a new spirit of the times”; comparator Le Daiyun believes that Kundera “successfully succeeded in It has completed the combination of philosophy and stories, dreams and reality, or created a complex symphony that integrates philosophy, narrative and dreams." Literary critics even more praised the "revolution" of novels launched by Kundera, and criticized Discuss the "newness" and "strangeness" of his novels and the innovation of his novel techniques. It can be said that in terms of the diversity of interpretations, almost no foreign writer who has been translated and introduced to China from abroad in the past twenty years can compare with Kundera. I think that with the systematic and comprehensive introduction of Kundera's works this time, it provides us with more possibilities for comprehensive evaluation and understanding of Kundera.

The vitality of Kundera’s works also lies in the various incomprehensions and even misunderstandings surrounding Kundera himself and his works. In fact, confusion and even misunderstanding are inevitable in human spiritual life.

Kundera is deeply aware of the inevitability of incomprehension and even misunderstanding. In The Unbearable Lightness of Being, there is a small "Collection of Incomprehensible Vocabulary" in the third part. Such as loyalty and betrayal, spirit and body, lightness and weight of existence, in his opinion, there are various understandings and "misunderstandings" about all these fundamental issues related to human existence. His work "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" begins with a profound philosophy and ends in a tragic poetic atmosphere, revealing to us the weaknesses of human nature and the profound reasons for human inevitable misunderstandings. Since incomprehension and misunderstanding are common, as far as works are concerned, misunderstandings are inevitable during the process of translation and acceptance. Judging from the process of understanding, translation and acceptance of the work, misunderstanding is inevitable. Personal misunderstanding is not terrible, but collective compulsive misunderstanding is terrible. For example, the only way to judge Kundera's works is based on political or ideological standards. In my opinion, good translation should open up space for understanding. Kundera's works were often deleted and changed in previous Chinese translations. This is one of the reasons why misunderstandings are actually caused in order to avoid misunderstandings. This time Shanghai Translation Publishing House organized a series of translations of Kundera. I think most of the deletions or changes may have restored its true appearance. Over the past decade or so, China's social and political environment has undergone great changes, providing us with new possibilities for a comprehensive understanding of Kundera. Furthermore, the continuous interpretation of Kundera by the international literary community has also broadened our perspective of understanding Kundera and provided us with great help in translation. Kundera has his own unique understanding of translation and relatively clear principles. I think when we translate Kundera, we should first respect him, at least for his thoughts, his style, and his unique pursuit of literature. This should be represented in the translation as much as possible. I have three principles when re-translating "The Unbearable Lightness of Being": first, to understand Kundera as comprehensively as possible; second, to strive to reproduce the stylistic characteristics of Kundera's works; third, to avoid mistranslations as much as possible and not to be arbitrary. Delete the original text. We hope that our efforts will help Chinese people get closer to and understand Kundera from their confusion or even misunderstanding about Kundera.