走进历史长河——我与《史记》翻译被引量：2

Into the River of History: An Account of My Translation Work with the Grand Scribe’s Records(Shiji)

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摘要《史记》是中国第一部纪传体通史,最初称为《太史公记》或《太史公书》。"太史公"有多种解释,但各种译名都表明《史记》中的"史"是"太史公"的简称,而不是"历史",更不是"史学家"。因此,诸如Records of History、Historical Records、Records ofthe Scribe、Recordsof theHistorian等英文译名都是不准确的。我们提出的Grand Scribe’s Records这一译法表明《史记》中的"史"是"太史公"的简称。经常有人让我用几句话介绍《史记》,我给出的回答包括"早期中国的国家叙事"以及"集《旧约》和希罗多德史学著作为一体的一本书",不过王充(27—97)所作的隐喻性描述更为贴切,"汉作书者多,司马子长、杨子云,河、汉也,其余泾、渭也"。尽管本人不擅游泳,在本文中我阐述了自己是如何跋涉于司马迁的历史长河的。 In the beginning was the text.~1 And the text was called Taishigong ji太史公记or Taishigong shu太史公书.There are various understandings of Taishigong太史公,but any translated title shows that the shi史in Shiji is short for official title not for"history"or even"historian".Thus,translations such as Records of History,Historical Records,Records of the Scribe,or even Records of the Historian are inaccurate.While our rendering of the Grand Scribe’s Records may still be open to discussion,the precondition of that discussion is to recognize the"Shi"as both an abbreviation and address for Taishigong.I have often been asked to describe the Shiji in a few words.Some of my attempts include"a national narrative of early China"or"a combination of the Old Testament and Herodotus".But they both fall short of Wang Chong’s王充(27-97)metaphoric depiction,"those books written in the Han Dynasty were numerous:Sima Qian is the Yellow River and Yang Xiong the Han River,the remainder are the Jing and Wei rivers"汉作书者多,司马子长、杨子云,河、汉也,其余泾、渭也.~2 Although I am not a good swimmer,in what follows,I shall try to explain how I swam in Sima Qian’s river.

作者倪豪士 William H.NIENHAUSER,Jr.(University of Wisconsin)

机构地区威斯康星大学

出处《翻译界》 2020年第2期111-123,共13页 Translation Horizons

关键词司马迁《史记》翻译汉语历史 Sima Qian Shiji translation Chinese history

分类号 H315.9 [语言文字—英语]

作者简介 William H.NIENHAUSER,Jr.majored in Chinese literature at Indiana University and Bonn University receiving his PhD in 1973 under Professor Liu Wuji柳无忌.That year Nienhauser became Assistant Professor of East Asian Literature(University of Wisconsin).He has been Halls-Bascom Chair Professor of Chinese Literature since 1995.His publications include Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature and eight volumes of translations from the Shiji(The Grand Scribe’s Records)and he was a founding editor of Chinese Literature:Essays,Articles,Reviews(CLEAR).In 2003 he was awarded a Forschungspreis(Research Prize)for lifetime achievement from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.Email:whnienha@wisc.edu