Ehrenburg, a famous writer from the former Soviet Union, was born in Kyiv on January 14, 1891, to a Jewish family. This year marks his 120th birthday.
A few days ago, when I was talking with a friend about the translation of foreign names, I suddenly thought of Ehrenburg. Because my father once wrote a short article "Translation of the Small Waves of the Sea", which was about the translation of Ehrenburg's surname. His earliest contact with and translation of Ehrenburg's works was on the eve of the First Civil Revolutionary War in 1925. He was dispatched by Li Dazhao to serve as a translator for the Soviet Army Advisory Group in the Second National Army in Kaifeng, where he met Vasily, a Soviet man. Husband (Chinese name Wang Xili). Two young people in their 20s, one knows Russian and the other can speak Chinese, and both like literature. They quickly became acquainted with each other. Wang Xili hoped to understand Chinese society through Chinese literature. His father gave him Mr. Lu Xun's "The Scream" and suggested that he read "The True Story of Ah Q". Wang Xili gave back a collection of Soviet short stories "Thirteen Pipes".
After reading "The True Story of Ah Q", Wang Xili admired Mr. Lu Xun so much that he was determined to translate it into Russian. However, how to translate the terms such as "Tianmen" and "Jiaohui" used in Shaoxing folk gambling in the text, the father could not do anything, so they had to write to Mr. Lu Xun for advice. Mr. Lu Xun not only answered one by one, but also wrote a preface and autobiography for the Russian translation at the request of Wang Xili, and even went to the photo studio to take a portrait of the author. Father and Wang Xili, the two foreign youths, never imagined that their encounter on the eve of the Chinese Revolution, in the midst of the hustle and bustle of war horses, made Mr. Lu Xun and his "The True Story of Ah Q" break through the rigours of China's dark night and feudal warlords. The blockade quickly spread to the Soviet Union and Europe. The close relationship between my father and Mr. Lu Xun also started and continued since then.
While assisting Wang Xili in translating The True Story of Ah Q, his father also finished reading the collection of novels that Wang Xili gave him. There are 13 short stories in the collection, each of which is related to pipes. The best written among them is Eilenburg's "The Pipe of Communal," which my father took the time to translate into Chinese. This is the first piece of Ehrenberg's work introduced to China, and it is also the first novel translated by his father in his translation career. Before that, all his translations were plays, such as Chekhov's "The Stupid" and "The Three Sisters" Wait. However, the rapidly changing situation at that time made him have no time to take care of it: the commander of the Second National Army died of illness, and the successors fought with each other, giving the warlord Wu Peifu an opportunity. Father also returned to Peiping in the midst of the turmoil. At this time, the Northern Expedition was imminent, and Li Dazhao assigned his father to rush to Guangzhou to serve as an interpreter for General Garen, the general advisor of the Northern Expedition Army. After the start of the Northern Expedition, he followed the Northern Expedition Army to fight all the way: Changsha, Yueyang, Wuhan... Just as the Northern Expedition Army was victorious and the worker-peasant movement was flourishing, imperialism intensified its collusion with the right-wing forces in order to safeguard its interests in China. In 1927 On April 12 and July 15, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei successively launched counter-revolutionary coups in Shanghai and Wuhan, massacred Communist Party members and revolutionary people, and ruined the Northern Expedition and the good situation. Under the arrangement of the party, my father broke through the shadow of the counter-revolutionary sword and went to the Soviet Union again. He taught at Sun Yat-sen University and Leningrad University successively, and kept in touch with Mr. Lu Xun through colleagues of "Weiming Society". In addition to his lectures, he also continued to work in the translation of Soviet-Russian literature. The first batch of translations sent back to China included the Ehrenburg manuscript translated in Kaifeng.
When Mr. Lu Xun read the translation of "Commoner's Pipe" transferred by Weimingshe, he wrote back: "I thought it was very good and should be published immediately. China is lacking such books." He also pointed out that : "There are a few terms that seem to be in the way. I don't know if it's okay to have it in Beijing? If you change it, you will lose your spirit." The "several terms" that Mr. Lu Xun said mainly refers to "communal", which means "commune member". ". Influenced by the first bourgeois-democratic revolution in Russia in 1905, Ellenburg participated in the student movement and was arrested by the Tsarist government when he was only 17 years old. He said he had "received a mature diploma from prison". After being released from prison, he went into exile in Paris, participated in the rallies and activities organized by the French Communist Party, and became familiar with the Paris Commune. This novel is about the members of the Paris Commune. Under the White Terror in China at that time, the Internet of Literature was woven like a weave, "imprisoned more tightly than canned food", and words such as "Marx", "Soviet Union", and "commune member" were all "taboos". Although "if you change it, you will lose your spirit again", it is still better than being banned and unable to meet readers. In order to avoid "trouble", the colleagues of "Weimingshe" repeatedly considered, and finally chose a very earthy word "tobacco bag" without "dangerous color", which was published in December 1928. However, later, when the "Weiming Club" was seized by the secret services, it caused "trouble" because some of the "Tobacco Bags" were kept as "criminal evidence". This was unexpected by my father and colleagues in the "Weiming Society"... In 1936, when Mr. Lu Xun compiled "Seven Collection of Soviet Writers" for his father, he included "Smoke Bag", but was "extracted" when it was submitted for trial. It was not until 1945 that my father included it in the short story collection "Deadly Enemy" and restored the original name "Communal's Pipe", but luckily escaped the inspection and was able to be circulated everywhere. In the Taihang Mountains guerrilla zone, it was specially engraved with steel plates such as "Anderon who did not walk the right way" and "Forty-first" into booklets for cadres and soldiers to circulate and become their spiritual food...
Regarding the translation method of foreign names, my father once said in the article "Several Questions about Translation": "Foreign names are often long, and Chinese readers, especially workers and peasants, are very inconvenient. Therefore, foreign language names are acceptable. No, sounds that seem to be absent can be properly condensed, and only clear and loud syllables can be translated. Never create something out of nothing, and force a sound that is not so long to be stretched... In short, the translator should always have in mind Readers. As for the specific methods, there are no more than free translation, transliteration, semi-free translation and semi-transliteration, which can be used flexibly and properly handled according to different occasions." He did not give an example in the article, but the translation of the surname Ehrenburg is "Semi-transliteration and semi-free translation", an example of flexible use. Before my father chose the translation of "Ehrenberg", there were also translations such as "Ehrenberg". His father said in "Translating the Small Waves of the Sea": "Compared with the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, it is not so long. After all, it is a bit cumbersome. If it can be shortened, it should be shortened as much as possible." "Burg" in German means "castle". It is associated with people's names and is mostly used for place names, such as Hamburg, Nuremberg in Germany, Petersburg in Russia, etc. And Ehrenburg is a person's name, so can it be used in the same way? My father replied: "If you are keen on cumbersome philosophy and love to break the casserole and ask questions to the end, then you have to go to Huangquan and ask the author (Ehrenburg). "
It seems that there are not many people who are "enthusiastic about tedious philosophy". So far, all the Chinese translations of Ehrenberg's works have been translated as Ehrenburg.
Ehrenburg's full name is Ilya Ehrenburg, and Ilya is his name. But when he signed his name, he often added the word "Lochmati" to his first name and last name, which means "tousled hair". It is said that when he was in exile in Paris in his early years, when he was invited to be a guest at Lenin's residence, because of his sloppy appearance, he often held a pipe in his hand, with messy hair and a face full of vicissitudes. Lenin said a joke casually. He felt that it was very suitable for him, and he often added it in his signature. And this "a mess of hair and a face full of vicissitudes" seems to have been his "signature image" unanimously recognized by everyone and Ellenburg since then. Even the portrait engraved on his tombstone is also the famous French painter Picasso. Such a sketch he drew highlights his arrogant and stubborn character.
Eilenburg is not only a famous writer, but also a famous international social activist and fighter for defending world peace. During the First World War, as a reporter, he traveled day and night on the front lines in Germany, France and Europe, writing a large number of newsletters exposing the cruelty and destruction of the imperialist war. During the Spanish Civil War, he went to the front line as a reporter, and published newsletters and features such as "My Paris" and "Spain" one after another, and played an active role in mobilizing the people of the world to support the just cause of the Spanish people. When the Second World War broke out, he always fought at the forefront, writing news reports for various newspapers and radio stations, and later compiled into a thick three-volume "War". Before and after the Second World War, he successively created "The Fall of Paris", "The Tempest" and "Nine Waves"
.jpg)