莫言获奖后,中国文学走向世界要的是翻译

SWEDISH Academy member Goran Malmqvist said yesterday that the existence of few translations is the main reason that Chinese literature is marginalized in the world.

瑞典皇家科学院委员马悦然昨天说，翻译缺少是中国文学在世界上被边缘化的主要原因。

Malmqvist, one of 18 lifelong judges of the Nobel Prize in Literature, said China already has many world-class writers. "What is world literature? World literature is translation," he added, quoting the former permanent secretary of Swedish Academy.

诺贝尔文学奖的18个终身评委之一的马悦然说，中国已经拥有许多世界级的作家。 “什么是世界文学？世界文学就是翻译，”他引述前瑞典皇家科学院前常任秘书的话补充说道。

Malmqvist, 88, a Swedish linguist and sinologist, made the remarks when promoting a collection of works by Chinese novelist Cao Naiqian.

马悦然，88岁，瑞典语言学家和汉学家，在促进中国小说家曹乃谦的作品集传播时说出了此番评论。

Cao, a police officer-turned novelist, is one of Malmqvist's favorite Chinese writers, which include the latest Nobel laureate in literature, Mo Yan.

曹乃谦是一个警察出身的小说家，马悦然最喜爱的中国作家之一，其中包括最新的诺贝尔文学奖得主莫言。

"So Mo's winning of the Nobel Prize in Literature will help attach more importance to Chinese literature in the context of world literature," he said yesterday. He also is promoting his latest translation of works of Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer.

“莫言获得诺贝尔文学奖在世界文学的背景下将有助于中国文学更受重视，”他昨天说。他也在宣传他最新翻译的瑞典诗人托马斯•特朗斯特罗默的作品。

Today's the third day of his short visit to Shanghai. He'll give a lecture in Fudan University this evening about translation.

今天是他短暂访问上海的第三天。今天晚上他将在复旦大学关于翻译进行演讲。

During his visit, Malmqvist has emphasized Mo's winning the Nobel Prize in Literature "has nothing to do with politics."

访问期间，马悦然一直强调莫言获得诺贝尔文学奖“与政治无关”。

Malmqvist, the only Nobel judge fluent in Chinese, said he was very irritated by "some biased media" who questioned Mo's award.

马悦然，唯一精通中文的诺贝尔奖评委，他很恼火“有些带着偏见的媒体”质疑莫言的获奖。

Some Western journalists have questioned the recognition after the Chinese writer was announced as the Nobel laureate on October 11.

正如10月11日的诺贝尔经济学奖，在中国作家获奖后，一些西方记者质疑这一认可。

Criticism that Mo is not qualified was based on his being a member of the Communist Party of China and vice president of the China Writers Association.

莫言没有获奖资格的批评是基于他是中国共产党员和中国作家协会的副主席。

Malmqvist described the accusation as "quite unfair" to Mo. "Those who criticized Mo Yan haven't even read a single one of his books," Malmqvist told reporters on Sunday.

马悦然描述这一指控为“相当不公平”。“那些批评莫言的人还没有读过他的一本书，”马悦然上周日告诉记者。

"They know nothing about the quality of Mo's literature. They should not have 'opened fire' on him," Malmqvist said, adding that the only standard used to decide whether or not to give a writer the prize is the quality of his or her literature.

“关于莫言文学的价值他们什么也不知道。他们本不应该对他开火，”马悦然说，决定是否给一个作家授予诺贝尔奖的唯一标准是他（她）文学的价值。

"We do not care about politics," he said.

“我们不关心政治，”他说。

"Mo Yan is an excellent storyteller. Among today's Chinese writers, no one equals him in the courage to talk about the darkness and unjustness in Chinese society,” he said.

“莫言是一个很会讲故事的人，没有人拥有他那样的勇气去描述中国社会的黑暗和不公”，他说。

He personally prefers Mo's short fiction to longer work, saying the writer "has an excellent control of words."

相较于长篇，他个人更喜欢莫言的短篇小说，说这位作家“对语言有一个很好的控制。”

Malmqvist said the decision was made through "heated discussions" and the number of nominees was narrowed from 250 to the final five. Malmqvist explained that Mo was elected for the prize based on a final consensus.

马悦然说，这一决定经过了“热烈的讨论”，并候选人提名人数从250位压缩到最后的五位。马悦然解释说，莫言被选获奖是基于最终的共识。

"However, the Nobel prize is not a world champion," the scholar said. "We just awarded the prize to a good writer. There could be 1,000 good writers ... but the winner is just one."

“不过，诺贝尔文学奖不是一个世界冠军，”这位学者说。 “我们只是把奖颁给一个好作家。可能有1000名好作家......但获奖者只有一个。”

He said the choice "is completely subjective."

他说这一决定“完全是主观的。”

The acclaimed sinologist, who reads extensively in Chinese and has made profound studies about Chinese characters and literature, has devoted years to introducing Chinese literature to the world.

这位著名的汉学家，博览群书，对中国的文字和文学作出了深入的研究，一直致力于向世界介绍中国文学。

According to Malmqvist, Mo's works have been translated into the greatest number of foreign languages among the current Chinese writers.

据马悦然说，在现在的中国作家中莫言的作品是被翻译成外语最多数量的。