中国文学英译絮谈

沙枫

一个“腻”字不易译

李贺写了二百几十首诗,《唐诗三百首》未选入一首。《千家诗》也未选入一首。

中华书局出版的《唐诗一百首》,选了李贺的诗三首:《南园》(七绝)、《昌谷北园新笋》(七绝)、《梦天》(七律)。

《南园》全诗如下:

花枝草蔓眼中开,小白长红越女腮。
可怜日暮嫣香落,嫁与春风不用媒。

此诗有英人 Frodsham 的英译如下:

Budding branches, stems of flowers,
Blossom while I watch.
Touched with white and streaked with crimson——
Cheek of a girl from Yueh.
Sad to say, once dusk has come,
Their wanton fragrance falls.
They have eloped with the spring wind,
Without a go-between.

《昌谷北园新笋》全诗是:

斫取青光写楚辞,腻香春粉黑离离。
无情有恒何人见?露压烟啼千万枝。

Frodsham 也有英译如下:

I hack away at their green luster,
To inscribe my Songs of Chu.
Over perfumed oils and spring power,
The black ink flies.
Passionless, yet full of bitterness——
Who will ever gaze upon them?
Weighed down with dew, mourning in mist,
A million branches.

“无情有恨”,译作“Passionless, yet full of bitterness”,译得不错。

在此诗中,“腻香春粉”中的“腻”字并不难译。

但李贺有一句诗“玉钗落处无声腻”,这个“腻”,就比较难译了。这句出自李贺的《美人梳头歌》,有 Frodsham,Graham 与柳无忌等人的英译。

Frodsham 把这句译作:

Noiseless the jade comb tumbles down
From her lustrous hair.

Graham 译作:“Where the jade comb falls, luster and no sound”。

柳无忌译作:“The jade comb slips silently into her glossy tresses”。

Frodsham 与柳无忌两人解作发腻,Graham 解作钗腻,又均不直译作“Greasy”,而译作“Luster”或“Glossy”。柳无忌说翻译这一个“腻”字,真像搜索枯肠的。

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