Negotiating Cultural and Linguistic Differences in Translation Through Transformation

Dali Tan
Dong ri wu hou—	There's a certain Slant of light,
You pian xie guang,	Winter Afternoons—
Ling wo men xin xu fan nao,	That oppresses, like the Heft
Xiang jiao tang chen men de zhong shen bei qiao xiang—	Of Cathedral Tunes—
Hao wu ke xun de hen ji,	Heavenly Hurt, it gives us—
Na chuang shang lai zi shang tian—	We can find no scar,
Dan nei zai de cha yi,	But internal difference,
Jiang qi zhen yi yun han—	Where the Meanings, are—
Wu ren neng gou xuan shi—na pa yi dian—	None may teach it—Any—
Na ju da wu bi de qiang shang,	'Tis the Seal Despair—
Zhe shi jue wang zhi tu zhang—	An imperial affliction
Mo nan cong tian er Jiang—	Sent us of the Air—
Ta lai shi, shan shui xi er gong ting—	When it comes, the Landscape listens—
Yin ying—bing xi su mu—	Shadows—hold their breath—
Ta qu shi, xing se yao yuan er leng mo	When it goes, 'tis like the Distance
You ru si shen ku gao zhi mian mu—	On the look of Death—

It has been very difficult to find out who has first translated Emily Dickinson's poems into Chinese. Before the implementation of economic reform and open-door policy in mainland China in the late seventies, we had never seen any article on Dickinson or any translation of her poems in Chinese in the People's Republic of China. When Ci Hai, "The Sea of Words" (an encyclopedia-like multi-volume Chinese reference book) was published in 1980, it contained forty-eight entries on individual American writers, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Longfellow, Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, Ezra Pound. Emily Dickinson was not included. It is reasonable to postulate that at that time scholars in mainland China did not realize that Dickinson occupies a much higher position in American literary history than Robert Frost. The publication of the Chinese translation of Dickinson's "Letter to Thomas Wentworth Higginson" and Higginson's letter to his wife about his first meeting with Dickinson in Journal of American Literature (1981, No. 2) shows that research about Dickinson's life and work had already begun then. When Chinese Encyclopedia: Foreign Literature Volume (which carries one hundred and two entries on individual American writers) appeared in May 1982, it had a quite prominent entry on Emily Dickinson. Selected Poems by Emily Dickinson, translated by Jiang Feng (which includes two hundred and sixteen poems), was published by Hunan Literature and Arts Publishing House in 1984. This is the first volume of Dickinson's poems in Chinese in the People's Republic of China.

100 Great English Poems (edited by Sun Liang and jointly published in 1987 by China's Foreign Translation Publishing House and Hong Kong's Commercial Press, containing poems by forty-three important poets of all ages from Great Britain and the United States) has three poems by Dickinson: "How happy is the little Stone" (P1510), "Presentiment—is that long Shadow—on the Lawn" (P764), and "I'm Nobody! Who are you?" (P288). The three poems are translated by Wang Yiqun and read and revised by Sun Liang. In July 1989, Shanghai Translating Press published Selected Lyrics from the United States (translated by Huang Leixin and annotated by Huang Leichang), which includes one hundred and eighty-seven lyrics by sixty-three poets. This collection contains the following five Dickinson poems: "Wild Nights—Wild Nights!" (P249), "I"m Nobody! Who are you?" (P288), "A Bird came down the Walk—" (P328), "I died for Beauty—but was scarce" (P449), and "I never saw a Moor" (P1052). The Sea of Poems—A History of World Poetry, edited by Professor Fei Bai of Hangzhou University, was published by Lijiang Publishing House in 1990. This book selected five hundred poems by one hundred and forty poets from all over the world through the ages. There are eleven Dickinson poems in the book: "A Wounded Deer—leaps highest" (P165), "I"m Nobody...