吳興華致宋淇書信集：1940—1952

一九四〇年七月十八日

C：

我在你信未來之前，已經(jīng)夢到《西洋文學(xué)》之略見眉目了，所以你的信并未使我驚奇，不過證明了我夢境之真實性而已。你說的創(chuàng)刊號目錄使我頗有monstrous之感，篇幅能有多大，而容得下如此多的譯品？至于Symonds那篇文，我記得看過，多半是很不錯的。Milne，ah，he is my favourite！截至寫信時書一本還未收到，八月十號截止收稿恐怕要糟。我現(xiàn)在被Finnegans Wake纏得絲毫沒有wake之感——而，你知道我是不太喜歡午覺的人，可是我現(xiàn)在總得每天睡三小時午覺，just think about that！

“Adonais”是雪萊譯品中的ideal choice，當(dāng)然難一點。Spenserian stanza我毫無辦法，實在不好移植到中文來，有之則只好用十三字代替他的iambic pentameter，用十五字代替Alexandrine了，然而我覺得那并非太好的辦法，rhyme是不能改的。“Prometheus Unbound”你只可以譯幾段dialogue或（尤其好的）其中的幾首短歌，我不太喜歡那篇作品，Arnold批評雪萊所說的一些不favourable的remarks，所指的準(zhǔn)是這種詩。我只想譯一些他的lyrics得了。After all，lyrics是支持著他聲名最大的柱石??！

你所說的關(guān)于Inferno的話，這個“難”我不是不能“勉”，你知道我與其寫一篇湊數(shù)的書評，寧可不寫，所以我實在不敢動筆批評一本我自己認(rèn)識不清的書，不過你寄來我再看吧。By the way，你在“意大利文第二”六字下加的點，經(jīng)我用特別的speculation察視后認(rèn)為是一種惡意的“諷刺”！

?apek我是一定要譯的，也許本期也許下期我就起始（后者可能性較大，因為我現(xiàn)在太忙了）。他的童話我要到北京去找，因為本校無有，你可否替我在上海留意一下他的作品，不要劇本或者短篇的serious小說，切記！

Wilder的中篇，我最欣賞的仍然是（ah，mon ami，il me semble que mon go?t n’est plus à la mode）他的成名作The Bridge of San Luis Rey，那本實在美，可是已有過幾種譯本了，《大地的嘆息》也經(jīng)××譯過，il ne me reste rien，que faire？

Auden和Isherwood的劇本是我極想譯的，不過這是更遠(yuǎn)的事了。

你知道，我應(yīng)該對你很生氣，因為你未提到我們的汪詩人，他要到上海了，你們許可以見面。

書寄來后再談，我等書等死了。

Yours

興華

十八日

希代問好。

P．S．我正在寫一個中文的sonnet sequence，inspiré par Astrophel and Stella，你來時大概可以看見一些了。

一九四一年七月二十四日

C：

我這次寫信給你是為了打聽你一件事，張東蓀前幾天忽然把我找去，說要改你的稿子。我原先以為是你有譯遺漏了或譯得和他原意不合的地方，他給改了一下，要我polish一下他的英文，所以冒然答應(yīng)了。后來才知道他對你的style有不滿的地方，屢次要把你較簡單的句子，改為他所謂的“復(fù)句”，反對你用thus和however，及其他不通的objections，我當(dāng)時拒絕了。我說我既不懂哲學(xué)，也不能改你的東西。他答道：要是宋奇在，我仍是找他的，現(xiàn)在他不在，我又要在八月底前趕完全書，所以不得不找別人。同時（這就是我要問你的）他說已寫信給你獲得你的同意了。我勉強給他作了一點（約四十個typed頁），后來實在太麻煩了，每篇差不多他要改一半，留一半，我整天忙還忙不過來，于是我托辭推開了（說我要到北戴河去，完全胡說）。改時明知你的句子很好，可是他總想用一個which clause把兩句聯(lián)為一句等，結(jié)果句子弄得奇形怪狀，我也沒法子辦。昨天他又要我改你的translator’s preface，第一：不要馮友蘭的名字，他認(rèn)為你說胡、馮二人較張fortunate為罵人的話，要我改fortunate一字。我覺得他改譯稿尚情有可原，改人家原作他沒有權(quán)利，所以我寫信問你。

芝聯(lián)得獎金太好了，你替我向他道一句喜。我明天就回家了，以后你寫信到我家最好，地址是：東單西裱褙胡同廿四號。

我沒看甚么書，覺得很沒意思。

興華

一九四一年七月二十四日

一九四一年七月三十日

C：

來信收到了，你說的魯迅幾本俱都查過，一本都沒有，簡直氣死人?！缎挛膶W(xué)大系》有，其余你說的幾人，徐志摩有《自剖》《落葉》都不好，朱自清有一本《蹤跡》還湊合，其余也不見佳。李廣田我沒有看，不過就以往的印象看，似乎還可以。又：我覺得何其芳的《畫夢錄》有幾篇也行。你在上?？纯葱煊挼臇|西有可翻的沒有？林語堂的呢？又：邵洵美《一個人的談話》里有否論及翻譯的，記不得了。

我覺得我們現(xiàn)在起手的有點突兀，這些材料都不是第一學(xué)期可以用的。第一學(xué)期要講各種basic的句法，及翻譯的方法，我們扯出太多文藝作品來，人家一定不贊成。我老想一定是journalistic派或practical的人才來選這門，真欣賞文學(xué)的恐怕很少。

我明后日就去天津，你信仍往我家寄好了，因為他們會替我轉(zhuǎn)的。

張東蓀的東西，我推辭以后，他說要找Shadick，我想我們的boss準(zhǔn)不干。

我游泳很沒勁，就是曬得挺黑。

芝聯(lián)他們甚么時候到？我八月中旬也許可以到學(xué)?？此麄?nèi)ァ?/p>

我希望你能早點到燕京來，因為這門翻譯實在叫人摸不著頭腦，不談?wù)劜恍小?/p>

宋希代問好。

吳三

七月三十日

一九四一年八月一日

C：

讀了你的信，我很別扭。這真是“無妄之災(zāi)”，我本來還以為是在替你幫忙，（不然，我大熱天才不干那倒霉的工作呢）現(xiàn)在才知道內(nèi)幕是這樣，太叫人生氣了。

這是我所作的：

他從頭至尾看了一遍，把不滿意的地方全用鉛筆標(biāo)出，并加以評語如“連起來”，“去掉頭一半”，“太中國味”之類，有時他把你的一大段（他認(rèn)為譯錯了的）全改了，他的英文錯誤百出，我只好替他大改一氣。我且對他聲明過：說照他這種改法（比如他老愛叫我用which etc．把兩句并作一句），我敢擔(dān)保改過之文字還不如原文，他說不要緊，固執(zhí)己見，我沒辦法，他的ideal似乎是每句必過一行，而且必須involved。我跟他辯也辯不清，好在我只改了四十頁，其中許多地方他說太中國味，我就用橡皮把他評語擦了，不加修改，他也看不出來。你的原文我真動手改動的很少（有些實是他坐在我旁邊，非叫改不可，沒法辦），差不多全是他改了，然后我改他改過的文。譯者序我是用鉛筆在另紙改的，他認(rèn)為馮友蘭必去，我只有設(shè)法把整段改一下，我還認(rèn)為你已同意了，fortunate我留著不動，他很不高興，我說英文不行，想不出別的字。此外他認(rèn)為書單（你替他列的著作表）有自作該去之嫌，親手鉤掉了。

他說我“欣然”接受，已經(jīng)很不該了，再說到“錢”更是豈有此理。我一向以為是替你作，怎肯要他那點錢？后來是我藉詞百般推脫，更不會拿他的報酬了。你不要聽他胡聊。我卸責(zé)之后，他很抓瞎，據(jù)說要請Shadick看。

吳關(guān)說你打聽我明年住在哪里？要沒變動的話，我多半住Banker家，因為已經(jīng)有點說定了的意思，現(xiàn)在也不好反悔。我每到他家玩牌，汪太太就問我何時搬入，那是東房共有三間，要是我一人住，給我兩間，要是你也來則三間可以全給我們。家具恐怕是沒有，有也很少，我貪的是他們有電話、洗盥，甚至連澡盆全有，而且離校也不算遠(yuǎn)。房錢還沒說，反正多不了那里去。北房是Albert廖住，也由明年起。飯在他們那里包，大概也可以。我最近才知道，他房子多半不退了，不然我早就可以告訴你了。

我想“句法等”有一個辦法，不知行不行。拿Foreigners’ Chinese教本第一本來可以找到一些最普遍的句法，如“因為——所以”“不是——就是”之類，然后我們仔細(xì)研究一下每條有幾個possible的譯法。不過這些全等你來，兩人商量再辦好了。

你見著胡緒鑒了，是不是？他怎么樣？子×是否也在？

大慈沒考上研究院，你聽見了么？他一氣，也不告別，就走了。直到如今，音信全無。

詩，我還等你的意見，大熱天我也懶得動手挑，過幾天再說吧。

興華

八月一日

一九四一年十一月二日

C：

There isn’t anything special to inform you，except that we are pushing along as of old．Kê Yin and I Liang gave that play of Labiche’s，adapted by Tsáo Yü and it turned out a great success．We laughed all the time until the curtain dropped．I do not know where they found such a lot of practical jokes and witty dialogues．But the result of the ticket-selling is not very gratifying，an income of no more than $200．I suppose we really should be contented with that，but as you know that can only pay off our debts and nothing else．This number of Yenching Literature，I am afraid，again won’t come out in time．We are awfully short of manuscripts，so much so that we even went as far as deciding to take whatever came from the other literary group，but they apparently were neither too prosperous．So we are now hopelessly fixed.

The translation course is getting along not badly．Mr．Porter has come back and has kindly consented to help．I have reminded to all the faculty members of you．Mr．Loehr when he heard you had some troubles with your lungs cried “Heavens”and seemed thunderstricken．Very much moved he was，and he asked me to communicate his love to you.

We have watched several ball matches of late．One in special，that between Fu Yu and Yenching combined team was exciting beyond words．Fan Cheng Táo and Chao Ya Wen etc．a(chǎn)ll came．We also had some games with the marines．Lost all，as far as I can remember.

I and Chih Lien entered the paddle tournament，and have won two other teams already．Another two and we shall be the champion team．As Chih Lien puts it，“There is a small，small hope.”

O，yes，where the dickens have you put the key to the bathroom box．I ransacked the room ＆ couldn’t find it．I have no way to go and take bath.

Did you see Hu Hsü Chieh etc．in Shanghai？How is he？

Hsing Hua

一九四一年十一月十六日

C：

I’m so glad to hear from you．And thanks for that key.

As you hoped and we predicted，we got the championship of doubles．Chih Lien got so excited that he wanted to issue a public challenge in the News．I’ve been reading Chinese poetry ＆ tz’u recently，and intended to put some scraps of note which I’ve jotted down together to form something towards a formal essay．I’ve got a lot of fantastic （being of a humble nature，I can’t very well say brilliant） ideas，but organizing them is the bête noire for me．I may publish them in note form after all．As I was re-reading Chinese poetry （＆ that means going thru a lot of dusty-yellowed books），I purposely abstained from reading anything which had the remotest resemblance to the darned thing we call literary criticism．I want to sort things out thru my own head，＆ not be told as to who is good ＆ who is not．And my memory is a good enough bibliography for me，so that I found constantly cross-references，surprising coincidences，exceptions etc．in poems when compared with poems I know very well．I enjoy the work so much．Why I should not have started the thing earlier is to me incomprehensible．But it’s not too late yet．And I have taken up the great resolution of tackling Rilke，from whom I got out something．He has an exquisite style，and the music of his verse nearly overturned my theory of the question as to whether German is a language for poetry or not．And he gave me the impression as being the only modern poet I know of who put his Dante to good use．Valéry is，as I have found him before，intolerable，＆ he confirms my belief of Liang Tsung Tai being a blockhead．I also lay out a plan of writing some off-hand sketches，but I have abandoned this idea，for fear of （no joke that is） stifling my fragile muse.

O，yes，everybody is deteriorating，＆ Shih Peu especially，i.e．if he still has some place to deteriorate to．But this number will enliven you a bit，I zink.Because Kuo has written a story，（in her usual vein．The title Anna！Deathgives me rather an unpleasant feeling of some shreds from Li Ni or Hsü Yü．I hate such pseudo-foreign names．Russian in special） and Lao Kuai has squeezed out something in the shape of dialogues between two or more people，which he ＆ his friends managed to call a play．Quite funny I was told．And I wrote something like a declamatory essay，besides two poems．One of which I dearly prize （ to quote “O sole mio”） and will never have given to the magazine had it not been for the fact that you have contributed to it.

Having rounded off this successfully directed flattery，I proceed to tell you several things about the school．The problems of rice，flour，coal，stove-pipes are raging．People were known to have drawn Tsái in the form of a great turtle in Bashford．Right on the floor，with a sort of red paint．I was gratified beyond words．Marines came ＆ played ＆ won all the time．To our great annoyance．Once the Fujen people came，including Roger Liang ＆ Fan Cheng Táo Chao Ya Lin etc．They won，but in the course of the game，Roger fell，while endeavouring to retrieve a ball which persists in trying to go outside，on the knees of two spectators，＆ they turned out to be the two illustrious Wei．K．A．was very angry，＆ later he told me that had a mind to disqualify Roger，because he was sure he did that on purpose．“Sitting on pretty girls’ knees！”he grunted，“he certainly chose nice places！”

I have heard about Chi Túng’s adventure．Serve her right．The collected edition of Yenching Literature will be out soon，nothing else to write．Excuse my bad grammar etc．I was in a hurry，and you know writing to Chi Túng ＆ other people in English corrupts my style in a way beyond words.

Hsing Hua

一九四一年十一月三十日

C：

Did you receive my letter？

I suppose you have seen already the recent number of Yenching Literature．What do you think of it？The short play，put down as being written by Lao Kuai，and in reality collaborated （I Liang and Kê Yin both had a hand in it，I believe），was supposed to be the main feature of this issue．They actually played this．Yesternight．Occasion：Mr．Porter’s sixtieth birthday．I didn’t go，but people told me it was very well done，which，by the way，did not succeed in shaking my belief as to the rottiness of the whole thing，artistically speaking．Shiu Peu has received your letter and looked （to me，I mean） very sad and perplexed．Sad，because he has always regarded you （no wonder！） as a most competent judge of literary compositions as a whole（or should I say“the”？）．Perplexed，because he and Kê Yin and all the bunch，not excepting me，was at a loss in comprehending the phrase “sureness of touch”．I mean，really，you shouldn’t be up to things like that，whipping out a term or a phrase，throwing it at somebody without explaining what you mean by it．This sort of off-hand remarks will do them next to no good．With those people，you can only tell them not to do this，not to write phrases like this，do definite things．High-flown criticism is to them，Greek．I am so glad to hear that you are going to read carefully some Chinese things．Of course there is no need for me to tell you that you are not late，though you will certainly not be worse off if you had started earlier，and that with your intelligence and the kind of inborn talent，you can achieve in one year what others will sweat to get in ten．I have only one advice to make，that is，I would like you to read only original compositions，and no，absolutely none，criticism，and works about some other works．You have swallowed enough，if not too much of them for the time being，and this it is ＆ no other has made your critical essays a bit like sounding boards of other people’s voices．I am surer than anybody else，even yourself，if you come to that，that you can shake off everything ＆ be a good，original thinker as well as critic，like Coleridge，shall we say．And with your genuine love for literature，a thing so rare now，what can you not achieve？Look at a poem，and jot down how it appeals to you．No padding，no borrowed phrases and such，and I am certain you will write good criticism．Won’t you promise to try？You don’t know how envious I am of your orderly，systematic mind which grasps at things easily．You shouldn’t let it run to pieces．We are very well here，and apart from the fact that we missed you a good deal，quite content．The record of 接龍 has now reached up to 102 points，kept jointedly by me ＆ Kuo Hsin Hui．I still don’t know how I sent so many cards to ship．So long，and write to me quick.