It is one of the great classics of Chinese literature, a sprawling saga full of love triangles and falls from grace, but at 2,500 pages and more than 400 characters, Cao Xueqin's 'Dream of the Red Chamber' has never caught on with English-language readers.
作为中国伟大的文学经典作品之一，曹雪芹的《红楼梦》（Dream of the Red Chamber）讲述了数段三角恋情和家族没落的故事。但这本长达2,500页、有着400多个角色的长篇巨着却从未在英语读者中流行过。
Pauline Chen attempted to change that with her pared-down retelling, 'The Red Chamber,' a novel she wrote after she too struggled with the original.
陈宝琳（Pauline Chen，音）试图通过她对原书的缩减和复述来改变这一局面，她在原着的基础上写出了小说《红楼》(The Red Chamber)。对于她来说阅读原着也是很费力的。
'I'd heard of it as a kid, and I tried to start it but got only as far as Chapter Two,' said Ms. Chen.
陈宝琳说，"我很小的时候就听说过这本书，当时曾试着去读，但读到第二章就读不下去了。"
While she was studying at Princeton University, she braced herself for a second try and read it cover-to-cover. This time, she was struck by 'Red Chamber's' social observations and that the 18th-century book treated servants as characters with genuine emotions, 'rather than using them as only comic relief,' she said. 'Its viewpoint was ahead of its time.'
当她在普林斯顿大学(Princeton University)学习的时候，她开始第二次尝试去读这本书，并从头一直读到了尾。这一次，她被《红楼梦》对社会的观察震惊了。这本18世纪的小说将里面的仆人角色刻画得有血有肉、各具性情，"而非仅仅将他们用作轻松滑稽的调料。这本书的视角超前于它的时代。"
'Red Chamber's' plot revolves around the trials and tribulations of the wealthy Jia family during the Qing dynasty. The original tome is daunting not only because of its length, but because of the intricate cast of characters. Readers often turn to family trees to keep the names straight, and English-language audiences can find the similar Chinese names (one household includes numerous Jias, including three men, all prominent characters, named Jia She, Jia Zheng and Jia Lian) particularly challenging.
《红楼梦》的情节围绕清朝富甲一方的贾氏家族的困苦磨难展开。原着令人生畏不仅因为它的长度，还因为里面错综复杂的人物关系。读者常常不得不借助于家谱来弄清楚里面的名字。在英语读者看来，这些大同小异的中文名字（一个大家庭中有无数人姓贾，其中包括三个主要角色：贾赦、贾政和贾琏）颇令人头疼。
In contrast, Ms. Chen's version 'makes little attempt to remain faithful to the original plot but is a reimagining of the inner lives and motivations of the three major female characters,' she said. It is a mere 400 pages.
而据陈宝琳说，她的小说"并非试着去忠实于原着情节，而是对书中三个女主角的内心生活和行为动机进行了重构。"这本书总共只有400页。
She sought to simplify parts of the story that Chinese readers had grown up hearing, but that wouldn't resonate with Westerners. Other times she sacrificed historical accuracy: In one scene, two female characters chat inside a sedan chair. That wouldn't have happened, Ms. Chen said, but was necessary to move the plot forward.
她力争将故事中那些中国读者耳熟能详但西方读者很难产生共鸣的部分进行了简化。还有些时候，她不得不舍弃历史的准确性。书中有一个场景是两个女性角色坐在一顶轿子中聊天。陈说，原着中并没有这个场景，但没有这个部分，故事情节就没法向前推进。
Her editor at Knopf, Jordan Pavlin, said she's heard reviewers compare the new book to contemporary works like 'Gone With the Wind' and the British drama series 'Downton Abbey.' 'This isn't a distant, foreign, literary artifact,' she said. Ms. Chen delves into her characters' 'inner lives and motivations,' Ms. Pavlin added, 'which continue to resonate, even centuries after the book was written.'
本书的编辑、克诺普夫出版社(Knopf)的帕夫林(Jordan Pavlin)说，她听到有评论家将《红楼》和《乱世佳人》(Gone With the Wind)等现代小说以及英国电视剧《唐顿庄园》(Downton Abbey)放在一起比较。她说，"《红楼》并不是一本遥不可及的外国文学作品。"她补充道，陈宝琳深入描写了书中角色的"内心生活和行为动机，即便离原着问世已经几百年过去了，这些依旧可以在人们心中引起共鸣。"
Ms. Chen, who calls her version 'more of a dialogue with the original' than a rewrite, has heard, to her delight, from readers who have been inspired by her book to try reading the classic that inspired it.
陈宝琳说，她的这本书"更像是和原着的一次对话"，而非重写。而且她听说有读者因为受到这本书鼓舞而想去读原着，感到非常高兴。
While her book is being translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Thai, a Chinese edition is not in the works. 'I hope there will eventually be a Chinese version,' she said, 'but I'm unsure if it would go over as well.'
目前，这本书正被翻译成法语、西班牙语、意大利语、荷兰语、波兰语和泰语，但没有中文。陈宝琳说，"我希望这本书最终能被翻译成中文，但我不确定它是否会受到中国读者的欢迎。"
The original, she said, 'is already well-known and loved.'
她说，原着"已经家喻户晓，而且深受读者喜爱。"
Brittany Hite
- literature [´litərətʃə]
n.文学；文献；著作 (初中英语单词) - wealthy [´welθi] a.富有的；丰富的 (初中英语单词)
- prominent [´prɔminənt] a.突起的；凸出的 (初中英语单词)
- contrast [´kɔntrɑ:st] n.对比 v.使对比(照) (初中英语单词)
- faithful [´feiθfəl] a.忠实的；可靠的 (初中英语单词)
- female [´fi:meil] a.女(性)的 n.女人 (初中英语单词)
- series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
- literary [´litərəri] a.文学(上)的 (初中英语单词)
- reading [´ri:diŋ] n.(阅)读；朗读；读物 (初中英语单词)
- italian [i´tæliən] a.意大利 n.意大利人 (初中英语单词)
- well-known [,wel´nəun] a.著名的，众所周知的 (初中英语单词)
- genuine [´dʒenjuin] a.真正的；真诚的 (高中英语单词)
- hearing [´hiəriŋ] n.听力；听证会；审讯 (高中英语单词)
- historical [his´tɔrikəl] a.历史(上)的 (高中英语单词)
- accuracy [´ækjurəsi] n.准确(性)；精密度 (高中英语单词)
- contemporary [kən´tempərəri] a.&n.同时代的(人) (高中英语单词)
- classic [´klæsik] a.第一流的 n.杰作 (高中英语单词)
- edition [i´diʃən] n.版本；很相似的 (高中英语单词)
- viewpoint [´vju:pɔint] n.观点，看法 (英语四级单词)
- dynasty [´dinəsti] n.王朝；朝代 (英语四级单词)
- intricate [´intrikit] a.错综复杂的；难懂的 (英语四级单词)
- version [´və:ʃən, ´və:rʒən] n.翻译；说明；译本 (英语四级单词)
- jordan [´dʒɔ:dn] n.约旦 (英语四级单词)
- polish [´pəuliʃ] a.波兰(人)的 n.波兰语 (英语四级单词)
- eventually [i´ventʃuəli] ad.最后，终于 (英语四级单词)
- simplify [´simplifai] vt.简单化；精简 (英语六级单词)
文章标签:英语版
京公网安备 11011202003401号
