Such certainty is beautiful,
but change is even more beautiful.
- Szymborska's "Love at First Sight"
This is probably where many Chinese readers first came into contact with Wislawa Szymborska. Taiwanese cartoonist Jimmy once wrote in "Go Left, Go Right" Quotes from Szymborska's "Love at First Sight".
The starting point for Szymborska to be known to the world can be traced back to 1996. This female poet from Poland won the Nobel Prize for Literature that year. She was also the third female poet to win the Nobel Prize. Since then, her poems have been translated into 36 languages, and single volumes of her poems have been published in 18 countries.
"Definitely is beautiful, but impermanence is even more beautiful." This familiar line of poetry has many versions in the Chinese world. The popularity of these translations confirms Szymborska's popularity, but it also continues to raise questions about what in her poetry cannot be translated.
In addition to the "untranslatable" poems, the Simboskachi people also seem to refuse people to approach. She rarely made public appearances during her lifetime and was unwilling to grant public interviews. She once wrote in her epitaph:
"Here lies a female writer as old-fashioned as a comma who has written several poems."
However, Szymborska's life almost filled the twentieth century, and she He is undoubtedly the person who lives in the great era. It would undoubtedly be difficult to write a biography of such a man. This biography, Szymborska: A Poetic and Intimate Biography, a literal translation from the Polish, attempts to get close to such a person. The book's author, Yoanna Gromek-Ilga, is the wife of Szymborska's former best friend. This book discloses many exclusive documents donated by Szymborska during his lifetime.
"Szymborska: An Intimate Biography of a Poetic Heart", (Poland) written by Yoanna Gromek-Irg, translated by Mao Rui, translated by Yilin Publishing House in April 2024.
html On June 22, the Beijing News Book Review Weekly and Yilin Publishing House jointly organized a sharing event for the book. Compared with other languages, Polish is relatively niche. There are only five PhDs in Polish language and literature in the country. The two guests at this event are two of them - Mao Rui, the translator of this book, and Li Yinan, director of the Polish Teaching and Research Office of Beijing Foreign Studies University . During the event, they shared with host Manzi how the "untranslatable" Szymborska was translated.Compilation丨Shen Lu
"Everything is silent as a mystery": At this moment, the most difficult to translate
Before winning the Nobel Prize, Szymborska was not well-known outside Poland. Li Yinan recalled that her first real contact with Szymborska was in the Hong Kong movie "Go Left, Go Right". Translator Cai Jiayi, played by Gigi Leung, and violinist Liu Zhikang, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro, meet by chance at a crossroads. In a background full of black umbrellas, a red umbrella and a green umbrella attract the audience's attention. At that time, Cai Jiayi read the verses from "Love at First Sight" in less than standard Polish. Later, Li Yinan specially searched for the complete poem.
In Li Yinan's view, this poem conveys a strong philosophy. Szymborska uses simple language to state a very complex, subtle, and fluid emotion. "Every beginning is already a continuation of the story. What you thought was love at first sight may have been passed by many times, and it was only at this time that love at first sight appeared."
They firmly believe that
it happened instantly. Their passion brought them together.
Such certainty is beautiful,
but uncertainty is even more beautiful.
They have never met, so they are sure
they have nothing to do with each other.
However, the words coming from the streets, stairs, and lobbies -
They may have passed each other a million times, right?
I want to ask them if they remember - the moment when
faced each other in the revolving door?
Or muttered "I'm sorry" in the crowd?
- Excerpt from "Love at First Sight"
The two lines of poetry we are familiar with today actually have many different translations, and some people have translated them as "Such a belief is beautiful, but hesitation is even more beautiful."If Li Yinan is asked to translate, she will tend to retain the language style of the original text and retain the strong contrast between "certainty" and "uncertainty":
"Determination is beautiful, but what is more beautiful is uncertainty." (Translated by Li Yinan)
piękna jest taka pewność, ale niepewność piękniejsza. (Polish original poem)
beautiful is such a certainty. but uncertainty is much more beautiful. (English translation)
Li Yinan believes that whether it is a literal translation from Polish or an English translation, these just show that Xin There is a great deal of untranslatability in Boska's works. She recalled that when she was translating Szymborska's letters, she took a foreign expert with her, and the two of them thought hard all day long. "Szymborska is an old lady with a 'venomous tongue'. She is extremely sarcastic and joking. It is actually difficult to explain how to connect her with ordinary readers, literary lovers and literary youths." And in Under these ideological struggles, Li Yinan's choice was to preserve the original appearance of Szymborska's work as much as possible. "Maybe it is not for every reader, so let it be for those who are destined to see it."
Talking about Szymborska's untranslatability, Mao Rui, the biographer and translator of "Szymborska", feels the same way. According to Mao Rui, among all literary translations, poetry is particularly difficult to translate. Muller mentioned another famous poem by Szymborska, "Nothing Can Happen Again." She admitted that she was still not sure how to translate the title of the poem.
"The original title of this poem, nic dwa razy, has only 3 words, 4 syllables, and 10 letters. There is also a version translated as: 'It won't happen twice', but the original text has no verb, and the Chinese translation has no subject. "It's like it's difficult to achieve equivalence no matter what," Mao Rui lamented: "Chinese pays attention to word order, and the order of subject, predicate and object in a sentence must be clear; but Polish does not require word order and relies on morphological changes. Maybe one word can express the meaning of a sentence in Chinese. "
Mao Rui said with a smile: "When I was studying, my translation class teacher once had a metaphor. It is just as difficult for women in Chongqing. This sentence does not mean any disrespect for women. It just means that the translator sometimes has to respect the original text while also presenting the cultural load and ideological connotation behind it. This is a big problem for the translator. Don’t face trade-offs.”
In this regard, Li Yinan believes that a good poetry translator should be a poet himself, or at least have a very high spirituality and talent in poetry. "A true poet can have soul and spiritual resonance with the poet. Of course, in addition to that, he must also be very proficient in foreign languages. Because you are an excellent poet, you need to express it in appropriate Chinese. Come out."
Szymborska and her contemporaries:
The biggest contradiction in the world is the most beautiful harmony in her.
Szymborska refused to enter the public eye throughout her life. She once said publicly, "Everyone just needs to understand my works and don't need to care too much about my life." So, what does reading biographies of poets mean to understanding their works? Mao Rui said that the process of translating this biography was the closest she felt to Szymborska. The book presents many aspects that are completely different from the well-known label of "Nobel Prize-winning female poet", such as her cuteness as a child and the quirkiness of her girlhood, which reflect her brilliance of "one person with many faces".
Collage created by Szymborska.
What surprised Mao Rui was that Szymborska, who seemed a little distant, actually had a very rich emotional life. And understanding these stories may help us penetrate into the depths of her poetry. Muller mentioned another poem by Szymborska, "Cat in an Empty House." The first line of the poem is:
Death - you can't do that to a cat,
because a cat will be at a loss in an empty house.
Why is there this poem? The biography mentions the affection between Szymborska and his lover. In addition to being lovers, they were also close friends. Szymborska wrote to him at the time: I think the best thing in the world is your cat, because you are by my side."So after his death, there will be such a poem.
Poland not only has Szymborska. Mao Rui mentioned that in the Polish literary world in the 20th century, another shining name was Czeslaw Milosz. For Szymborska, Milosz is a senior, but the two actually met very early. Milosz even predicted that Szymborska would win the Nobel Prize. Commenting on her friendship with Milosz: Although I had many opportunities to talk to him, meet him in a circle of mutual friends, and even attended various celebrations with him and endured grand events together, The 'torture' of the official ceremony, but I have never been able, to this day, to figure out how to interact with such a great poet. Although sometimes the two of us would laugh and joke and clink glasses of ice-cold vodka; even though sometimes we would order the same dish in the restaurant - pork chops with pickled cabbage - my admiration and awe for him are still the same as before. . "
In addition to the newly published biography of "Szymborska", Milosz's biography has also been translated and introduced in China. In Li Yinan's view, they are undoubtedly the two most representative Polish poets in the 20th century. And the styles of their biographies The difference just reflects the difference between the two. "Miłosz's biography is relatively thick, while Szymborska's biography is more revealing details, showing her philosophical thoughts on life. "
Mao Rui agrees with this. She believes that this book almost comprehensively presents Szymborska's life. From her birth in 1923 to her death in 2012, her life was the turbulent 20th century. Poland in the 20th century continued to be entangled with war. Szymborska also spent her childhood during the war. After the war, the policies of different countries and the different popular social trends really affected the lives of individuals involved. “The things she experienced in her life seemed very small, but they were very small. And great. The greatest contradiction in the world is the most beautiful harmony in her. "
Special questions at the event:
2024 Daily escape plan
Beijing News Book Review Weekly: Szymborska is very good at extracting the beauty and complexity from daily life, extracting subtle feelings, and using very concise language to outline daily life. Poet. When faced with daily trivialities, how do you usually detach yourself from such daily trivialities? Or do you look at daily life from a different perspective?
Mao Rui: Daily escape is really great. It’s difficult. I wake up every morning and see that no one has contacted me on WeChat at 8 o’clock. I feel that my escape life is over. Especially if I have to go to class later, I can be “above and aboveboard” and not look at my phone, which actually counts. A happy "escape" moment.
I also have a closer form of "escape" because I work in Shanghai, but my home is in Beijing. Sometimes I can have a "double city experience" when I go back to Beijing and do something I just want to do. What I can do in Beijing is to meet some friends that I can only see in Beijing.
Another way for me is to read novels. I really like reading detective mystery novels, both in Chinese and Polish. . During the first three days of the May Day holiday this year, I did almost nothing but open the reading app and the Polish novel I just bought. In addition to sleeping, I felt very happy during those days.
This is my way. I have never thought about swimming or running to escape. I often hear people say that running can make you forget everything, but when I run, I will think of all the sad things or things to do.
Li Yinan: I was just thinking about Szymborska. I think she is a person who is particularly good at taking a break (a short break from work). She goes to live in the mountains and does not answer her cell phone. Look at Tokar. Chuuk, she went into the mountains when she had nothing to do and left all matters to the foundation, so she published a book the first year after winning the Nobel Prize, and now she basically writes one book a year. Many writers have no time to create for two to three years, or even longer, after winning the Nobel Prize.So I think the life of a writer actually provides us with an example, but of course we may not be able to do it in our daily lives.
Let me talk about my personal feelings. I have gap hours (a few hours of separation). My gap hours are from 5 to 7 in the morning. During this time, no one disturbs me at all. I might do something I like, maybe translate, or write something I want to write. These are the two hours I enjoy most every day.
In addition, for me, class is also a "gap". No matter who has anything to do, you are not allowed to disturb me during this time, and I have the full right not to reply to text messages or answer phone calls. This period of time is also when I really communicate with my students. This is a period of time that I feel very happy.
Reading poetry is also a "gap". It brings us not only mental relaxation, but when we are struck by a certain verse, it may inspire us to think more deeply about life. It is a silent process of moisturizing things. It does not mean that after I read this poem, I will be able to do high-end translation immediately. This is a very important accumulation process. In a future where many things may be replaced by robots, literature may be an important area that we can preserve.
finishing/Shen Lu
editing/Lv Wanting He Anan
poster design/skp rendez-vous Yilin Publishing House
proofreading/Chen Diyan
