以Mona Baker的敘事理論探討《撒哈拉歲月》的英譯本

Abstract

本研究旨在運用Mona Baker的敘事理論，探究現代的西方譯者如何重新敘述三毛的《撒哈拉歲月》。三毛在1970年代旅居西屬撒哈拉沙漠，其著作《撒哈拉歲月》記錄當時多采多姿的生活。2019年，英譯本Stories of the Sahara在西方世界首次亮相，當時世界已朝擁護種族和性別平等的方向大步邁進，同時也愈加譴責種族和性別不公。研究者以Baker的敘事理論作為理論架構，尤其側重運用Baker對個人敘事和公共敘事的觀點，及其提出的翻譯分析工具，研究生活在21世紀西方的譯者對《撒哈拉歲月》的重述。本研究將焦點放在譯者如何在譯文中處理種族和女性主義議題，從而探討譯者的個人敘事與譯文文境的公共敘事如何相互影響，細探譯者可能認同哪些公共敘事，並將其內化為個人敘事，進而影響翻譯抉擇。為此本研究探討以下兩個問題：譯者採用哪些翻譯策略將譯文焦點轉向種族及女性議題？這些策略如何暴露譯者的個人敘事及其認同的公共敘事？研究分析顯示，譯者採用數種策略強調他堅信種族和性別平等，抵觸種族和性別不公。正如Baker所言，翻譯過的敘事必不可免會加入其他元素，這些元素來自譯者的個人敘事或譯文文境的更大敘事，本研究的結果也符合此觀點，發現《撒哈拉歲月》確實加入譯者對種族主義和女性主義的個人敘事，而這些敘事是受21世紀西方的公共敘事塑造。

This study aims to investigate how Sanmao’s Sahala suiyue is renarrated by a modern Western translator through applying Mona Baker’s narrative theory. Sahala suiyue records Sanmao’s vibrant life in the Western Sahara during the 1970s. When its English translation, Stories of the Sahara, debuted in the Western world in 2019, the world had progressed toward endorsing racial and gender equality and denouncing racial and gender injustice. Drawing on Baker’s narrative theory, specifically her exploration of two types of narrative (personal and public narratives) and analytical tools for analyzing translation, I examine the renarration of Sahala suiyue by a translator living in the West in the 21st century. With a focus on how the translator addresses racial and feminist issues in the translation, this study explores the interplay between the translator’s personal narratives and public narratives in the target context. It looks at what public narratives the translator might subscribe to and internalize as his personal narratives, thereby guiding his translation choices. To this end, this study proposes to explore the following two questions: (1) What translation strategies does the translator employ to direct the focus toward racial and feminist issues in the translation? (2) How do these strategies expose the translator’s personal narratives and the broader narratives he subscribes to? The analysis suggests that the translator adopts several strategies to accentuate his belief in racial and gender equality and antipathy toward racial and gender injustice. Just as Baker argues every translated narrative is added with elements from the translator’s personal narratives or broader narratives in the target context, this study reveals that Stories of the Sahara does incorporate the translator’s personal narratives about racism and feminism which are shaped by the public narratives in the West in the 21st century.