No complete translation of Feng Menglong’s 馮夢龍 (1574-1646) famous trilogy of short stories Sanyan 三言 exists in Italian. However, over the last hundred years, various translators have been attempting to translate excerpts of Feng’s trilogy, with alternating results. This paper analyzes the existing Sanyan stories available in Italian.
Firstly, this paper tackles the pioneering period at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Feng’s huaben 話本 were first presented to an Italian audience, albeit in a heavily edited form. The earliest Italian versions of Sanyan stories were mostly rewritings and were heavily influenced by the preexisting foreign versions of the stories they chose to translate.
Secondly, after the Second World War, Feng appeared as the author of stories that included anthologies of Chinese literature, again some of which were still translated from other European languages (mostly English and German).
Thirdly, the decade of the 1980s was a period when Italian translators, mostly scholars of Chinese literature, decided systematically to translate from the original texts and produced accurate and readable versions, which are still used as references.
Fourthly, in the last decade, a new generation of Sinologists has undertaken the study of Sanyan, and their translations are mostly inserted inside of scholarly publications.
Finally, this paper shows how the approach to translating Feng has changed over the years, from a quasi-manipulation of the original stories to an extreme respect for the source material. At the same time, the need for a complete version of Sanyan in Italian is called into question at the end of the paper.
Abstract
No complete translation of Feng Menglong’s 馮夢龍 (1574-1646) famous trilogy of short stories Sanyan 三言 exists in Italian. However, over the last hundred years, various translators have been attempting to translate excerpts of Feng’s trilogy, with alternating results. This paper analyzes the existing Sanyan stories available in Italian.
Firstly, this paper tackles the pioneering period at the beginning of the twentieth century, when Feng’s huaben 話本 were first presented to an Italian audience, albeit in a heavily edited form. The earliest Italian versions of Sanyan stories were mostly rewritings and were heavily influenced by the preexisting foreign versions of the stories they chose to translate.
Secondly, after the Second World War, Feng appeared as the author of stories that included anthologies of Chinese literature, again some of which were still translated from other European languages (mostly English and German).
Thirdly, the decade of the 1980s was a period when Italian translators, mostly scholars of Chinese literature, decided systematically to translate from the original texts and produced accurate and readable versions, which are still used as references.
Fourthly, in the last decade, a new generation of Sinologists has undertaken the study of Sanyan, and their translations are mostly inserted inside of scholarly publications.
Finally, this paper shows how the approach to translating Feng has changed over the years, from a quasi-manipulation of the original stories to an extreme respect for the source material. At the same time, the need for a complete version of Sanyan in Italian is called into question at the end of the paper.
关键词
Feng Menglong 馮夢龍 /
Sanyan 三言 /
huaben 話本 /
Italian translation
Key words
Feng Menglong 馮夢龍 /
Sanyan 三言 /
huaben 話本 /
Italian translation
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参考文献
English Translations
Yang, Shuhui,Yunqin Yang (trans.) (2000). Stories Old and New: A Ming Dynasty Collection, comp by Menglong Feng Seattle and London: University of Washington Press A Ming Dynasty Collection, comp. by Menglong Feng. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.
— (2007). Stories to Caution the World, comp. by Menglong Feng. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.
— (2009). Stories to Awaken the World, comp. by Menglong Feng. Seattle and London: University of Washington Press.
Italian Translations
Bellezza, Paolo (trans.) (1922). Novelle Cinesi [Chinese novellas]. Milan: A Vallardi.
Benedetti, Lavinia (2017). Storia del Giallo in Cina [History of the detective story in China]. Rome: Aracne Editrice.
Bozza, Edi (trans.) (1990). Il Corpetto di Perle [The pearl shirt], comp. by Menglong Feng. Milan: Mondadori.
— (trans.) (1991). Il Governatore Della Provincia Del Ramo Meridionale e Altri Racconti [The governor of the southern branch province and other stories]. Milan: Mondadori.
Casacchia, Giorgio (trans.) (1986). Apparizioni d’Oriente [Apparitions from the East]. Rome: Editori Riuniti.
— (trans.) (1992). Nuove e Antiche Meraviglie [New and ancient marvels], comp. by Pao-weng Lao-jen. Naples: Guida Editori.
— (trans.) (1995). Le Sette Prove [The seven trials]. Milan: SE.
Chiusano, Italo Alighiero (trans.) (1961). Tre Racconti Cinesi [Three Chinese novellas], by Franz Kuhn. Milan: Il Saggiatore.
Ciceri, Michela,Fu Li (trans.) (1993). Le Mogli Fatali [The fatal wives]. Milan: EDIS.
Criscuolo, Catello (trans.) (2018). Stratagemmi, Intrighi e Messaggi d’Amore [Stratagems, intrigues, and love messages]. Naples: Passerino.
Jahier, Pietro (trans.) (1955). Una vedova, Una monaca, Una Cortigiana e Altre Famose Novelle Cinesi [A widow, a monk, a courtesan, and other famous Chinese novellas], ed. by Yutang Lin. Pietro Milan: Bompiani.
Leggieri, Antonio (trans.) (2018). Quattordici Storie per Istruire il Mondo [Fourteen stories to instruct the world]. Rome: Atmosphere Libri.
Pocar, Ervinio (trans.) (1959). La Camicia di Perle, Storia d’amore Cinese [The pearl shirt, A Chinese love story], ed. by Franz Kuhn. Milan: Il Saggiatore.
Sabattini, Mario,Paolo Santangel (trans.) (1997). Il pennello Di Lacca: La Narrativa Cinese dalla Dinastia Ming ai Giorni Nostri [The lacquer paintbrush: Chinese narrative from the Ming Dynasty up to the present day]. Bari: Laterza.
Stirpe, Luca (2013). Echi d’Amore: Le Sanyan e Le Fonti in Cinese Classico [Echoes of love: Sanyan and its sources in classical Chinese]. Rome: Aracne Editrice.
German Translations
Kuhn, Franz (trans.) (1952). Chinesische Meisternovellen [Chinese masterpieces]. Leipzig: Insel Verlag.
— (trans.) (1956). Das Perlenhemd. Eine Chinesische Liebesgeschichte [The pearl shirt: A Chinese love story]. Leipzig: Insel-Verlag.
Secondary Literature
Antonelli, Loredana (2010). “Ludovico Nicola di Giura. Storia Di Un Medico Italiano In Cina: Gli Incarichi Pubblici E Le Passioni Letterarie” [Ludovico Nicola di Giura. The story of an Italian doctor in China, between its public mansions and his literary passions]. In Oriente, Occidente e Dintorni…: Scritti in Onore di Adolfo Tamburello [East, West and their proximities…:
Articles in honor of Adolfo Tamburello], ed. by Franco Mazzei, and Patrizia Carioti, 69-85.Naples: Il Torcoliere.
Bassnett, Susan,André Lefevere (ed.) (1990). Translation, History and Culture. London: Pinter Publishers.
Bertuccioli, Giuliano (1959). “Il Sogno Della Farfalla Ovverossia La Bara Infranta” [The dream of the butterfly, or the shattered tomb].Cina 5: 50-77.
— (2013). La Letteratura Cinese [Chinese literature], ed. by Casalin Federica. Rome: L’Asino d’Oro.
Boccardo, Giovanni Battista (2007). “Parlare ‘Per Bocca Di Terzi’. Note Sulle Traduzioni Dall’Inglese Di Piero Jahier” [Talking by a third person’s mouth: Notes on Pietro Jahier’s translations from English].Strumenti Critici 22(3): 371-402.
Børdahl, Vibeke (2010). “Storytelling, Stock-Phrases and Genre Convention: The Case of ‘Wu Song Fights the Tiger’.” In The Interplay of The Oral and The Written in Chinese Popular Literature, ed. by Vibeke Børdahl, and Margaret B. Wan, 83-156. Copenhagen: NIAS Press.
Eco, Umberto (2003). Dire Quasi La Stessa Cosa [Saying almost the same thing]. Milan: Bompiani.
Fan, Shengyu (2022). The Translator’s Mirror for the Romantic: Cao Xueqin’s Dream and David Hawkes’ Stone. New York: Routledge.
Giles, Herbert Allen (1901). A History of Chinese Literature. New York: D. Appleton and Company.
Hanan, Patrick (1981). The Chinese Vernacular Story. Cambridge, Massachusetts and London, England: Harvard University Press.
Idema. Wilt L. (1973) “Storytelling and the Short Story in China.”T’oung Pao, Second Series 59(1/5): 1-67.
Lin, Lynn Qingyang (2018). “Reclaiming China’s Past: Sino-Babylonian Theory and the Translator’s (In)visibility in Clement Allen’sThe Book of Chinese Poetry.” The Translator 24(3): 220-232.
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Miao, Yonghe 繆詠禾 (1979). Feng Menglong yu Sanyan 馮夢龍與三言 [Feng Menglong and Sanyan]. Shanghai: Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House 上海古籍出版社 .
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Wu, Xiaoling 吳曉鈴, Ning Fan 範寧,Miaozhong Zhou 周妙中 (eds.) (1959). Huaben xuan 話本選 [A selection of huaben]. Beijing: People’s Literature Publishing House 人民文學出版社 .
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