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Qiu Xiaolong's Death of a Red Heroine in Chinese Translation A Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale ISSN 2385-3042 Vol. 51 – Giugno 2015 Qiu Xiaolong’s Death of a Red Heroine in Chinese Translation A Macro-Polysystemic Analysis Paolo Magagnin (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Italia) Abstract Despite the literature available on the linguistic specificity of the works by Chinese authors writing in languages other than their native language, the observable phenomena in the Chinese translations of such works remain generally unexplored. In fact, the analysis of such Chi- nese-language renditions reveals complex phenomena at the level of linguistic hybridity, transla- tion norms, and political and ideological interference, calling for a more in-depth description of the recontextualization undergone by the prototexts, and for a comprehensive analysis of the ‘external politics’ involved in the translation process. A brief outline of such factors, as exemplified by Hong ying zhi si (2003) – the Chinese translation of Shanghai-born writer Qiu Xiaolong’s first English- language detective novel, Death of a Red Heroine (2000) – will be herein attempted. To do so, a representative range of linguistic and extra-linguistic features observable in Hong ying zhi si will be described and the relevant translation strategies will be commented upon. Finally, by adopting a macro-polysystemic model, a preliminary attempt will be made to reconstruct the network in which the Chinese translation of Qiu’s novel is situated. Summary 1. The ‘Macro-Polysystemic Hypothesis’ in the Analysis of the Chinese Translation of Death of a Red Heroine. – 2. Levels of Translation Change. – 2.1. The Local Setting. – 2.2. Idiomatic Expressions. – 2.3. Syntactic Factors. – 2.4. Intertextuality. – 2.5. Cultural Factors. – 2.6. Social, Historical, and Political Factors. – 2.7. Sexual References. – 3. A Reconstruction of the Macro-Poly- systemic Network. – 3.1. Political Polysystem. – 3.2. Ideological Polysystem. – 3.3. Economic Poly- system. – 3.4. Linguistic Polysystem. – 3.5. Literary Polysystem. – 3.6. Translational Polysystem. – 4. Conclusion. Keywords Qiu Xiaolong. Death of a Red Heroine. Crime fiction. Polysystem studies. Macro-poly- systemic hypothesis. 1 The ‘Macro-Polysystemic Hypothesis’ in the Analysis of the Chinese Translation of Death of a Red Heroine Qiu Xiaolong 裘小龙, born in Shanghai in 1953 and based in St. Louis, Mis- souri, since 1988, is typically known to the Euro-American readership for his English-language crime fiction series featuring Chief Inspector Chen Cao, of the Shanghai Police Bureau.1 The series began in 2000 with Death 1 This is a revised and expanded version of the talk Qiu Xiaolong’s «Death of a Red Heroine» DOI 10.14277/2385-3042/19p 95 Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale, 51, 2015, pp. 95-108 ISSN 2385-3042 of a Red Heroine and includes eight books to date; the ninth book of the series, titled Shanghai Redemption, is scheduled for publication in Sep- tember 2015. Qiu is also the author of the non-crime fiction book Years of Red Dust (2010), as well as a prolific poet, translator, and scholar. A number of Qiu Xiaolong’s crime novels have already been translated into Chinese over the years: in this article I will examine the Chinese ver- sion of the first book of the series, Death of a Red Heroine, translated by Yu Lei 俞雷 and prefaced by Qiu himself, published in 2003 under the title Hong ying zhi si 红英之死. The novel, set in 1990 Shanghai, focuses on the case of a beautiful young woman found dead in a canal in the outskirts of the metropolis: upon further investigation, it is found that the corpse is that of Guan Hongying, a clerk at Shanghai First Department Store, hon- ored as a National Model Worker. Chief Inspector Chen Cao, in charge of the investigation, discovers that Guan has lived a double life, as a Party member selflessly dedicated to her work, and as a woman with strong sexual desires. The culprit appears to be Wu Xiaoming, the son of a high- ranking Communist Party official: despite the political obstructions, Chen eventually arrests the young man, who is hurriedly tried and executed. The scandal besmirches but does not damage the Party, and, in spite of his bitterness and disillusion, Chen Cao eventually earns a reputation as a trustworthy law enforcement official. The analysis of Hong ying zhi si reveals complex phenomena in terms of the treatment of linguistic hybridity, translation standards, and political and ideological interference, calling for a more in-depth description of the process of recontextualization undergone by the prototext,2 as well as for a more comprehensive analysis of the ‘external politics’ involved in the translation process. In order to illustrate such factors, a representative range of strategies adopted by the Chinese translator at different levels will be presented. In the final part of this article, a preliminary attempt will be made to reconstruct the network in which the metatext is situated, describing the impact of linguistic, translational, cultural, ideological, eco- nomic, political, and social factors on the translation process. To do so, I will resort to the macro-polysystemic model elaborated by Chang Nam Fung (2000, 2001), which expands the tools provided by polysystem theory to focus on the ‘external politics’ of translation, thus encompassing a variety of additional and changing factors involved in the making and handling of a product – in this case, the translated text. Chang’s ‘macro-polysystem hypothesis’ provides a theoretical frame- and its Chinese Translation, presented at the EACS XIX Biennial Conference Deconstructing China: New Experiences, New Vistas (Paris, Université Paris Diderot, Paris 7; INALCO, 7 September 2012). 2 I will use herein the terms ‘prototext’ and ‘metatext’, proposed by Popovič (2006), instead of ‘source language’ and ‘target language’. 96 Magagnin. Qiu Xiaolong’s Death of a Red Heroine in Chinese Translation Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale, 51, 2015, pp. 95-108 ISSN 2385-3042 work taking into account six polysystems in which the activities and prod- ucts of literary translators are situated: within each of them, central and peripheral tendencies can be identified, advocated by different institutions, groups or individuals. The six polysystems described by Chang are: 1) the political polysystem (made up of institutions of power and marginalized groups); 2) the ideological polysystem (consisting of competing ideologies that exist within a given culture and are sponsored by different groups); 3) the economic polysystem (entailing the norms binding translation activities to certain economic principles); 4) the linguistic polysystem (requiring con- formity to the norms of a specific language variety); 5) the literary polysys- tem (offering recognized literary models for translations to emulate); 6) the translational polysystem (arising from general concepts of translatability adopted in the receiving community, but often conflicting with the norms originating from the other polysystems) (Chang 2001, p. 321). This framework, although somewhat simplified, nonetheless allows the researcher to reconstruct the overall normative model and to trace each phenomenon to its polysystemic source, thus emphasizing the power rela- tions at play in the translation process (Chang 2001, p. 327). 2 Levels of Translation Change 2.1 The Local Setting One of the most conspicuous changes observable in the passage from the prototext to the metatext is the fact that actual place names, as well as other proper names and details referring to the city of Shanghai (including the very name of the city, as well as names of streets, restaurants, shops, institu- tions, newspapers, and various landmarks), are systematically replaced by fantasy names, or occasionally deleted altogether, in the metatext. The city of Shanghai is always referred to as H shi H 市 throughout the metatext, and all its toponyms undergo a similar treatment. In the very first pages, for instance, the Waibaidu Bridge becomes Luoyang qiao 洛阳桥, and the Suzhou and Huangpu rivers become Mengzhouhe 蒙州河 and Zhijiang 芝江 respectively. Likewise, Tiantong Road and Sichuan Road are baptized Guoqing lu 国庆路 and Jiangzhong lu 江中路 (Qiu 2000, p. 1; Qiu 2003, p. 1). Even the reference to a shikumen, the traditional Shanghai-style house, is deprived of its geographical connotations and neutralized as an «old style dwelling» (laoshi de […] zhufang 老式的……住房) (Qiu 2000, p. 208; Qiu 2003, p. 203).3 3 Curiously enough, a small number of details in the metatext almost unequivocally point to a Shanghainese setting, as in the references to the Old City of Shanghai (Qiu 2000, p. 1, preserved in Qiu 2003, p. 1), and the use of linguistic features typical of the Wu dialect Magagnin. Qiu Xiaolong’s Death of a Red Heroine in Chinese Translation 97 Annali di Ca’ Foscari. Serie orientale, 51, 2015, pp. 95-108 ISSN 2385-3042 2.2 Idiomatic Expressions The extremely frequent exotic idiomatic expressions and proverbs ap- pearing in English in the prototext are systematically back-translated in the metatext, generally resorting to stock phrases such as chengyu 成语 (four-character expressions) and suyu 俗语 (proverbs or popular adages): «Wu and I have parted. Whatever grudge I have against him, I should not throw stones into the well where he is drowning». (Qiu 2000, p. 279) “我跟吴晓明已经分手了。不管我对他有什么怨言，我不会对他落井下石。” (Qiu 2003, p. 272) As the old saying goes, a rabbit does not browse near its lair. (Qiu 2000, p. 27) 就像老话说的，兔子不吃窝边草。(Qiu 2003, p. 26) Since all these idiomatic expressions – luo jing xia shi 落井下石 ‘hit a person while they are down’; tuzi bu chi wo bian cao 兔子不吃窝边草 ‘one should not do evil around their homes’ – have a clear Chinese origin, the translator had no difficulty in identifying the original idioms, and decided to back- translate them literally instead than resorting to idiomatic translation. The only intervention adopted – although not systematically – is the omission of the reference to the ‘Chineseness’ of the expression: in the second excerpt above, for instance, the metatext only presents the proverb as an ‘old say- ing’ (laohua 老话) instead of an ‘ancient Chinese saying’.
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