影像速遞與譯者視角：民初雜誌視覺文本翻譯初探

Abstract

民初雜誌興起一種文本類型，乃取材自西方圖像、電影等視覺文本，經轉載、重印和改寫而來，過程涉及文字轉換，亦需文化解讀，且時人視為譯本，廣為流行，固值得探討。本文以五本民初暢銷雜誌為研究對象，討論兩種視覺文本的翻譯：一是以外國時事照片為主的雜誌插圖，譯者根據來源圖像的文字說明，提供中文解釋，滲入輿論導向；轉載一戰圖片的譯者，著意選取突顯戰地慘狀、百姓苦況的題材，有別於主流報章聚焦戰事進程的硬性報導，表明譯者欲轉播西方實況，作為民初社會的參照，同時從市民讀者視角出發，以人文關懷回應時局；二是根據黑白無聲電影改編而成的「影戲小說」，譯者從新上映影片取材，有概述情節、吸引觀眾之效；承自明清言情小說敘事傳統的改寫手法，再度印證譯者面向市民讀者的翻譯策略，也表明其在新文化衝擊下秉持傳統的取態。此後，雜誌亦設電影專欄，譯介美國影壇花邊新聞和銀幕新知，可見雜誌譯者正漫入影壇，另闢新徑。本文從視覺文本翻譯入手，重回民初雜誌語境，一窺當時雜誌譯者在譯介流行影像過程中的取態和定位。

The paper explores translations of western visual texts in five popular magazines in Early Republican China in order to unveil the translators’ perspective on the current social and cultural changes expressed in their renditions of the timely imported image. In the reprints of news photos during WWI and the surrounding translated captions, it is observed that the translators represented the warring Europe with a humanist approach by focusing on the war-torn landscape and the miserable condition of the people, in sharp contrast to the everyday coverage on bloodshed battles and diplomatic conflicts in mainstream printed media of its time. The translators’ intention to arouse a sense of empathy and resonance in urban readers was also visible in their novelizations of black-and-white silent films, which were then widely considered translations. The storyline and characterization employed in the bold rewriting of the films imply that the translators had a deep connection to the sentimentalism in Ming-Qing fiction and a strong appeal to urban readers. The translators’ devotion to the visual art was extended to non-literary magazine columns on filming technology and Hollywood gossip, which hinted on their career transition to the film industry in the 1930s. Translation of visual texts, despite the deceiving appearance as mere entertainment dispatch, offered some leads to reconstruct the vision of a group of translators who were largely marginalized, if not muted, in the current historiography.