Reconstructing in Literary Translation

Literary translation occupies an important position in the field of translation, and many people's impressions of translation are often limited to literary translations, which also highlights the uniqueness and importance of literary translation from another perspective. The biggest difference between literary works and non-literary works lies in the artistic beauty in their ideas, the fantastical elements in their content, the emotional resonance they evoke, and the social reality they convey through their themes. Compared to non-literary works, literary works reflect and react to reality more indirectly, serving as a bridge connecting the real world and the literary world.

Imagine a German literary work is born, adding another literary world connected to German civilization, with a new bridge linking them. But how does a translator bring this literary work into the realm of Chinese civilization? The translator needs to understand the world construction (structure), worldview (themes), and language of the literary work, and then reconstruct a "replica" of the literary world in a new language. Moreover, this new world needs to be connected to Chinese civilization, requiring another bridge that is beautiful, elegant, and appealing, designed in accordance with Chinese customs to entice people to cross and explore the literary world on the other side.

The question is, can the new bridge be the same as the old one? Clearly, they cannot. This implies that there are differences in understanding and acceptance of the same literary work in different contexts and cultures, differences that translators cannot fully bridge. Can the newly constructed literary world faithfully replicate the original one 100%? Obviously, it cannot. We must acknowledge that achieving 100% fidelity in translating literary works is an unattainable goal, but it is still a goal we must strive for. Just like Sisyphus pushing a rock up a mountain, even though we may never reach the top, our hearts yearn for it. As Fritz Paepcke said, "There is only 'finished translation,' not 'final translation'." The old bridge fits well with the old literary world, but can the new bridge seamlessly match the new literary world? This poses another challenge for translators after understanding and constructing the literary world—how to balance the relationship between translation fidelity and aesthetics. Furthermore, "reconstruction" implies that the literary world itself is a fictional world, not entirely real. For a translator, the process of translating literary works is not just about constructing a bridge between the fantastical and the real world, but also experiencing the connection between these two worlds.

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