NEW LITERARY MOVEMENT Its Tendency and Future: Fading Vogue of the Unintelligible (II)

Back towards the classics

回歸古典

Recently， however， the popularity of foreignisation has betrayed signs of waning. It is true that novelty easily wins the hand of fashion， but fashion is fickle and ever ready to divorce， and the commonsense of a people never fails to render a timely verdict. Among the most popular and distinguished new writers， indeed， there are few whose writings are unintelligible or thoroughly un-Chinese. Wiser foreignised authors have begun to abandon their cheap， paper-flower stuff and set forth on the road to the valley of dancing blooms. One recently published pei hua magazine which has won immediate popularity， is called “Lun Yu” （The Confucian Analects）， a name that would have been stigmatised as “feudal” a couple of years ago.

然而，西化的熱度近來有所減弱。誠然，新奇的東西很容易贏得時尚的青睞，但時尚變化無常，隨時都有可能被拋棄，而民族意識總會審時度勢，及時做出判斷。事實上，在最受歡迎和最杰出的新作家中，很少有人的作品晦澀難懂或完全沒有中國特色。更明智的西化作家已經(jīng)開始放棄廉價紙花般的文字，踏上通往繁花山谷的道路。最近有本名為《論語》的白話文雜志一出版就贏得了讀者的喜愛——這個雜志名若放在幾年前可能會背上“封建”的罵名。

We must not， however， draw the hasty conclusion that all this signifies the disappearance of foreign influence in the literary style of pei hua. On the contrary many foreign touches continue to be in vogue. Punctuation marks and the system of paragraphing—which of course do not belong to the essence of the Chinese language—are not only currently used in all pei hua writings but also applied to newly edited old literary works. Both in poetry and the drama， the western influence remains dominant. The tide of blind imitation has been gradually ebbing， leaving behind it some lifeless shells on the beach. The subtle and slow process of selective absorption is working on the style of pei hua.

但我們絕不能草率地得出結(jié)論，認(rèn)為這一切就意味著白話文絲毫不受外國影響了。相反，許多外國元素仍繼續(xù)流行。標(biāo)點符號和段落系統(tǒng)本不屬于漢語，但現(xiàn)在不僅所有的白話作品使用，重新編輯的舊文學(xué)作品也在使用。無論是對詩歌還是戲劇，西方的影響仍占主導(dǎo)地位。盲目模仿的浪潮已逐漸退去，海灘上留下了一些毫無生氣的貝殼。這種微妙而緩慢的選擇性吸收過程在一點點影響白話文的風(fēng)格。

Change in thought

思想的轉(zhuǎn)變

The New Literary Movement has also brought a great change in thought. In his essay， “The Chinese Renaissance，” Dr. Hu Shih aptly describes the change in the first five or six years. “The movement，” he observes， “is no longer confined to the literary reforms. Once the momentum is started， its scope gradually extends till it now includes all shades of radicalism， all forms of faddism， and all kinds of ‘experiments in the new life.’ In the field of literature， realism， naturalism， symbolism， and neo-romanticism all find enthusiastic advocates... In the writings of the younger generation， it is true， there is a great deal of cheap iconoclasm and blind faddism. All that is inevitable.”

和其他事物一樣，人類思想也會不斷發(fā)展。通常來說，思想的變化并不奇怪。但是，在中國的新文學(xué)運動中，我們看到了方方面面驚人的變化。它既復(fù)雜又迅速，令人眼花繚亂。試圖詳細(xì)列舉各種新思想流派的人，最終會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己身陷迷宮?；蛟S唯一能做的就是描述變化的主要趨勢。

Human thought evolves as anything else. The change in thought is not surprising， in the ordinary way. But， in the New Literary Movement of China we see a change altogether amazing. It is at once complex and rapid. It dazzles. He that tries to enumerate in detail all the different schools of new thought， will in the end find himself in a maze. The only possible thing to do is to describe the main trend of change.

和其他事物一樣，人類思想也會不斷發(fā)展。通常來說，思想的變化并不奇怪。但是，在中國的新文學(xué)運動中，我們看到了方方面面驚人的變化。它既復(fù)雜又迅速，令人眼花繚亂。試圖詳細(xì)列舉各種新思想流派的人，最終會發(fā)現(xiàn)自己身陷迷宮?；蛟S唯一能做的就是描述變化的主要趨勢。

In the early years， the main activity of the New Literary Movement apparently was concerned with wresting the sceptre from the classical literature. The clamour of the struggle was so deafening that new schools of “-isms，” though growing as rapidly， to use a popular Chinese expression， as bamboo-shoots do after spring rain， were hardly heard of. By the time that pei hua had emerged victorious， three schools had risen into prominence and thrown their shadow over the rest.

早些年，新文學(xué)運動的主要活動顯然是從古典文學(xué)手中奪取權(quán)杖。斗爭的喧囂震耳欲聾，以致新的“主義”流派雖如雨后春筍般發(fā)展迅速，但卻鮮少有人聽聞。等到白話文獲勝之時，已有三個流派嶄露頭角，讓其他流派相形見絀。

The first of the trio may be called the Decadent School of which the representative authors are Kuo Mê-Jo and Yu Ta-Fu. Kuo’s works such as “Pagoda” and “Drifting” reflect a profound influence of the West， especially that of Goethe. Yu， on the other hand， shrouds his characters in a thick mist of grey—“Sinking Low，” as one of his novels is entitled. His stories are more or less those of a broken heart linked to a slender purse. The younger generation， in whose bosom modern education has inspired discontent with the old system of society， family， and marriage， readily accept the philosophy of life as revealed in “Drifting” and “Sinking Low.” More and more Decadents rose to write of their Sorrows à la Young Werther， and， for a time， the show windows of the Foochow Road bookshops presented a picture of gloom. Within the last four or five years， however， the popularity of the Decadents has been sinking low in spite of the fact that conditions in China have not been better than that of twelve years ago when the Decadents made their appearance.

第一個可稱為頹廢派，代表作家是郭沫若和郁達(dá)夫。郭沫若的《塔》《漂流三部曲》等作品深受西方尤其是歌德的影響。郁達(dá)夫筆下的人物則籠罩在一層厚厚的灰色迷霧中——正如他一部小說的名字“沉淪”所表達(dá)的。他的故事或多或少都描述了捉襟見肘之境引發(fā)的內(nèi)心苦悶。現(xiàn)代教育激發(fā)了年輕一代對舊的社會、家庭和婚姻制度的不滿，他們很快便接受了《漂流三部曲》和《沉淪》所揭示的人生哲學(xué)。越來越多的頹廢派開始創(chuàng)作他們自己的《少年維特之煩惱》——一時間，福州路書店的櫥窗里呈現(xiàn)出一派陰郁的景象。然而，最近四五年，盡管中國的情況并不比十二年前頹廢派剛出現(xiàn)時好，這一派的聲望卻日漸低落。

Sensualist movement

新感覺運動

Sensualism came next. The break-down of the conventional taboo of sex subjects set the heart of the younger generation throbbing with curiosity and wild rapture. In art， for instance， nude paintings and sculptures have been the commonest decorations of the dormitory of students as well as of modernised Chinese homes. In literature， therefore， subject matter which has to do with sex and love， holds all the possibilities of the “best-seller.” In the midst of such favourable circumstances， the Sensualist writers give a parade. The dazzling cosmopolitan cities of China， with their neon-signs， automobiles， cabarets， jazz， cinemas， theatres， gorgeous shops， vice dens， and night resorts， provide the setting. And， in order to inflame the fever of youth， the old-fashioned rendezvous in the back-garden is replaced by “triangular love” which is later expanded into quadrilateral， pentagonal， or polygonal. How much all such and sundry entertainment appeals to the young head already stored with the suggestiveness of motion-picture “fade-out，” it is not difficult to imagine. The English drama in the forty years which followed the Restoration may give the reader some idea as to what the Sensualists have been doing in modern China. In an era when the old moral standard has been crushed to the dust and the new is not yet established， the rise of Sensualism is not at all unusual.

接下來是新感覺派。性話題傳統(tǒng)禁忌的打破，讓年輕一代心生好奇、狂喜不已。以藝術(shù)為例，裸體畫和裸體雕塑一直是學(xué)生宿舍和摩登中國家庭最常見的裝飾品。因此，題材與性和愛有關(guān)的文學(xué)作品都可能成為“暢銷書”。在這樣的有利環(huán)境下，新感覺派作家紛紛亮相。中國令人眼花繚亂的國際大都市——遍布霓虹燈、汽車、歌舞廳、爵士樂、電影院、劇院、華麗的商店、色情場所和夜總會——為這些作家提供了故事背景。此外，為了激起年輕人的熱情，老式的后花園私會被“三角戀”所取代，后來又?jǐn)U展到四角戀、五角戀甚或多角戀。不難想象，對那些滿腦子都是電影中“畫面漸隱”暗示的年輕人，這些五花八門的娛樂活動會產(chǎn)生多大的吸引力。要想了解當(dāng)代中國新感覺派的所作所為，或許看看王政復(fù)辟后四十年的英國戲劇就知道了。在舊的道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)已被粉碎、新的道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)尚未建立的時代，新感覺派的興起毫不稀奇。

* 倪秀華，廣州大學(xué)外國語學(xué)院副教授，學(xué)術(shù)碩士導(dǎo)師和翻譯碩士導(dǎo)師，中國英漢語比較研究會社會翻譯學(xué)專業(yè)委員會理事。

【本文為廣東省哲學(xué)社會科學(xué)規(guī)劃2024年度一般項目《中國文學(xué)對外翻譯話語研究（1949—1966）》（GD24CWY16）階段性成果，2021年度教育部哲學(xué)社會科學(xué)研究重大課題攻關(guān)項目“20世紀(jì)以來海外中國文學(xué)評論中的中國話語與形象研究”（項目編號：21JZD051）子課題“英語世界的中國話語與形象研究”】

Grammar Myths You

Learned in School

* Double negatives are always ungrammatical

When two negatives are used to communicate a negative， then the usage is ungrammatical. The reason for this is that two negatives actually cancel each other out and create an affirmative statement.

For example， the sentence ‘I don’t have nothing for you’ is ungrammatical because the presence of two negatives technically switches the meaning to an affirmative one， so that it means ‘I have something for you.’

Even though the use of double negatives in formal speech and writing is nonstandard， the use of double negatives is common in areas such as informal speech and popular music.

The straight affirmative version of that sentence—‘I could help him’—lacks the reinforced nature of the double negative version.