Notes on Translating Edwin Thumboo's Multi-Chinese Voices into Chinese

Yoon-Wah Wong

《南方學院學報》 7期 (2011/12) Pp. 55-72

並列摘要

There are many voices in Edwin Thumboo's poetry. Based on the ways of poetic communications and presentations, T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) has recognized three different voices of poetry in the works of Western poetry. The first voice is the voice of the poet talking to himself. The second is the voice of the poet addressing an audience. The third is the dramatic voice spoken by an imaginary character. When I translated Edwin Thumboo's poetry into Chinese, I have made every effort to make these voices audible. However, during and after translating the sixteen poems into Chinese which I have selected at random, the most interesting voices are other voices which are not belonging to the ones mentioned by Eliot. I may call them multi-cultural voices of the Chinese living in Southeast Asia, especially Chinese Singaporeans or Chinese Malaysians.It is a study of the different voices between Pernakan Chinese, Overseas Chinese, and other kinds of Chinese living in Singapore and Malaysia as expressed in Thumboo's poetry. Among the Chinese educated Singaporeans and those of English educated each maintained a sense of distinctive identity.Given the historical context, we use the term ”post-colonial” for the poetry of Thumboo, but I think it is more appropriate to call it ”cross-cultural”. Thumboo's poetry, written in a bridge language, ”provides contact between the various communities, having an appeal that cuts across language barriers, cultural barriers”.

並列關鍵字

Edwin Thumboo ； Singapore English poetry ； Chinese overseas ； culture differences ； cross-cultural poetry