Lauri’s Sermon

FinnishFinnish

»Tuoppi olutta ja kaksi korttelia viinaa lippariksi on kohtuullinen mitta ja määrä väsyneen miehen kurkkuun ja päähän. Nytpä kannu keikkui ja parta kastui, pojat laulaa laskettelivat ja muorin tyttäret nauraa rikostelivat. Mutta läksinpä iloleikistä pois, läksin pitkin katua käymään. Lauluni remahti, akkunat säpäleiksi sälähti, ja siitäpä liikkeille Tampereen poroporvarit kaikki. Mutta minä, aina lysti-poika, minä viitenä vilkkasin pitkin rantaa, heille potkaisin vasten kuonoa soraa ja santaa. Tulin siitä Poriin, pantiin pärekoriin ja vedettiin pitkin torii; tulin Uuteenkaupunkiin, siellä akkunasta haukuttiin; tulin Turkuun, pistettiin puukko kurkkuun. Tulinpa lopulta Aningaisten kadun haaraan ja siellä kohtasin viisi nokkelata naaraa. Ensimmäinen potkaisi mua jalallansa, toinen sanoi: »anna sen pojan olla alallansa; hän ei ole mikään rakkari eikä mikään pikiprakkari». Mutta kolmas kysyi: »mikä sitä poikaa vaivaa?» ja neljäs sanoi: »häntä pitäis auttaa ajallansa». No lähdetäänpäs käsi kädessä käymään, lausuin minä, mutta viides tuuppasi vihaisesti nyrkillänsä ja ärjähti: »mene Helsinkiin!» Menin minä Helsinkiin, pantiin syömään kruunun vellinkii, ja sitten poikaa tutkittiin ja huikeasti selkään hutkittiin: »mene nyt, mene tiehes, sinä vasaran-poika!» Läksin taasen tietä käymään, minä veitikka, aina iloinen, minä, jonka sydän on kuin hylkeennahkainen tupakkikukkaro. Kuljeskelin, laulelin ja tallustelin pitkin tölmällistä tietä; tulin Hämeesen, astuin ylös Kuninkalan saarnastuoliin; ja sitten oli ammen plottis!»

ChineseChinese

劳里的讲道

我喝了一大杯麥酒，兩小瓶白兰地，解一解悶，這对一个疲劳的人的嗓子和头脑正合适，不多也不少。这時候酒瓶子跳起來了，我的胡子搖搖晃晃，所有的小伙子們都大声唱起歌來，老太婆的女兒們嘻嘻地笑了。但是我卻离开了这个欢乐的場合，順着大街走了。我的歌聲很响亮，家家戶戶的窗子都砰的一声被推開了，丹皮尔全城的人都跑出來。但是我始終是個快活的小伙子，我順著海边拚命地跑，跑得象兔子那麽快，把石头和沙子踢到他們臉上。我一直跑到了波里，他們把我裝在一只筐子里，拖著我繞著市集走；我流浪到烏西考本基，家家戶戶的人都罵我；其中對我最厲害的就是土尔庫；他們拿一把刀从我背上戳进去。不过我終于到了阿宁蓋斯坦街，在那里遇到了五個活潑的宝貝姑娘。头一個她在我大腿上踢了一腳，第二個說，“让这小伙子过去吧，因为他並不惹事生非，也不是個傾家蕩產的小販。”但是第三個却問道：“这个小伙子有什么不舒服？”第四個說，“不等他的毛病太厉害，我們先來帮帮他的忙吧。”好吧，我就說，那麽我們就手搀手往前走吧，但是第五個却用拳头使勁揍了我一下，大声吼道：“到赫尔辛基去！”于是我就真地辛辛苦苦到赫尔辛基去了；人家把我关进牢房，給我喝稀粥，还仔細盘問我，无情地惩罰我：“走吧，滾你的，你这杂种！”我又上了路，我始終是个快活小伙子，我的心像一只老海豹皮的荷包。我流浪着，一路还唱着歌：于是我到了哈麦，跳上了庫宁卡拉的講坛；我講的道就到此为止，阿門！


(The original Chinese translation contains both simplified and traditional Chinese characters as displayed here.)

    Version

  • 1962

Questions:

  1. What is Lauri’s mood in this mock-sermon? What do you think he’s trying to achieve with it, and why? Does it sound and feel alive to you? (Version 1962)

    Message from: Yeung Siu Yin Jessica ( Scholar Translator Independent Reader ) on 19 November 2015 12:37:38 PM (GMT+8)
    His mood in this mock-sermon is jovial and is indifferent to how others treat or condemn him.

    I think he is trying to preach a secular mentality of ease and self-containment in times of difficulties and hardship.

    It sounds and feels quite alive to me, but there is still room for improvement. I attribute this result to the point of view in the narration. Lauri adopts the free-indirect discourse by combining the happenings in objective reality, i.e. how others treat him, and his behaviours and mood narrated subjectively. I suppose adding some sentences written in the first-person point of view will be more effective in rendering the narrative more alive or vivid .

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  2. The Finnish original is written in a stylized dialect that now sounds rather archaic. Has the translator attempted to reproduce that archaic dialect? If not, has the translator used a standardized version of the target language, or a colloquial version without slang, or a slangy vernacular, or what? Whichever way the translator went with the archaic dialect, does the attempt seem successful to you? Why or why not? (Version 1962)

    Message from: Yeung Siu Yin Jessica ( Scholar Translator Independent Reader ) on 19 November 2015 12:37:38 PM (GMT+8)
    To me the translator tries to reproduce an archaic dialect which is modern but not contemporary as the rendition is still written in modern Chinese instead of archaic Chinese. The reason I deem it "modern but not contemporary" because I can still see the sentences written in syntactic structure which is still rather complete instead of being fragmentary (contemporary) or condensed (ancient Chinese). I would term this style as "slangy vernacular" as phrases such as "小伙子", "寶貝姑娘", "毛病", "手攙手" and "稀粥" seem closer to the dialect of the northern China instead of Hong Kong.

    To sum up, the degree of success depends on which era of archaic quality the translator aims at achieving; if the translator would like to achieve the archaic quality of modern, instead of contemporary Chinese, then he or she is successful in achieving it.

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  3. Does this passage sound like any existing novel you know in the target language, or like a certain author, or like a period novelistic style that you recognize? If so, what or whom? Does that feeling of familiarity make you like the passage more, or less, or have no effect on your response? (Version 1962)

    Message from: Yeung Siu Yin Jessica ( Scholar Translator Independent Reader ) on 19 November 2015 12:37:38 PM (GMT+8)
    This passage sounds like the translated novels of world literature published and translated by Taiwanese translators. I may be wrong but it is remotely similar to the late nineteenth-century Russian novels like Ivan Turgenev's _Fathers and Sons_, that I read long time ago. It may have made me like the passage a tad less because I prefer reading narratives that are more fluidly narrated such as the twentieth-century modernist writings.

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  4. If you had time, would you want to read this entire translation? Why or why not? (Does it make you say “wow!”? Are you astonished at its brilliance?) (Version 1962)

    Message from: Yeung Siu Yin Jessica ( Scholar Translator Independent Reader ) on 19 November 2015 12:37:38 PM (GMT+8)
    If I had time, I would want to read the entire translation because I am interested in reading more about world literature, especially those countries I know little about. For northern European literature, the closest and one of the few writers I know and like is Jostein Gaarder, who is a Norwegian and writes brilliant novels for young and old children.

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  5. Does this translated passage make you think that Aleksis Kivi might be a great writer of World Literature, or not? Why or why not? (Version 1962)

    Message from: Yeung Siu Yin Jessica ( Scholar Translator Independent Reader ) on 19 November 2015 12:37:38 PM (GMT+8)
    Maybe, although it would be rush to judge if a writer is a "great writer of World Literature" or not by reading a short excerpt. I think Kivi may be a great writer because he sympathises or stands with the minority and the condemned who is epitomised by the narrator's experience.

    The sermon is double-edged and very interesting in the sense that 1) great writers do not preach and 2) the sermon embodies certain beliefs, ideas, or ideologies that Kivi would like to show us. If those ideas share echoes with universal issues in other parts of the world then there is fatter chance for Kivi's achievement qualifying him as "a great writer of World Literature," which is in any sense still a subjective recognition.

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