Romain rolland corrected the expression of "non-resistance" in Fu Leixin's letter. First of all, he thought this question was "too broad and complicated to be brief and simple", but after discussing the famous Indian Gandhi's non-resistance, he made it clear: "First of all, I declare that I don't like the name of' non-resistance', and I can never express my heroic and violent actions with its implied concept of submission, such as the achievements of Gandhi's movement. The only suitable name is' non-military refusal'. "
Romain rolland's biography of Tolstoy was first written in 19 13. At this time, the first world war has not yet broken out, and the western world's understanding of civilization has not yet been deeply reflected. After more than 20 years, romain rolland clearly has a new understanding of this issue: "Guy, when we commit rape, we should never think about the cruelty of the country or the party. We can't rely on their pity, nor can we hope that they will feel guilty when attacking unsuspecting enemies. "
Based on this, romain rolland realized that not resisting this kind of thing is "better than trying! Otherwise, it will not go out, and there will be a day of betrayal. " It can be said that this kind of thinking and practice is basically denied. Although he said with idealistic belief at the end of the letter: whether or not to use force, mankind will surely move toward the road of reunification!
Romain rolland's original letter was photocopied by Fu Lei and placed at the front of the Chinese translation of Tolstoy's biography published in March 1935. Fu Lei also translated the letter and attached a title "On Non-resistance", which was published as a preface in front of the book published by the Commercial Press.
Shortly after receiving romain rolland's letter, Fu Lei had a friend who was going to Europe. Because it was inconvenient to send a letter abroad at that time, Fu Lei hurriedly wrote a letter and asked a friend to send it to Europe. This is the second letter that Fu Lei sent to romain rolland:
Right main seat:
Thank you for your letter of June 30th. The translated version of Three Biographies of Celebrities has been accepted by the Commercial Press, the largest publishing house in China, but it is a pity that the book will not be printed until next year. I have translated "hodgepodge" into Chinese, and at the same time copied the presented photos, which are crowned at the beginning of Tolstoy's biography. Thanks again.
In this letter, Fu Lei mentioned that he also wanted to translate romain rolland's two works, Musicians of the Past and Musicians of Today, because "real China music does not exist, or it no longer exists, so it is particularly necessary to introduce European music. Musicians' personality is more important than music." These two works were not included in Lei's translation, which shows that they were not translated later.
Ideologically, Fu Lei also agrees with romain rolland's point of view, that is, in the chaotic times, "a person who leads an honest and clean life can only hide in the depths of the ideological realm", indicating that he "only hides in the middle ear of the spiritual realm."
This letter was written on1August 20th, 934 and was carried by a friend who went to Europe. September 2 1 Marseille, France. In this letter, Fu Lei attached a photo of himself. There is "my deepest respect, Fu Nuan" at the back of the photo. 1August 934 "; Romain rolland noted on the side: "Fu Wen, translator of biographies of three celebrities." four
Fu Lei's translation of Three Biographies of Celebrities was published separately. Although the Biography of Beethoven was translated earlier, it was shelved after being sent to the Commercial Press. The Biography of Tolstoy 1935 was printed by Shanghai Commercial Press in March, and the preface was replaced by a book written by the author romain rolland to the translator. The biography of Michelangelo1printed in August, 935. Fu Lei's valuable Biography of Beethoven was retranslated more than ten years later and printed by Shanghai Camel Bookstore. For more than ten years, translators have spent a lot of effort.
Of course, readers all know that Fu Lei didn't just translate romain rolland's works into a biography of three people. The French master won Nobel Prize in Literature's masterpiece "John Christophe", which was also translated by several people in China. However, Fu Lei's four-volume translation, first published by the Commercial Press and then by People's Literature Publishing House, is still the most influential translation in China. It is worth noting that the first volume of the book was published in 1937, which was only one or two years after the first edition of Three Biographies of Celebrities was translated. Therefore, when translating romain rolland's works, Fu Lei made great efforts at that time, and spent a lot of time and energy when he just came back from Europe. This should be appreciated so far.
At first, people only knew that romain rolland had written a letter to Fu Lei. Because it was translated by Fu Lei at that time, it was placed in front of Tolstoy's biography translation. Fu Lei's letter to romain rolland has been unknown for half a century.
1982, madame roland of Rome, who was 88 years old, sent a batch of information about her husband's correspondence with China people to Mr. Ge Baoquan, a translator and scholar in China. Among these materials, I found Fu Lei's second letter. This letter was translated by Mr. Luo, a French literary scholar at the Institute of Foreign Languages of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, and the original trigger was shown in Mr. Ge Baoquan's article. Later, Fu Lei's first letter was also found and was still translated by Mr. Luo. In the translation of these two letters, Mr. Luo traced back to the rhyme of Fu Lei's translation of Roman Roland's letters at that time, which was concise, making the past serve the present, and the two were quite interesting.
The communication between Fu Lei and romain rolland is of great significance in the cultural exchange between China and the West. Romain rolland's works have a wide influence in China, to which translator Fu Lei contributed. The communication between them also reflects the inevitable call and correspondence, confusion or cognition in the cultural communication between China and the West. This is inevitable in the exchange of heterogeneous cultures, and it may be helpful to the exchange between different cultural backgrounds today, which is worth seriously understanding.