News Express: Stanford professor discusses Chinese writer Su Dongpo’s work at UM
新聞快訊：美國史丹福教授於澳大談蘇東坡賦學
艾朗諾
Ronald Egan
美國史丹福教授於澳大談蘇東坡賦學
澳門大學人文學院舉辦“鏡海人文論壇”，由美國史丹福大學東亞語言與文化系教授、孔子學院漢學教授艾朗諾（Ronald Egan）以“被遺忘的文學對話：錢鍾書、蘇東坡與1935年的砂拉越行政首長、英人Cyril Drummond Le Gros Clark”為題發表演講，吸引眾多師生參與。
澳大人文學院助理院長鄺耀基致歡迎辭時指，文學不受時空侷限，是次論壇涉及中國文學、歷史、文化、翻譯等人文範疇，希望與會者能夠與講者共同進入一場穿越時空的文學對話。澳大人文學院副院長張健介紹艾朗諾的學術背景及成就，談到其在大學期間受白先勇影響，從英文系轉至東亞系深造，後致力於研究中國文學和歷史；他曾英譯錢鍾書的《管錐編》，參與《劍橋中國文學史》編輯，代表作有《美的焦慮：北宋士大夫的審美思想與追求》、《才女之累：李清照及其接受史》等。
講座上，艾朗諾介紹1935年時任英國砂拉越行政首長Cyril Drummond Le Gros Clark。他雖然只在中國生活兩年，卻對蘇東坡的賦文產生濃厚興趣，並對其23篇賦文都進行了詳細譯註。Le Gros Clark的譯作《蘇東坡賦》於1935年出版，附以其妻Averil製作的木刻版畫插圖，並由時年25歲的錢鍾書作序。艾朗諾展示Salmond繪製的“我友麋鹿”、“墮地乃走”、“獨惸惸乎”等圖，指出其內容選取體現了外國讀者喜好的獨特關注點。提及錢序，艾朗諾表明，對比錢鍾書後來的作品《宋詩選注》，他在Le Gros Clark譯作的序言中對蘇東坡評價更高。艾朗諾和與會者共讀《黠鼠賦》，並指文中呈現的主人公以有意識與無意識的兩個人格進行對話，這在當時是極為超前的寫法。張健在總結時指出，這是一場跨越時代、超越文化的對話，是Le Gros Clark與蘇東坡的對話，錢鍾書與蘇東坡的對話，更是艾朗諾與三人的對話。
在問答環節，澳大師生就“賦”、“麒麟”等中國傳統術語的翻譯策略與艾朗諾進行深入討論。艾朗諾表示，“賦”是中國傳統文體中最難翻譯的術語之一，它在中國傳統語境中有其特指的概念，直接使用英文術語翻譯極易產生誤導，fu是“賦”現在逐漸通行的翻譯。此外，譯者可在該類傳統術語首次出現時加註腳說明，幫助讀者理解其文化內涵。
這是“鏡海人文論壇”2025／2026學年的第一講。論壇每學年都會邀請不同領域的知名人文學者，與澳門師生分享前沿研究成果。過往的論壇主題涵蓋文學、語言學、歷史、翻譯、藝術等多個領域。
欲瀏覽官網版可登入以下連結:
https://www.um.edu.mo/zh-hant/news-and-press-releases/press-release/detail/62282/
Stanford professor discusses Chinese writer Su Dongpo’s work at UM
The Faculty of Arts and Humanities (FAH) at the University of Macau (UM) held the Macao Humanities Forum, where Ronald Egan, the Stanford W. Ascherman, M.D. Professor and Confucius Institute Professor of Sinology in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Stanford University, delivered a lecture titled ‘A Forgotten Literary Colloquy: Qian Zhongshu, Su Dongpo, and Cyril Drummond Le Gros Clark, Sarawak’s Chief Secretary in 1935’. The lecture was well attended by students and faculty members.
Speaking at the event, Joaquim Kuong, assistant dean of FAH, noted that the forum covered multiple humanities disciplines, including Chinese literature, history, culture, and translation, demonstrating that literature is not confined by time or geography. He expressed hope that the audience would engage in a cross-era literary colloquy with Prof Egan. Zhang Jian, associate dean of FAH, introduced Prof Egan’s academic background and achievements. He also mentioned the influence of Pai Hsien-yung on Prof Egan, which inspired him to switch from English studies to East Asian languages and cultural studies during his undergraduate years, and ultimately dedicate himself to Chinese literature and history. Prof Egan translated Qian Zhongshu’s Limited Views (Guanzhui Bian) into English and participated in editing The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature. His notable works include The Problem of Beauty: Aesthetic Thought and Pursuits in Northern Song Dynasty China, and The Burden of Female Talent: The Poet Li Qingzhao and Her History in China.
During the lecture, Prof Ronald Egan introduced Cyril Drummond Le Gros Clark, who served as chief secretary of Sarawak in 1935 during the British colonial era. Despite living in China for only two years, Le Gros Clark developed a keen interest in Su Dongpo’s fu, and translated and annotated 23 of them. Le Gros Clark’s translated work, The Prose-Poetry of Su Tung-p’o, was published in 1935. It featured woodcut illustrations by his wife, Averil Salmond, and a foreword by Qian Zhongshu, who was 25 years old at the time. Prof Egan then showed some of Salmond’s woodcut illustrations depicting scenes such as ‘We have befriended the deer (wo you milu)’, ‘Directly it touched the ground it ran off (duodi naizou)’, and ‘Alone and utterly helpless (du qiongqiong hu)’. He pointed out that the selected content reflected the distinctive focus of foreign readers.
Prof Egan observed that, Qian held Su Dongpo in higher regard in the foreword to Le Gros Clark’s translated work than in his later work, Selected and Annotated Song Poetry (Songshi xuanzhu). He then read ‘Fu on a Wily Rat’ with the audience and highlighted the dialogue between Su Dongpo’s conscious and unconscious selves in this fu, a style of writing that was considered avant-garde at the time. In his concluding remarks, Associate Dean Zhang said that the lecture represented a dialogue not only between eras and cultures, but also between Le Gros Clark and Su Dongpo, Qian Zhongshu and Su Dongpo, and Prof Egan and all three.
During the Q&A session, UM students and faculty engaged in an in-depth discussion with Prof Egan on translating traditional Chinese terms such as fu and qilin into English. Prof Egan explained that fu is one of the most challenging literary terms to translate into English, as it has a specific meaning in traditional Chinese culture. He added that there is no direct equivalent in English, and that the transliteration fu is now widely accepted. Prof Egan also suggested that translators can include explanatory footnotes when such traditional terms first appear to help English readers understand their cultural connotations.
This was the first lecture of the Macao Humanities Forum for the 2025/2026 academic year. Every year, the forum invites distinguished scholars in different fields of the humanities to share their latest research findings with students and faculty members in Macao. Previous lectures of the forum have covered a wide range of topics, including literature, linguistics, history, translation, and arts.
To read the news on UM’s official website, please visit the following link:
https://www.um.edu.mo/news-and-press-releases/press-release/detail/62282/