1979: My fiancée is a goddess

Chapter 299 published abroad, My Neighbor Totoro creation

Baiwanzhuang Street, Xicheng District.

The locust trees standing on both sides of the street have lost their lush, dome-like magnificence in summer.

The locust flowers withered and the green leaves fell.

Even the bark was painted white.

On the streets in the early morning, the bleak autumn wind made the dead branches and fallen leaves rustle, and swirl on the bluestone bricks of the street, as if they would turn into a whirlwind in the next second and sweep the streets away.

End of street.

A young lesbian in thin clothes came out from the corner of the alley.

She has short hair that reaches her ears and a pretty face.

"Hiss... huh... BJ, it's so cold in the fall."

Zhang Li was wrapped in the only relatively warm green military coat on his body. He clasped his hands in the wide cuffs, turned up his collar, shrunk his neck, and walked in the wind shivering, complaining about the temperature all the time.

The water vapor exhaled from the mouth and nose escapes into the air, which is particularly obvious under the morning sunlight.

As November is approaching, Zhang Li's workplace, Chinese Literature magazine, has also changed the time they arrive at work in the morning, from 8 a.m. in the summer to 9 a.m. now.

But the reason why Zhang Li got up so early today was naturally for her own reasons.

In July, as a review editor, she recommended two children's literature works by Cheng Kaiyan to the publishing house: "Submarine at Night" and "The Alchemist".

Finally, in mid-October, the magazine completed the translation of these two works.

Last week, the English translation manuscript from the translation teacher was submitted to the magazine's proofreading department for review and is now available for publication.

And today is the day when the two works officially begin printing.

Before long, they will be shipped to foreign countries along with the new issue of Chinese Literature magazine aboard multinational ocean-going cruise ships or cargo planes, put on bookstore shelves, and appear in the sight of foreign readers.

That's why Zhang Li got up so early today.

Given the excellence of these two works by Comrade Cheng Kaiyan and the painstaking efforts of the translation teachers, I think they will be favored and loved by the foreign readers of "Chinese Literature", right?
Thinking of this, Zhang Li felt a little nervous, but more expectant.

So I subconsciously quickened my pace and headed towards the Chinese Literature magazine.

Passing by a breakfast stall, Zhang Li bought two fried dough sticks and a cup of tofu pudding, and walked into the magazine office while eating.

"Comrade Xiao Zhang? Good morning."

Comrade Su, who was guarding the gate, greeted us warmly.

"Good morning."

Zhang Li greeted politely, then left quickly without looking back, leaving behind only a heroic figure.

The security guard Comrade Su was looking forward to it anxiously and felt sad.

Zhang Li returned to the office and happened to meet the editor-in-chief Ye Junjian at the door. "Editor-in-chief, good morning."

Ye Junjian was wrapped in a gray coat, holding a teacup with the words "Excellent Literary and Art Worker" printed on it, blowing the boiling water and the tea foam on the water. When he saw Zhang Li, he smiled kindly: "Good morning, Comrade Zhang, why are you here so early today?"

"It's all because of Comrade Cheng Kaiyan's two works."

Zhang Li scratched his head a little embarrassedly and said frankly.

"Haha, I didn't expect you to be so concerned."

Ye Junjian smiled and joked. He was not surprised that Zhang Li was concerned about him.

This young comrade Cheng Kaiyan is indeed a young man who stirs up the world.

In June and July, he was recognized as a theoretical expert in the children's literature community, and was praised as a master of children's literature by both Mr. Ye and Ms. Bing Xin.

This is also the reason why Ye Junjian and the leaders of the publishing house agreed so readily when Zhang Li recommended Cheng Kaiyan's children's literature works.

However, last month he made great contributions on the front line in southern Xinjiang, and the "Youth" he published afterwards aroused heated discussion and criticism.

Some conservative leaders of the magazine were extremely worried about this and almost withdrew his work.

Fortunately, things turned around quickly, which made them give up the idea.

"Xiao Zhang, go get some hot water and sit for a while. We'll go to the Foreign Languages ​​Press to see how the printing is going."

"Uh-huh."

……

Half an hour later, the sun finally became a little warmer, and it felt warm on people.

"Let's go, Xiao Zhang."

Ye Junjian came out of the office and called Zhang Li.

The two of them left the magazine office and headed towards the other end of Baiwanzhuang Street.

The magazine and the Foreign Languages ​​Press are both under the Foreign Languages ​​Bureau and are located on Baiwanzhuang Street, very close to each other and only a few steps away.

Led by the secretary of the publishing house, the two came to the printing factory and found thick magazines being printed on the assembly line.

"Editor-in-Chief Ye, this is the printed magazine. Please take a look."

The person in charge of the printing workshop took note and handed over the printed magazine.

Ye Junjian quickly turned to the pages of the two works and started reading.

"How's it going, Editor-in-Chief?"

Zhang Li, who was standing by, was itching to try these two works because she was the one who recommended them. If they were popular, she would be proud and would have a reputation as someone with a discerning eye for talent.

"The printing quality is quite high, but in order to control the layout, the font is printed in a relatively small size. It would be better if it could be printed as a single volume."

Ye Junjian felt happy when he saw the clear English letters printed on the clean and smooth white paper.

These two works were mainly translated by him, and he put in a lot of effort.

"That's unlikely, unless one day a foreign publisher takes a fancy to it and prints it separately. But well..."

Zhang Li shook his head and said that the mission of Chinese literature is to publish domestic works abroad and there is no plan for separate printing.

Ye Junjian smiled and said, "That's not necessarily the case, maybe Comrade Xiao Cheng's work will be noticed?
During the many years that I have worked at the magazine, I have seen many writers go abroad. Although their literary works are excellent, they have never been able to set off a trend abroad and lack truly phenomenal works.

There are many reasons, but they all boil down to two: the quality of translation is out of sync with the literary trend.”

Ye Junjian continued to explain his old specialty of translation, "Xiao Zhang, you have been in the company for several years. You can work harder on translation in the future.

A good translation, in addition to the excellence of the original work itself, also requires the painstaking efforts of the translators to carefully study the original meaning of the work, maintain the original author's language style, and strive to give the original work a new life in a different language. "

Seeing Zhang Li's thoughtful expression, Ye Junjian casually gave an example:

"As Shakespeare wrote:

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
You are more lovely and more temperate.
Some early Chinese translators directly translated it as follows: Can I compare you to summer? You are cuter and gentler.

The word "relatively" here is very blunt and destroys the poetic feeling. Although "gentle" is accurate, it has no rhyme. The prose-style translation directly loses the rhythmic beauty of the sonnet. "

After saying that, he looked at Zhang Li and asked, "How do you think this can be translated better?"

"Um……"

Zhang Li pondered for a long time, then slowly said: "Can I compare you to summer? You are more lovely and gentle than it."

"not bad!"

Ye Junjian laughed and clapped his hands, his eyes full of admiration, "You are worthy of being a top student of Peking University."

"hey-hey."

Zhang Li scratched his head shyly.

"So translating Chinese into English is also difficult, you see..."

Ye Junjian casually flipped open "Submarine at Night" and pointed to a classic passage in it and read to her:

“To hold it was to dwell in realms where reality paled into insignificance.
for no joy of flesh could rival the ecstasy of those phantom realms.”

“Once you have it, reality is insignificant, and there is no greater joy than those fantasies.”

Zhang Li listened to the familiar English and translated it subconsciously.

Then he said with great surprise: "Your translation is so wonderful! Using 'phantom realms' instead of the literal translation 'fantasies' gives this sentence a connotation that transcends the dimension of reality."

“So I just said that there is no need to worry about the translation quality of these two works, and they are also children’s literature.

To some extent, there is no real cultural barrier in children's literature, just like the Andersen fairy tales and Danish fairy tales and fables that we have heard since childhood.

Because they are, at their core, written for children.”

Ye Junjian smiled even more and simply stated his guess. "So..."

Zhang Li's eyes lit up. "So these two works of Cheng Kaiyan are likely to be popular with foreigners."

She cannot see how readers react when her works are published abroad.

But one can imagine that those blond, blue-eyed, pale-skinned, and stylishly dressed Western readers couldn't help but cover their mouths and exclaim in amazement when reading these two works.

"OH! MYGOD!"

"AMZING!"

"Oh! My dear God! Look at this fairy tale from China! It's amazing!"

……

When Zhang Li thought that a group of Westerners on the other side of the ocean would be conquered by Cheng Kaiyan's works, he felt an irrepressible pleasure and anticipation in his heart.

I can't even wait to see these arrogant, self-righteous and conceited Westerners being convinced by these two works.

"Cheng Kaiyan? That Cheng Kaiyan? His works are going to be published abroad?"

'Oh my god! This is great news!'

The workshop manager standing by was listening to the conversation between the two and was secretly amazed.

……

After returning from the publishing house's printing factory.

Zhang Li took two sample copies of "Chinese Literature" and drove to Xiaowei Hutong.

She had previously agreed with Cheng Kaiyan that she would personally deliver a sample copy of her work when it was published.

……

at the same time.

Wutong Courtyard in Xiaowei Hutong.

In this small courtyard, a window facing the crooked sycamore tree was wide open.

A pure black little tail hung outside the window, swaying comfortably back and forth on the wall. The thick black hair was blown by the bleak autumn wind, revealing the delicate skin underneath, which was particularly obvious in the sunlight.

"Meow meow meow……"

I saw a dark object lying on the mottled and faded wooden sill of the window.

Cheng Kaiyan was leaning over the desk writing a manuscript, his free left hand unconsciously rubbing Hakimi's shiny black fur, making him roll around in comfort.

Today is Sunday, but he did not go to the teachers' compound to hang out with his girlfriend.

the reason is simple.

Yesterday, he and Sister Xiaoli were caught red-handed by my aunt.

So his aunt sent him back on the grounds that he would not be affected in his studies.

This made Cheng Kaiyan a little depressed.

It was clearly his aunt who took the initiative to give him and Xiaoli space to be alone together, and she even hinted with her eyes that he would not be able to come back for a while before leaving for the meeting.

But after returning from the meeting, the woman's expression suddenly changed, and the indifference and irritability in her eyes were almost beyond words.

"Why is that? She is Jiang Ting, so cold and aloof, but her mood during this period..."

Cheng Kaiyan looked at the grid paper filled with blue words, her eyes filled with thought.

This problem did not just arise yesterday.

Cheng Kaiyan could vaguely feel that this change might have occurred in southern Xinjiang.

"Oh... Never mind."

I thought about it for a long time, but couldn't figure it out.

Cheng Kaiyan shook her head and decided not to think about these troublesome things anymore.

Instead, he focused his thoughts on the manuscript in front of him. At the top of the manuscript paper were clearly written the two big words "My Neighbor Totoro".

Although the housing prices in Tuanjiehu are not very clear, it is obvious that they will not be cheap.

I heard someone say earlier that it would cost more than ten thousand yuan to buy it.

The money in the family, even with Xiaoli and my aunt's savings, is still not enough.

Cheng Kaiyan only received a fixed salary of a few dozen yuan.

I had no choice but to focus on new works.

"My Neighbor Totoro", a children's literature work with an outline already written in advance, is very suitable for making quick money.

At present, Cheng Kaiyan has already made a start.

"My Neighbor Totoro" is a Japanese animated film created and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and released in 1988. Its plot is simple, but the content is novel and interesting, and the style is warm and simple.

It is a well-deserved animation masterpiece.

The story tells about two little girls, Xiaoyue and Xiaomei, who moved to the countryside with their father because their mother was sick and went to the countryside for recuperation.

The story of how they accidentally met the forest guardian "My Neighbor Totoro" and a group of magical friends while their mother was sick and in the hospital.

Using a warm and slightly sad style, it depicts children's curiosity about the unknown and their innocent imagination.

It was not difficult for Cheng Kaiyan to adapt it into children's literature, and relatively few changes were required.

He chose to set the story in a small town on the outskirts of KM City, Yunnan in 1980.

My mother was a dancer in a theater. She needed to go to the countryside to recuperate because of illness. She was a gentle and kind woman.

My father is a writer who is good at painting and writing. He is a peaceful, knowledgeable and childlike man.

The father and his two daughters rented an old house in the countryside near the sanatorium.

This story is recorded through the memories of two daughters:

The summer of nineteen eighty.

The sun was blazing hot, scorching the countryside covered with endless primeval forests.

One weekend, I took my daughters on a tractor loaded with luggage to this small town surrounded by forests.

What came into view were towering mountains, high ridges, compacted mud roads built between neat ridges, lush green weeds growing on both sides, and the sound of cicadas echoing in my ears...

My two daughters and I were all infected by the breath of nature. The older daughter looked around vigilantly, while the younger daughter, wearing a straw hat, raised her hands high and jumped on the tractor to cheer...

This small town surrounded by primeval forest exudes a mysterious atmosphere.

Looking at the endless, lush primeval forest in the distance.

The fragmented golden light leaking through the treetops fell on my face.

For no apparent reason, a sense of nature, wildness, and mystery surged into my heart.

……

"Is Comrade Cheng Kaiyan here?"

Hearing a strange voice calling out to his ears, Cheng Kaiyan put down his pen, rubbed his eyes, and looked through the window.

A young lesbian walked over quickly.

"Is it possible? My work will be published abroad after it is translated?"

Memories emerged and thoughts popped up in Cheng Kaiyan's mind.

Then he brushed away all distracting thoughts and went out to meet him.

In the hall.

Zhang Li explained everything clearly while drinking tea.

She handed over two thick copies of Chinese Literature magazine and congratulated him with a smile, "Congratulations, Comrade Cheng Kaiyan! Your works will be published abroad soon."

"Comrade Zhang Li, please come over here."

The sudden news made Cheng Kaiyan extremely surprised.

"It's okay, we are all contributing to the cause of cultural communication!"

(End of this chapter)