All entries for Thursday 20 October 2005

responsibilty

Follow-up to translators in china from XIULU

This article is from XinHua News, 23rd, Dec. 1998. It is written in memory of the establishment of Central Editorial and Translation Bureau of China 45 years ago. The purpose is to eulogize the translators? virtues and achievements and to sing praise for their lofty lives.
In the news report, all the translators working for the bureau are aloof from worldly interests and material pursuits. The only thing they care about is translation. There is one deputy bureau director, who translates the whole collection of Lenin, died in his office because he overworked himself for too long; there is also a director of English section, who entrusted her child totally to her mother?s care because she has no time at all but for translation; and there is a new graduate who gave up all the other better paid and more promising job offers and joined the bureau to translate.
One might wonder: why are they doing these? The ending of the news report gave a very peculiar answer: they chose the career that will benefit the human beings, and therefore they are prepared to accept all the hardships and sacrifices.
An indeed stylized answer, I would say. I actually believe if I search for more governmental organizations, I will find all of the staffs there are working for the interests of mankind.
?The interests of mankind?, ?the benefit of human beings?, ?the glory of our country? and ?the prosperity of socialist society?. I am not sure how abounded the official discourse is in phrases like these. The more I encounter them, the more I feel chilled.
The sense of responsibility has always been key elements in ethics. Many people may proudly assert that it is the most precious heritage we got from traditional Chinese culture. In my opinion, however, this collective responsibility means no more than a slave ideology.
People claim to work for the future of a country or human beings, however, they never consider if that is something they should / can responsible for. When everyone in a society is claiming to be responsible for its propensity, most often what we will see is the society ends up in a disaster. Cultural Revolution is one example that comes to mind. After such occasions, those who previously declared to be responsible for their country naturally retreated from their grand and heroic promises.
I sincerely believe that only when an individual claims for something that he indeed wishes to do, and at the same time is able to do, can we regard it as a responsible act. Responsibility, after all, belongs first to oneself rather than to the far away goals. It is an internal RIGHT, rather than an external OBLIGATION. Individuality defines a truly responsible person.

Xiu Wang : 20 Oct 2005 02:15 |  Tags: Related Translation |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Translator: Should they be responsible for their work?

Follow-up to Salman Rushdie from XIULU

Salman Rushdie was in the arts center of the University of Warwick two days ago, promoting his new book. It is also the first time I saw how intense the atmosphere can be: police everywhere, you have to show all your stuff before entry?
We saw him, finally. The man who's life may be one of the most costly in today's world. And he sits right in the center of Butterworth Hall, smiling at us peacefully. With his witty comments and humorous speech, he filled the hall with laughter and joy.
I sat on the highest row, watch him, and keep wondering what a miracle it can be for him to survive till today. The miracle obviously is very expensive: it is said that British government alone is spending 1 million GPB every year on his security. Bodyguards, police man, detectives, even certain intelligence agencies? He somehow managed to escape from his fatwa and lived an obviously happy life.
I am not interested in politics, or religion. I didn't read his controversial verse at all. I was observing him only because I am interested in the translator, his translators. They were stabbed, one died, one severely injured. Protest against translation in Turkey brought the bump of the hotel causing more death. The question in my head is: should translators be morally responsible for what they translate?
If they do, why aren't they protected by the government?
If they don't, why are they killed?
The tragedy goes with more translators who translate in Iraq, during war times and conflicts. They are never to be trusted by both sides. The nature of their job determined their gloomy fate: the communicator between rival sides is never to be trusted by either side. When both sides need a translator, they treat him like a language machine; when they don?t need one, he got killed.
What is the role of the translator?
I didn't have a chance to ask Rushdie himself. But I do wonder, when he sleeps every night, with his young beautiful model wife in his highly secured residence, will it ever occur to him those names of his translators?

Xiu Wang : 20 Oct 2005 01:10 |  Tags: Translation |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Salman Rushdie

Writing about web page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Rushdie

Salman Rushdie (born Ahmed Salman Rushdie on June 19, 1947, in Bombay, India) is an Indian–born British essayist and author of fiction, most of which is set on the Indian subcontinent. He grew up in Mumbai (then Bombay) attended Rugby School, Warwickshire, then King's College, Cambridge in England. Following an advertising career with Ayer Barker, he became a full–time writer. His narrative style, blending myth and fantasy with real life, has been described as connected with magic realism. In 2004, Rushdie married for the fourth time, this time to prominent Indian model and actress Padma Lakshmi.

The publication of The Satanic Verses in September 1988 caused immediate controversy in the Islamic world due to its allegedly irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. India banned the book on October 5; South Africa banned it on November 24. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sudan, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Qatar followed within weeks. The book was ceremonially burned in Bradford, England, on January 14, 1989. On February 12, five people were killed by police gunfire during a protest in Islamabad.

On February 14, 1989, a fatwa promising his execution was proclaimed on Radio Tehran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of Iran, calling his book "blasphemous against Islam." Furthermore, Khomeini condemned Rushdie for the crime of "apostasy"?attempting to abandon the Islamic faith? which according to the Hadith is punishable by death. This was due to Rushdie's communication through the novel that he no longer believes in Islam. Khomeini called on all "zealous Muslims" to execute the writer, as well as those of the publishers of the book who knew about the concepts of the book:

In the name of God Almighty. There is only one God, to whom we shall all return. I would like to inform all intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses, which has been compiled, printed, and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur?an, as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, have been sentenced to death. I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they find them, so that no one will dare insult the Islamic sanctions. Whoever is killed on this path will be regarded as a martyr, God willing. In addition, anyone who has access to the author of the book, but does not possess the power to execute him, should refer him to the people so that he may be punished for his actions. May God?s blessing be on you all. Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini.
On February 24, Khomeini placed a three–million–U.S. dollar bounty for the death of Rushdie. Rushdie lived for a time under British–financed security.

At the University of California at Berkeley, bookstores carrying the book were firebombed. On February 24 in Bombay, 5 people in a protest at the British Embassy died from police gunfire. Several other people died in Egypt and elsewhere. Muslim communities throughout the world held public rallies in which copies of the book were burned. In 1991, Rushdie's Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, was stabbed and killed in Tokyo, and his Italian translator was beaten and stabbed in Milan. In 1993, Rushdie's Norwegian publisher William Nygaard was shot and severely injured in an attack outside his house in Oslo. Thirty–seven guests died when their hotel in Sivas, Turkey was burnt down by locals protesting against Aziz Nesin, Rushdie's Turkish translator.

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Xiu Wang : 20 Oct 2005 00:55 |  Tags: Related Translation |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Trackbacks (1) |  Report a problem