Translations 譯藝 : 科普名著中的莎士比亞Othello的Desdemona's Willow Song

2016年4月24日星期日

科普名著中的莎士比亞Othello的Desdemona's Willow Song

科普名著中的莎士比亞Othello的Desdemona's Willow Song

謹以此文紀念莎士比亞過世400年。

MR TOMPKINS IN WONDERLAND MR TOMPKINS EXPLORES THE ATOM
By GEORGE GAMOW

這是兩本1940年代科普名著的合訂本。
台灣在1968年由徐氏基金會出版，浦慕明譯

【湯普金夢遊記:近代物理探奇】， Gamow著，浦慕明譯／徐氏基金會

其實，科普名著中多文化常識，翻譯需註解。當時的翻譯比較"粗"，譬如說第6章
6 Cosmic Opera 翻譯成"宇宙劇"，章中有幾首作者夫人幫忙譜寫的歌---尚未考察翻譯，所以這是"宇宙歌劇"。

末段加註*談莎士比亞名著Othello 的【楊柳歌】，這在西方文化是常識，不過中文讀者可能都不知所云，所以必須加註。

*A fortnight before the publication dale of the first printing of this hook there appeared an article by F. Hoyle entitled: “Recent Developments in Cosmology” (Nature, Oct. 9, 1965, p. in). Hoyle writes: “Ryle and his associates have counted radio sources . . . The indication of that radio count is that the Universe was more dense in the past than it is today.” The author has decided, however, not to change the lines of the arias of “Cosmic Opera” since, once written, operas become classic. In fact, even today Desdemona sings a beautiful aria before she dies, after being strangled by Othello.

幸虧現在資訊發達，Wikipedia 有專條說明，YouTube至少有兩種唱法。哼的方式較合乎劇情。