About New annotated edition of Swann's Way

Swann's Way (Du côté de chez Swann)，是普魯斯特的巨作《追憶似水年華》七大冊的第一冊，中文翻譯為「斯萬之路」，有趣的是英國小說家兼翻譯家 Sydney Schiff 貴為普魯斯特的好友，卻曾經把 “Swann's Way” 硬翻譯回法文 “A la manière de Swann” (In the Manner of Swann)，著實讓普魯斯特感到難以忍受 (intolerable)。

儘管我們已經相信普魯斯特有著傑出或驚人的才氣，然而，倘若少了翻譯這一段轉換的手續，或是說翻譯出了差錯、變了調，似乎我也不會認為我有機會一睹普魯斯特原作的真面目，特別是想要翻譯厚達 3000 多頁的《追憶似水年華》不得不說是工程浩大 (君不見周克希的全譯本尚不可得)。

Swann's Way 曾經讓出版社退稿、讓法國諾貝爾文學獎得主紀德 (André Gide)看走眼、讓千千萬萬的讀者半途而廢 (或許也讓千千萬萬的讀者瞬間入睡、一覺好眠……)，但同樣的，Swann's Way 奠定了《追憶似水年華》成為世界經典名著的基石，藉由英譯本讓全世界的讀者得以接觸並且進一步探索普魯斯特創造的另一個世界。

以目前的英譯本較為大家熟悉的依舊是 C. K. Scott Moncrieff 以及 1981 年 Terence Kilmartin 的修訂本、1992 年 D.J. Enright 的修訂本，另外則是企鵝出版社在 2002 年根據 Jean-Yves Tadié 主編的 Pléiade Gallimard (1978-89) 法文版本重新翻譯。(請參考以下連結的資訊)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Search_of_Lost_Time
http://blog.udn.com/albertineproust3/4395779
http://blog.udn.com/le14nov/3793067

2013 年 11 月恰逢 Swann's Way 出版滿一百週年，知名的普魯斯特研究學者 William C. Carter 也推出最新的英譯修訂本，他以 C. K. Scott Moncrieff 的譯本為基礎進行修訂及註解。Carter 相當推崇 C. K. Scott Moncrieff 的翻譯功力，更直言認為 Moncrieff 的翻譯才能貼近普魯斯特的原意。他在最新譯本的〈序言〉(Introduction) 中提出了另一位文學大師費茲傑羅 (F. Scott Fitzgerald) 寫給女兒的一封信做為佐證，事實上，費茲傑羅也認為：“Scott Moncrieff’s Proust is a masterpiece in itself.”

在〈序言〉裡頭，Carter 還提到了普魯斯特最喜愛的一段拉丁文引言 ”habent sua fata libelli”：books have their destiny.
我相信 Swann's Way 這本書早已經找到了它自己的命運。

【網路資料】
http://www.proust-ink.com/yalepress/
Yale University Press is pleased to announce the publication of Swann's Way by Marcel Proust, edited and annotated by William C. Carter. One hundred years have passed since Marcel Proust published the first volume of what was to become a seven-volume masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. In the intervening century his famously compelling novel has never been out of print and has been translated into dozens of languages. English-language readers were fortunate to have an early and extraordinarily fine translation of the novel from Charles Kenneth Scott Moncrieff. With the passage of time, however, the need for corrections, revisions, and annotations to the Scott Moncrieff translation became apparent.
Esteemed Proust scholar William C. Carter celebrates the centennial of Swann's Way (originally published on November 14, 1913) with a new, more accurate and illuminating edition of the first volume of In Search of Lost Time. Carter corrects previous translating missteps to bring readers closer to Proust's intentions while also providing enlightening notes to clarify biographical, historical, and social contexts. Presented in a reader-friendly format alongside the text, these annotations will enrich and deepen the experience of Proust's novel, immersing readers in the world of an unsurpassed literary genius.

【延伸閱讀】
http://www.theglobaldispatches.com/articles/lost-in-translation-proust-and-scott-moncrieff
Proust and Scott Moncrieff
By William C. Carter, November 27, 2013