联语中的诗性光影：《红楼梦》对联英译的审美传达与文化重构

Poetic Light and Shadow in Couplets: Aesthetic Transmission and Cultural Reconstruction in the English Translation of Couplets in “A Dream of Red Mansions”

摘要: 本文以《红楼梦》对联为研究对象，聚焦其英译中的审美传达与文化重构问题。首先阐释对联在小说中的结构作用，剖析其对偶工整、平仄相协等文学特征与典故承载、哲理表达、意境营造的文化承载力；继而深入探讨对联因语言特性与文化差异形成的抗译性，以杨宪益、霍克斯译本为案例，从情韵意象复现、节奏结构重建、文化深意唤醒三维度解析诗性传达策略；最终提炼出“语义–意境–文气”三层并举的重构逻辑，指出译者需兼具文学敏感与文化认知，以“文化之心译文化之语”实现跨文化传播中的形神兼备，为古典文学英译提供理论与实践参考。

Abstract: This study takes the couplets in A Dream of Red Mansions as the research object, focusing on the issues of aesthetic transmission and cultural reconstruction in their English translations. Firstly, it elaborates on the structural functions of the couplets in the novel, analyzing their literary characteristics such as rigorous antithesis and harmonious tonal patterns, as well as their cultural bearing capacity in embodying allusions, expressing philosophy, and constructing artistic conceptions. Subsequently, it delves into the untranslatability of the couplets arising from linguistic particularities and cultural differences. Taking the translations by Yang Xianyi and David Hawkes as case studies, the research interprets the poetic transmission strategies from three dimensions: the reproduction of emotional imagery, the reconstruction of rhythmic structure, and the awakening of profound cultural meanings. Finally, it refines a three-dimensional reconstruction logic of “semantics—artistic conception—literary vitality”, arguing that translators need to possess both literary sensitivity and cultural cognition. Only by “translating cultural language with a cultural mindset” can they achieve the integration of form and spirit in cross-cultural communication, thereby providing theoretical and practical references for the English translation of classical Chinese literature.