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The Perils of Translating Lin Yutang: Two Versions of “Wo De Jie Yan” in English

In today’s world, Lin Yutang (1895–76) is kind of an antique. He is little read both in the West and in China, probably a little bit more read in China in Chinese translation. In theWest, very few people know that he was once a best-read author whose English writings and translations fascinated Western audiences for decades. Among many other works, My Country and My People and The Importance of Living have had a particular appeal to Western readers. Lin Yutang was not only an author but also a translator. His translations are found in The Importance of Understanding, The Wisdom of China, TheWisdom of Confucius, and TheWisdom of Laotse, among many other books. EvenMyCountry andMyPeople and The Importance of Living have large portions of translations in them. It is very difficult to separate translator Lin Yutang and author Lin Yutang. His translations and original writings often go side by side. He was a bilingual essayist, and he often translated what he wrote. As a result, a serious Lin reader finds a great number of his essays in both English and Chinese. Therefore, anyone who sets out to translate Lin Yutang’s Chinese work into English should be cautious. One of the attempts to translate Lin Yutang’s essays into English is Nancy E. Chapman’s translation of “Wo De Jie Yan” ( ) into English as “My Turn at Quitting Smoking” in the Columbia Anthology of Chinese Literature. The fact that the essay is translated and included in the anthology at all should give some consolation to the late one-time master, because he receives an earned place as amajor Chinese-language author while his own English essay has passed into oblivion. Besides, when we have a translation of his essay by someone else to compare with the English essay of the author himself, whose English has been universally acclaimed although it is his foreign language, we have a particular opportunity to view the tricky issue of translation. In writing this I am suppressing my suspicion that “Wo De Jie Yan” was originally written in English and then translated into Chinese by the author himself. I’d like to continue to suppress the suspicion and suppose that “My Last Rebellion against Lady Nicotine” is Lin’s own translation of his Chinese essay. From the translation of the title we can see at work two different strategies of translation. The Chinese says “My Giving Up Smoking,” and Chapman more or less follows suit by saying “My Turn at Quitting Smoking.” Here, the translator evidently tries to make it sound good by adding her own interpretation based on the clues in the beginning of the essay that speak of anyone trying to quit smoking as undergoing the process of taking a vow, wrestling with themselves, and then relapsing. The translator understands the author to mean that now it is his turn to quit smoking. However, Chapman’s focus is not what Lin Yutang intends. Lin does not translate his title. Instead, he writes a new title: “My Last Rebellion against Lady Nicotine.” It does not quite correspond with the Chinese, but the focus is the same as in the Chinese: “my giving up smoking.” Instead of saying “giving up,” he says “rebellion against”; instead of saying “smoking,” he says “Lady Nicotine.” The addition of “last” is according to his own understanding of