سخت نیازمند باز ترجمه شمار بزرگی از
آثار ارزشمند جهان که بزعم ما به فارسی ترجمه شده و بر اساس آنها داوری کرده زندگی
و مجاهدات خود را ساخته ایم هستیم. یکی از آنها موبی دیک هرمان ملویل است که
با وجود همه تلاش جانانه در ترجمه و چندین بار تجدید چاپ حاوی بسیاری مطالب درست
درنیافته شده است. امکانات و سطح دانش و اشاعه اطلاعات در آن روزگار میدانی
فراختر از این فراهم نمی کرده. شاهدی بر این مدعا نوع حروف چینی و صفحه
آرائی کتاب در آن روزگار است. به هر روی از آنجا که موبی دیک جزو متون ادبی
است که در ادبیات انگلیسی تدریس می شود دو نمونه از کارهائی که در کمک به علاقمندان
و دانشجویان در "جهان راقیه" شده در برابر داوری می گذاریم. یا
باید درست زبان تعلیم کرد و یاد گرفت و اصل آثار را خواند و دریافت و لذت برد و
بکار بست، یا مترجمانی شش دانگ و "غیر صد تومنی" پرورد. دو ابزار مقایسه اینهاست:
contents
- Context
- Plot Overview
- Character List
- Analysis of Major Characters
- Themes, Motifs & Symbols
- Summary & Analysis
- Etymology & Extracts
- Chapters 1–9
- Chapters 10–21
- Chapters 22–31
- Chapters 32–40
- Chapters 41–47
- Chapters 48–54
- Chapters 55–65
- Chapters 66–73
- Chapters 74–81
- Chapters 82–92
- Chapters 93–101
- Chapters 102–114
- Chapters 115–125
- Chapters 126–132
- Chapter 133–Epilogue
- Important Quotations Explained
- Key Facts
- Study Questions & Essay Topics
- Quiz
- Suggestions for Further Reading
- How to Cite This SparkNote
Moby-Dick
Herman Melville
Get this SparkNote to go!
Themes, Motifs & Symbols
Themes
Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a
literary work.
The Limits of Knowledge
As Ishmael tries, in the opening pages of Moby-Dick, to offer
a simple collection of literary excerpts mentioning whales, he discovers that,
throughout history, the whale has taken on an incredible multiplicity of
meanings. Over the course of the novel, he makes use of nearly every discipline
known to man in his attempts to understand the essential nature of the whale.
Each of these systems of knowledge, however, including art, taxonomy, and
phrenology, fails to give an adequate account. The multiplicity of approaches
that Ishmael takes, coupled with his compulsive need to assert his authority as
a narrator and the frequent references to the limits of observation (men cannot
see the depths of the ocean, for example), suggest that human knowledge is
always limited and insufficient. When it comes to Moby Dick himself, this
limitation takes on allegorical significance. The ways of Moby Dick, like those
of the Christian God, are unknowable to man, and thus trying to interpret them,
as Ahab does, is inevitably futile and often fatal.
The Deceptiveness of Fate
In addition to highlighting many portentous or foreshadowing events,
Ishmael’s narrative contains many references to fate, creating the impression
that the Pequod’s doom is inevitable. Many of the sailors believe in
prophecies, and some even claim the ability to foretell the future. A number of
things suggest, however, that characters are actually deluding themselves when
they think that they see the work of fate and that fate either doesn’t exist or
is one of the many forces about which human beings can have no distinct
knowledge. Ahab, for example, clearly exploits the sailors’ belief in fate to
manipulate them into thinking that the quest for Moby Dick is their common
destiny. Moreover, the prophesies of Fedallah and others seem to be undercut in
Chapter 99, when various individuals interpret the doubloon in different ways,
demonstrating that humans project what they want to see when they try to
interpret signs and portents.
The Exploitative Nature of Whaling
At first glance, the Pequod seems like an island of equality
and fellowship in the midst of a racist, hierarchically structured world. The
ship’s crew includes men from all corners of the globe and all races who seem
to get along harmoniously. Ishmael is initially uneasy upon meeting Queequeg,
but he quickly realizes that it is better to have a “sober cannibal than a
drunken Christian” for a shipmate. Additionally, the conditions of work aboard
the Pequod promote a certain kind of egalitarianism, since men are
promoted and paid according to their skill. However, the work of whaling
parallels the other exploitative activities—buffalo hunting, gold mining,
unfair trade with indigenous peoples—that characterize American and European
territorial expansion. Each of the Pequod’s mates, who are white, is
entirely dependent on a nonwhite harpooner, and nonwhites perform most of the
dirty or dangerous jobs aboard the ship. Flask actually stands on Daggoo, his
African harpooner, in order to beat the other mates to a prize whale. Ahab is
depicted as walking over the black youth Pip, who listens to Ahab’s pacing from
below deck, and is thus reminded that his value as a slave is less than the
value of a whale.
Motifs
Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices
that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Whiteness
Whiteness, to Ishmael, is horrible because it represents the
unnatural and threatening: albinos, creatures that live in extreme and
inhospitable environments, waves breaking against rocks. These examples reverse
the traditional association of whiteness with purity. Whiteness conveys both a
lack of meaning and an unreadable excess of meaning that confounds individuals.
Moby Dick is the pinnacle of whiteness, and Melville’s characters cannot
objectively understand the White Whale. Ahab, for instance, believes that Moby
Dick represents evil, while Ishmael fails in his attempts to determine
scientifically the whale’s fundamental nature.
Surfaces and Depths
Ishmael frequently bemoans the impossibility of examining anything
in its entirety, noting that only the surfaces of objects and environments are
available to the human observer. On a live whale, for example, only the outer
layer presents itself; on a dead whale, it is impossible to determine what
constitutes the whale’s skin, or which part—skeleton, blubber, head—offers the
best understanding of the entire animal. Moreover, as the whale swims, it hides
much of its body underwater, away from the human gaze, and no one knows where
it goes or what it does. The sea itself is the greatest frustration in this
regard: its depths are mysterious and inaccessible to Ishmael. This motif
represents the larger problem of the limitations of human knowledge. Humankind
is not all-seeing; we can only observe, and thus only acquire knowledge about,
that fraction of entities—both individuals and environments—to which we have
access: surfaces.
Symbols
Symbols are objects, characters, figures, and colors used to
represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Pequod
Named after a Native American tribe in Massachusetts that did not
long survive the arrival of white men and thus memorializing an extinction, the
Pequod is a symbol of doom. It is painted a gloomy black and covered in
whale teeth and bones, literally bristling with the mementos of violent death.
It is, in fact, marked for death. Adorned like a primitive coffin, the Pequod
becomes one.
Moby Dick
Moby Dick possesses various symbolic meanings for various
individuals. To the Pequod’s crew, the legendary White Whale is a
concept onto which they can displace their anxieties about their dangerous and
often very frightening jobs. Because they have no delusions about Moby Dick
acting malevolently toward men or literally embodying evil, tales about the
whale allow them to confront their fear, manage it, and continue to function.
Ahab, on the other hand, believes that Moby Dick is a manifestation of all that
is wrong with the world, and he feels that it is his destiny to eradicate this
symbolic evil.
Moby Dick also bears out interpretations not tied down to specific
characters. In its inscrutable silence and mysterious habits, for example, the
White Whale can be read as an allegorical representation of an unknowable God.
As a profitable commodity, it fits into the scheme of white economic expansion
and exploitation in the nineteenth century. As a part of the natural world, it
represents the destruction of the environment by such hubristic expansion.
Queequeg’s Coffin
Queequeg’s coffin alternately symbolizes life and death. Queequeg
has it built when he is seriously ill, but when he recovers, it becomes a chest
to hold his belongings and an emblem of his will to live. He perpetuates the
knowledge tattooed on his body by carving it onto the coffin’s lid. The coffin
further comes to symbolize life, in a morbid way, when it replaces the Pequod’s
life buoy. When the Pequod sinks, the coffin becomes Ishmael’s buoy,
saving not only his life but the life of the narrative that he will pass on.
Readers'
Notes
Readers' Notes allow users to add their own analysis and insights to
our SparkNotes—and to discuss those ideas with one another. Have a novel take
or think we left something out? Add a Readers' Note!
More Help
Buy the print Moby-Dick SparkNote on BN.com
The SparkNote you can hold in your hand.
Read the original
The full text of the original work
Buy the ebook of this SparkNote on BN.com
Easy to view on your iPod, phone, or ereader.
Download the PDF of this SparkNote on BN.com
- Literature
- Poetry
- Shakespeare
- Mythology
- Bestsellers
- Dr. Seuss
- Music
- Pre-Algebra
- Algebra
- Calculus
- Civics
Cite This Page
To Go
Moby-Dick
by Herman Melville
Intro
Summary Themes
Quotes
Characters Analysis
Questions Photos
Quizzes Best
of the Web Write Essay Teaching
- Summary
- Brief Summary
- Chapter Summaries
- Chapter 1: Loomings
- Chapter 2: The Carpet-Bag
- Chapter 3: The Spouter-Inn
- Chapter 4: The Counterpane
- Chapter 5: Breakfast
- Chapter 6: The Street
- Chapter 7: The Chapel
- Chapter 8: The Pulpit
- Chapter 9: The Sermon
- Chapter 10: A Bosom Friend
- Chapter 11: Nightgown
- Chapter 12: Biographical
- Chapter 13: Wheelbarrow
- Chapter 14: Nantucket
- Chapter 15: Chowder
- Chapter 16: The Ship
- Chapter 17: The Ramadan
- Chapter 18: His Mark
- Chapter 19: The Prophet
- Chapter 20: All Astir
- Chapter 21: Going Aboard
- Chapter 22: Merry Christmas
- Chapter 23: The Lee Shore
- Chapter 24: The Advocate
- Chapter 25: Postscript
- Chapter 26: Knights and Squires
- Chapter 27: Knights and Squires
- Chapter 28: Ahab
- Chapter 29: Enter Ahab; to him, Stubb
- Chapter 30: The Pipe
- Chapter 31: Queen Mab
- Chapter 32: Cetology
- Chapter 33: The Specksynder
- Chapter 34: The Cabin-Table
- Chapter 35: The Mast-Head
- Chapter 36: The Quarter-Deck
- Chapter 37: Sunset
- Chapter 38: Dusk
- Chapter 39: First Night-Watch
- Chapter 40: Midnight, Forecastle
- Chapter 41: Moby Dick
- Chapter 42: The Whiteness of the Whale
- Chapter 43: Hark!
- Chapter 44: The Chart
- Chapter 45: The Affidavit
- Chapter 46: Surmises
- Chapter 47: The Mat-Maker
- Chapter 48: The First Lowering
- Chapter 49: The Hyena
- Chapter 50: Ahab’s Boat and Crew · Fedallah
- Chapter 51: The Spirit-Spout
- Chapter 52: The Albatross
- Chapter 53: The Gam
- Chapter 54: The Town-Ho’s Story
- Chapter 55: Of the Monstrous Pictures of Whales
- Chapter 56: Of the Less Erroneous Pictures of Whales, and the True Pictures of Whaling Scenes
- Chapter 57: Of Whales in Paint; in Teeth; in Wood; in Sheet-Iron; in Stone; in Mountains; in Stars
- Chapter 58: Brit
- Chapter 59: Squid
- Chapter 60: The Line
- Chapter 61: Stubb kills a Whale
- Chapter 62: The Dart
- Chapter 63: The Crotch
- Chapter 64: Stubb’s Supper
- Chapter 65: The Whale as a Dish
- Chapter 66: The Shark Massacre
- Chapter 67: Cutting In
- Chapter 68: The Blanket
- Chapter 69: The Funeral
- Chapter 70: The Sphynx
- Chapter 71: The Jeroboam’s Story
- Chapter 72: The Monkey-rope
- Chapter 73: Stubb and Flask kill a Right Whale; and Then Have a Talk over Him
- Chapter 74: The Sperm Whale’s Head – Contrasted View
- Chapter 75: The Right Whale’s Head – Contrasted View
- Chapter 76: The Battering-Ram
- Chapter 77: The Great Heidelburgh Tun
- Chapter 78: Cistern and Buckets
- Chapter 79: The Prairie
- Chapter 80: The Nut
- Chapter 81: The Pequod meets the Virgin
- Chapter 82: The Honor and Glory of Whaling
- Chapter 83: Jonah Historically Regarded
- Chapter 84: Pitchpoling
- Chapter 85: The Fountain
- Chapter 86: The Tail
- Chapter 87: The Grand Armada
- Chapter 88: Schools and Schoolmasters
- Chapter 89: Fast-Fish and Loose-Fish
- Chapter 90: Heads or Tails
- Chapter 91: The Pequod meets the Rose-bud
- Chapter 92: Ambergris
- Chapter 93: The Castaway
- Chapter 94: A Squeeze of the Hand
- Chapter 95: The Cassock
- Chapter 96: The Try-Works
- Chapter 97: The Lamp
- Chapter 98: Stowing Down and Clearing Up
- Chapter 99: The Doubloon
- Chapter 100: Leg and Arm • The Pequod, of Nantucket, meets the Samuel Enderby, of London
- Chapter 101: The Decanter
- Chapter 102: A Bower in the Arsacides
- Chapter 103: Measurement of the Whale’s Skeleton
- Chapter 104: The Fossil Whale
- Chapter 105: Does the Whale’s Magnitude Diminish? – Will He Perish?
- Chapter 106: Ahab’s Leg
- Chapter 107: The Carpenter
- Chapter 108: Ahab and the Carpenter
- Chapter 109: Ahab and Starbuck in the Cabin
- Chapter 110: Queequeg in his Coffin
- Chapter 111: The Pacific
- Chapter 112: The Blacksmith
- Chapter 113: The Forge
- Chapter 114: The Gilder
- Chapter 115: The Pequod meets the Bachelor
- Chapter 116: The Dying Whale
- Chapter 117: The Whale Watch
- Chapter 118: The Quadrant
- Chapter 119: The Candles
- Chapter 120: The Deck towards the End of the First Night Watch
- Chapter 121: Midnight – The Forecastle Bulwarks
- Chapter 122: Midnight Aloft – Thunder and Lightning
- Chapter 123: The Musket
- Chapter 124: The Needle
- Chapter 125: The Log and Line
- Chapter 126: The Life-Buoy
- Chapter 127: The Deck
- Chapter 128: The Pequod meets the Rachel
- Chapter 129: The Cabin
- Chapter 130: The Hat
- Chapter 131: The Pequod meets the Delight
- Chapter 132: The Symphony
- Chapter 133: The Chase – First Day
- Chapter 134: The Chase – Second Day
- Chapter 135: The Chase – Third Day
- Epilogue
Advertisement
Moby-Dick Chapter 102: A Bower in the Arsacides Summary
- Having already considered most of the different external aspects of the whale, Ishmael peels back his skin and flesh to examine his skeleton.
- Ishmael explains that he knows about the skeletal construction of the whale because, on one ship, he sees a small cub sperm whale brought on board and dissects it with his own knife.
- Furthermore, Ishmael says, he learned about the skeleton of the full-grown sperm whale from his friend Tranquo, the king of a Melanesian island where Ishmael once spent some time on leave from another ship.
- Tranquo has a collection of rare and precious artifacts, including the skeleton of a sperm whale that was found stranded on a local beach.
- The natives preserved it in a green and luscious glade, decorating it with trophies, carvings, and even a sacred flame inside the skull.
- The sight of the sun coming through the leaves and tendrils of the forest made Ishmael think of God as a great weaver, and he wonders about the workings of fate.
- The skeleton of the sperm whale rests in this glen, getting covered gradually with green vines – life twining around death.
- Ishmael examines this skeleton, wandering around inside it, even measuring it with a rod that he made for the purpose from a nearby tree, even though the local priests objected to him measuring their god.
- Ishmael tells us the size of the whale, reminding us that he can’t lie about this – if we wanted, we could go to one of the museums that has actual whale skeletons and check his details.
- The comparison of the whale in the grove in Melanesia and the whale in Yorkshire owned by Sir Clifford Constable is a remarkable one: both men seize the whales and turn them into spectacles.
- Ishmael claims that he’s copying down his measurement of the whale’s skeleton from a tattoo on his arm, where he preserved the numbers.
- He admits that he didn’t worry about making the dimensions exact to the inch.
/ ترجمه های ادبی در ایران /
|
||||
آفت عدم آشنایی مترجم با فرهنگ و اصطلاحات خودی
|
||||
خبرگزاری مهر - گروه فرهنگ و ادب: روش ها و اصول برگرداندن متون به
زبان مقصد و لزوم آشنایی مترجم با سبک های ادبی، مباحث طرح شده در یادداشت های
پیشین علی صلح جو - منتقد و مترجم - بود. در بخش پایانی این مقال، تاثیر ادبیات
و اصطلاحات بومی در ترجمه مورد بررسی قرار می گیرد.
|
||||
برخی از ما شنیده یا خوانده ایم که مترجمی، ضمن شرح چگونگی مشکلات
ترجمه اثری که به آن مشغول بوده، گفته است که پیش از آنکه عملا به ترجمه اثر
مورد نظر بپردازد، مدتی را صرف مطالعه اثر یا آثاری در آن زمینه کرده است تا
برای دستیابی به حال و هوا و فضای اثری که می خواسته ترجمه کند آماده شود.
مترجمانی که به این کار پرداخته اند آن را تجربه موفقی دانسته اند .
گاه نیز برخی از مترجمان، قبل از پرداختن به ترجمه، زمانی را صرف تحقیق میدانی درباره آن اثر می کنند. نجف دریابندری می گوید که در ترجمه " پیرمرد و دریا "، در تماس با مردم جنوب، برخی از اصطلاحات ماهی گیری مردم خلیج را گرفته و در ترجمه خود به کار برده است . تماس با فضایی مشابه با فضای اثر و حشر و نشر با افرادی از سنخ قهرمانان اثر همواره مفید بوده است . البته، تمام افرادی که در زمینه ادبیات بومی تعمق می کنند، مترجم نمی شوند. عده ای صرفا به لذت بردن از مطالعه ادبیات بسنده می کنند و به تولید ادبی دست نمی یازند. برخی دیگر نیز ممکن است مستقیما به فکر تولید ادبی بیفتند و در نویسندگی طبع آزمایی کنند و سرانجام نویسنده شوند. در واقع، ما نمی دانیم آن توان مطلوب - مطالعه ادب بومی و سپس یا همزمان پرداختن به یادگیری زبان خارجی - چگونه حاصل می شود. به نظر می رسد که برخی، در مرحله ای از مطالعه، به یادگیری زبان خارجی می پردازند و به مرحله ای می رسند که می توانند آثار ادبی را به زبان خارجی بخوانند. گروهی در همین مرحله باقی می مانند و لذت خواندن اثر به زبان خارجی برای آنها کفایت می کند. اما برخی از افراد این گروه می خواهند دیگران را در تجربه خواندن سهیم کنند . به نظر می رسد کسانی که در یادگیری زبان خارجی زودتر و پرشتاب تر حرکت می کنند احتمال کمتری دارد که دوباره بازگردند و با مطالعه عمیق ادب بومی - چه کلاسیک و چه مدرن - بپردازند . متاسفانه این افراد به صرف یادگرفتن زبان خارجی، به ترجمه دست می یازند و از آنجا که در زبان و فرهنگ مقصد ضعیف اند، بعید است بتوانند ترجمه خوبی عرضه کنند . از سوی دیگر، کسانی که در فرهنگ و ادب بومی به سیر آفاق و انفسی می پردازند احتمال زیادی دارد که مستغرق همین دریا شوند و به یادگیری زبان خارجی نپردازند. به نظر می رسد که مترجمان نسل قبل جهت حرکتشان از فرهنگ و ادب بومی به فرهنگ و ادب بیگانه بوده و علت موفقیت شان نیز همین بوده است و این نکته بسیار مهمی است که در دوره های تربیت مترجم - البته ترجمه از زبان خارجی به فارسی- باید به آن توجه خاص کرد . می توان پرسید که آیا در این رویکرد تعادلی کلان، کفه ترازوهای دو فرهنگ با هم برابری می کنند یا نه. به عبارت دیگر، آیا ما برای تمام انواع ادبی غربی در زبان و فرهنگ خودمان معادل داریم؟ بدیهی است پاسخ منفی است. برخی از انواع ادبی رایج در ایران، مانند رمان، از طریق ترجمه وارد شده اند . بنابراین، می توان پرسید هنگامی که یکی از انواع ادبی غربی اصولا فاقد سلیقه در ادب فارسی است، چگونه می توان آن را در قالب زبان و ادب فارسی عرضه کرد؟ پاسخ این است که در این گونه موارد فرایند شکل گیری ژانر جدید به کمک ژانرهای مجاور صورت می گیرد . مثلا چه بسا، شعر حماسی، شعر مناظره ای و همچنین سنت تعزیه دستمایه های ورود ژانر نمایشنامه غربی به ادب فارسی از راه ترجمه بوده اند . نمونه دیگر در سنت ادبی ما، برخلاف غرب، ادبیات دریایی وجود نداشته است، حال آنکه دست کم دو نمونه بارز آن را به فارسی درآورده ایم . " موبی دیک " اثر هرمان ملویل، ترجمه پرویز داریوش، و " پیرمرد و دریا " همینگوی، به ترجمه نجف دریابندری. بنابراین، این امر نشان می دهد که مترجمان توانا، مترجمانی که در سنت ادبی فرهنگ مقصد تامل کرده باشند، مصالح لازم برای ایجاد نوع ادبی جدید را درخود دارند . نکته اصلی این است که مترجم نباید چشمش را از سنت ادبی خود برگیرد و تمام توجهش را معطوف اثر ادبی در زبان مبدا کند و بکوشد، بدون توجه به چنته ادب مقصد، اثر مورد نظر را به فارسی برگرداند . چنین برگردانی، به احتمال زیاد، در حوزه ادب زبان بومی جایی نخواهد یافت، هرچند به لحاظ دقت و امانت مکانیکی چیزی در ترجمه آن کم گذاشته نشده باشد . مترجم، برای اینکه ترجمه خوبی عرضه کند، راهی ندارد جز اینکه بر سکوی ادب و هنر سرزمین خود بایستد و از آنجا به سوی ادب و هنر بیگانه بجهد . وارد کردن مکانیکی اثر ادبی به زبان مقصد راه به جایی نمی برد . (پایان) |
||||
تاریخ انتشار، تهران: ۰۸:۴۰ , ۱۳۸۶/۰۲/۰۱
|
||||
با این همه همچنان نیازی حیاتی به
دوباره سنجی ترجمه های آثار کلاسیک با پیش رو و برابر نهادن متون اصلی و ترجمه
برای پایه گذاری درست ایران فردا داریم. باید در کنار همه خواستن ها غم آتیه و آتیه
سازان را هم خورد.