Help with translation of Yu Dafu's essay

[Paolo]

Hello everybody,

I need help with the translation of some parts of Yu Dafu's Reminiscences on Returning Home (郁达夫, "还乡记"), which are still obscure to me even after asking a couple of mother tongue teachers...

I have underlined the 3 weird parts: what looks like the Chinese transliteration of a foreign name (is it?), the title of a work by Burns, and 4 characters I don't have a clue about (another transliteration?). The beginning of the poem quoted is obviously from Burns' John Barleycorn, but about the rest... no idea.

“恩斯来的那本《彭思生里参拜记》，你念到什么地方了？”

“三个东部的野人，

三个方正的男子，

他们起了崇高的心愿，

想去看看什，泻，奥夫，欧耳。”

Thanks a lot!

[roddy]

Did some searching and couldn't turn up a single thing. Were you told that the poem is the Burns one, it doesn't look like it to me.

[gato]

想去看看什，泻，奥夫，欧耳

Are you sure that's not a typo (or a scanning error if you are reading an electronic version)? Shouldn't “什" be "什么" or something along that line. I've never seen 什 and 泻 to transliterate foreign names.

As for the poem, it looks like Burns' structure and Yu Dafu's words (野人 instead kings and so forth).

[Paolo]

Were you told that the poem is the Burns one, it doesn't look like it to me.

I guess Yu is referring to some collected works by Burns or something like that: 彭思 is Burns transliterated... maybe some early 20th century Chinese or Japanese edition I can't find anything about.

Are you sure that's not a typo (or a scanning error if you are reading an electronic version)? Shouldn't “什" be "什么" or something along that line. I've never seen 什 and 泻 to transliterate foreign names.

Yes, I've checked several versions (both digital and printed) and they all look like that... this is typical Yu Dafu stuff none of my teachers and colleagues seems to have a clue about

[gato]

An online version of the essay in case anyone is interested:

http://down.rzkfqzx.net/lib/wenxue/xiandaiwenxue/14900170/zgxd_16.htm

还 乡 记

Still can't figure who 恩斯来 could be, but according to baidu:

Joseph Fiennes = 约瑟夫 · 范恩斯来

Jeremy Irons = 杰瑞米 · 爱恩斯来

[gato]

Maybe 奥夫 = of, 欧耳= all

"什，泻，奥夫，欧耳" = something of all

Or maybe it's just a joke non-sensical phrase considering the context.

讲来讲去，去岁今年，总还是这几句话：

“世界真是奇怪，象这样轻薄的人，也居然能成中国的偶像的。”

“正唯其轻薄，所以能享盛名。”“他的著作是什么东西呀！连抄人家的著书还要抄错！”“唉唉！”

“还有××呢！比××更卑鄙，更不通，而他享的名誉反而更大！”

“今天在车上看见的那个犹太女子真好哩！”

“她的屁股正大得爱人。”

“她的臂膊！”

“啊啊！”

“恩斯来的那本彭思生里参拜记，你念到什么地方了？”“三个东部的野人，三个方正的男子，他们起了崇高的心愿，想去看看什，泻，奥夫，欧耳。”

“你真记得牢！”

象这样的毫无系统，漫无头绪的谈话，我们不谈则已，一谈起头，非要谈到傀儡消尽，悲愤泄完的时候不止。

[Paolo]

I'll be thinking about the "nonsense" option, maybe it's the right one in the light of the context. Waiting (hopefully) for some more suggestions from the forum surfers, thanks roddy and gato for your advice!

[Guest Pipas]

东部的野人

..

想去看看什，泻，奥夫，欧耳。”

Maybe it means something in Japanese?

What a curious riddle..

[Kenny同志]

There is no significance making sense of such stuff. Very likely it is transliteration. And as I said in another thread, 早期的白话文不通的地方很多， therefore it is suggested that one do not work on those works until he or she is an advanced Chinese learner.

PS: The writtings can be very misleading even for a native Chinese.