Yi Lijun, Polish literary translator, Polish language educator and professor at Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, died of illness in Beijing at 4:35 p.m. on February 7, 2022 at the age of 87. Professor Yi Lijun has translated dozens of Polish literary works such as Adam Mitskevich's poem "Ancestor Sacrifice", the epic poem "Mr. Tadusch" (co-translation), "Fire and Sword" (co-translation), "Crusader Knight" (upper and lower volumes, co-translation), Vigonbrowich's "Ferdi Dukai" (co-translation), Olga Tokarczuk's "Taikoo and Other Times", and has been engaged in Polish language teaching for many years, training a group of young Polish literary translators and researchers. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Gdansk, Poland, the Order of the President of Poland, and the Lifetime Achievement Award in Translation Culture for her outstanding contributions.
From left to right, the author of this article, Li Yinan, director of the Polish Language Department of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese, Professor Yi Lijun, and Zhao Gang, vice president of Beijing University of Foreign Chinese
On February 7, 2022, the seventh day of the first lunar month, I spent the whole day translating the novel "The Last Story" by Polish Nobel Laureate Olga Tokarczuk in the office of the main building of the North Outer World. At 6 p.m., I just entered the house and saw the missed call from Teacher Zhao Gang, and I was vaguely uneasy for no reason. Call back, be shocked by bad news, cry and lose your voice...
When I went to visit the New Year in the first year, Mr. Yi Lijun's appearance was not too good. When she learned that I was translating the second Toth's work, she smiled happily. I promised Teacher Yi that when the summer translation was published, I would send it to her at the first time. Tokarczuk was first introduced to Chinese readers by Yi Lijun and Yuan Hanrong, and their translations of Taikoo and Other Times and House by Day and House by Night caused great repercussions among Chinese readers. At that time, I had not yet graduated, and I knew nothing about literary translation, but I only felt that the translated words were exquisite and timeless, and the lips and teeth were fragrant when I read them. I can't help but wonder when I'll be able to turn these wonderful combinations of Latin letters into square words, into strings of smooth and moving sentences. Later, with his encouragement, encouragement, and guidance, I began to study Tokarczuk's writings, wrote several feature articles, and translated The Collection of Grotesque Stories.
Professor Yi Lijun is at home, holding in his hands the works of Nobel Laureate Tokarczuk
Yi Lijun teaches Tokarczuk's works in her home
After my husband died, I couldn't control it and repeatedly recalled the scene when I first met him. It was the winter of 2000, and I had recently entered the University of Foreign Chinese in Beijing to study Polish, and we drove together to the Polish Embassy in China for a film reception. 40 minutes away, Mr. Yi told me a lot about Polish literature and culture, a lot of content has not been remembered, but there is a sentence that is unforgettable: "Learn Polish well, translate Polish literature well." So many good works, it is a pity not to translate them! "Thinking about it today, Sir really used her life of diligence and indifference to fame and fortune to practice this sentence."
In 1954, Professor Yi Lijun was selected by the state to study from the Department of Chinese of Wuhan University to the Department of Polish Language and Literature of the University of Warsaw, Poland. Later, she often told us about the arduous and fulfilling learning experience: "It is not easy for the state to send us out, and it is necessary to have many farmers to cultivate land every year to train a college student to study abroad, so we must study hard." At that time, I only studied language preparatory classes for one year, and I studied Polish literature with Polish students. For the first two years, I couldn't understand or remember, so I borrowed the notes of Polish students after class to copy them. Later, from the third year onwards, it was the Polish students who asked me to borrow notes! There was no place to study, so I ran to the Polish church and sat in the last row, where many classics of Polish literature were 'nibbled' down by me one by one. "Mr. Young, immersed himself in the ocean of Polish literature, completed his studies with amazing perseverance, achieved excellent results, and laid a solid foundation for teaching, translating and studying Polish literature in the future.
After returning to China with a master's degree in 1960, Professor Yi Lijun first worked as an editor and reporter in the Soviet And Eastern European Department of the Central Broadcasting Bureau, and in 1962 was transferred to the Department of Eastern European Languages (now the European Language and Culture Institute) of the Beijing Chinese Institute of Foreign Languages (now Beijing Chinese University) to teach until his retirement. She loves teaching and devotes herself wholeheartedly, has opened more than ten courses for undergraduate, master's and doctoral students, and written a large number of teaching plans in the era of lack of publishing conditions. She has trained a large number of outstanding Polish talents for the country, and students are active in various fields such as diplomacy, economy and trade, culture, propaganda and education on the mainland. Professor Yi was awarded the title of Famous Teacher of Beijing in 1995 and 2007.
He has always taught us to "first learn to be a person, and then do learning", sit on the cold bench, and not be insulted. She is indifferent to fame and fortune, willing to be a ladder, teaching and educating people with extensive knowledge, and influencing future generations with noble character. In 2007, the University of Gdansk, Poland, awarded Professor Yi an honorary doctorate for "outstanding translation achievements, arduous teaching work and exemplary action in cooperation with Polish scientific research institutions". As the youngest teacher in the Polish Language Department, I accompanied Mr. Yi to Poland to receive the award, and for the first time I witnessed mr. Yi being so loved by students. Polish alumni working at the Chinese Consulate General in Gdansk and the China-Poland Steamship Company rushed to pay their respects to Mr. Li and share their feelings with teachers and students. At that time, I became more and more determined to stand on the three-foot podium. Later, almost every year, I accompanied my husband and wife to Poland to receive awards and attend seminars, and everyone laughed and said that they would not be hungry if they followed Mr. Yi.
Mr. Broad-minded, concerned about the development of Polish education, is the guiding light of the Polish-speaking community in China! In 2009, Harbin Normal University built a new Polish language major, and Mr. Yi made a special trip to attend the opening ceremony and gave a lot of guidance. In 2014, Mr. Mao Yinhui, a student of Mr. Mao, founded a Polish major at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, which received her special attention, often laughingly saying that Guangwai Polish is the Lingnan heritage of her mantle. At the meeting and activity that Mr. Himself could not remember, her funny, accessible, philosophical and leisurely words always made everyone and me feel inspired and like a spring breeze, touching Polish students from all over the country.
The editor-in-chief of World Literature happily said, "If we pay attention to Yi Lijun's translation path, it is basically with her to roughly browse the history of Polish literature." This comment is not an exaggeration at all. From the national poet Mitskević to the great writer Šynkovicz, from the poets Milosz and Himborska to the contemporary novelist Tokarczuk, from Romanticism and Positivism to absurdism and postmodernism, he has translated dozens of Polish literary works, including poetry, novels, essays and plays. Her translation of the famous Polish essay "Strawberry", which has been reprinted by dozens of newspapers and magazines, has been selected as a reference book for secondary school Language teaching, and many students of Polish and other languages in the north have been amazed before entering the school. When it came to entering the school, many young people could not help but sigh, "Master Fang Zhi is around, how lucky!" ”
In addition to translating literary works, Professor Yi Lijun has also written monographs such as Polish Literature, Polish Post-War Literature History, and Polish Poetry of the 20th Century, which laid the foundation for the teaching and research of Polish literature in the north and abroad and even the whole country. In 2008, Professor Yi was nominated by the Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland for his promotion of Polish language and literature in China and was awarded the title of "Ambassador of Polish Language and Culture" by the Polish Language Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences. I had the privilege of going with my husband and wife to Poland to receive the award. During this period, Polish friends invited us to visit the museum with polish knights' costumes. In front of an exhibit, the two old men were excitedly discussing, and Teacher Yi suddenly laughed and said to her husband Yuan Hanrong: "Old man, how do you see, I said that this weapon is like this, I turned it correctly!" Seeing that the accompanying Polish friends were a little dazed, Teacher Yi explained that when translating the Crusader Knight, the two often quarreled over the translation of a certain weapon or some kind of clothing. This kind of dispute will occur when the second elder translates many works such as "Ferdi Dukai", and it is this kind of "hammer and baht must be compared" that makes a translation named "Yi Lijun and Yuan Hanrong" become a work of inheritance.
In 2018, Professor Yi Lijun won the Lifetime Achievement Award for Translation Culture issued by the China Translators Association, which is the highest award in the Chinese translation industry and a high recognition of his lifelong contribution. People can't help but think of the "Ancestor Sacrifice" known as the "Primrose Swallow" for the first time. This first translation of foreign literature published in China after the "Cultural Revolution" was completed by Professor Yi Lijun during the period when he was transferred to Shayang, Hubei Province. In a small shack that is often deserted at night, Teacher Yi translates the recitation of the protagonist of the original book into Chinese word by word under the kerosene lamp. In the summer, there are too many mosquitoes, and the translation room becomes a bed with a mosquito net in the dormitory... It was under these conditions that Mr. Li intermittently translated the first draft of the third part of the "Ancestor Sacrifice". After returning to Beijing, she used her spare time and various opportunities to find information, solve difficult problems, and supplement and improve the first draft. In 2009, when I accompanied Professor Yi Lijun to the University of Silesia in Poland to attend the International Symposium on International Communication of Polish Literature, she mentioned this translation of the past in her keynote speech, and Teacher Yi also quoted a monologue of the protagonist: "Everywhere is silence, everywhere is darkness, what to do?" What to do? Then she said with a little humor, "There is silence everywhere, there is darkness everywhere, but I know that the light will always come!" In an instant, the applause from the audience was thunderous. He went on to say, "My time will eventually come to an end, and I hope that Ulan and Li Yinan (members of the delegation of Chinese scholars at that time) will take my pen and continue to translate Polish literature." "Remembering today, tears fall like rain.
He is a banner that will always be held high by the Chinese polish literary translation circles, and he has never put down that translation pen in his life, and in his old age, he has successively translated and published works such as "Vvodyevsky Knight" (co-translated with Yuan Hanrong), "Still Life Painting with Horse Chew", "Elephant" (co-translated with Mao Yinhui) and so on. Until the last days of her life, she was still discussing with Professor Zhao Gang the translation of Milosz's famous work "Isa Valley".
She has a heavy sense of mission for the inheritance of Polish literary translation, and the three doctors she personally trained, Zhao Gang, Wu Lan and Mao Yinhui, have all embarked on the road of Polish literary translation under her encouragement and become the backbone of today's Chinese Polish literary translation circle. And I remember vividly that my husband asked me to represent her at the reader-sharing session, urged me to share my understanding of Polish literature with readers, and encouraged me to tell the "grotesque story" of Tokarczuk to the reader. Teacher Yi, I will also try to tell the "last story" well, whether you can see it or not, I will tell it to you.
The air in Beijing in February was exceptionally crisp, and I was a clear reminder of the old man sitting in the tower of the West Courtyard of the North Outer Courtyard who told the history of Polish literature. In 2004, after graduating from undergraduate, I officially became a master's student of Mr. Yi. After the school did not want to start, the decoration of the main building of the East Courtyard for teaching had not yet been completed, so the study room in Teacher Yi's home became our training room. In pure Polish and her Mandarin with a Hubei accent, sir told us Kochanovsky's touching "Lamentations", Mickiewicz's romantic and mysterious "Ancestor Sacrifice", or shared with us the strange experience of seeing the vast Lake Baikal for several days and nights when taking the train to study in Poland between classes... In that study, except for an outdated computer that Teacher Yi could never understand, and a simple sofa, there were books full of books on the wall. Occasionally sitting in the living room, you can see a small TV surrounded by various awards and trophies on the large TV wall. Mr. is already a pure, transparent, true temperament of the old man, life is extremely simple, really is "three feet of podium, two sleeves of fresh wind." She never knew any designer clothes, only when she put on the clothes or shoes that her daughter had brought back from the United States, she would happily ask me if I looked good. Mr. is arrogant and cheerful, and he likes to laugh and say "I invite guests". Now that I think about it, in the past twenty years or so, every time I was wandering, depressed, and hesitating, in this "burrow", Mr. Li inspired and clicked on me in three words, just like yesterday.
Yi Lijun and Yuan Hanrong
In the two days since he left, institutions and people from China and Poland in the fields of education, diplomacy, culture, and publishing have sent condolences and telegrams. Old friends and students around the world are full of grief and mourn in various forms. As a witness to all this, I have a deeper understanding that Professor Yi Lijun is our real big man.
Professor Yi Lijun, who has made outstanding contributions to Chinese Polish language education and Sino-Polish cultural exchanges, has left. Throughout her life, she lived a life of poverty and happiness, did not seek to be heard; tirelessly taught people, peach and plum in the world; diligently studied and written works; and wrote classics and words.
His outstanding achievements have become a valuable asset of Sino-Polish cultural exchanges, and his high mountain elevation has brought the academic circles of the two countries to a standstill. My descendants, it is difficult to look back, only along the road that Mr. Opened, courageously move forward. Every inch of progress, talk about comforting the teacher.