时间:2019-05-12 15:59:13
来源:平和英语村 作者:Myron Chen
<<过于喧嚣的孤独>>(Too Loud A Solitude)是捷克作家赫拉巴尔的名作。
赫拉巴尔被誉为捷克20世纪最伟大的作家之一,人生经历丰富多彩。他学法律出身,却从未从事过与法律相关的工作;他做过各种各样的职业,推销员、仓库管理员、列车调度员,在钢铁厂当过工人,在废纸回收站做过打包工等等。
赫拉巴尔家境并不贫困,他的继父是一家啤酒厂的经理。但他自己多年在社会底层生活打拼,工作之余与人聊天喝酒,这些经历为他后来的文学创作奠定了基础。
1997年,赫拉巴尔从一家医院的五楼坠亡。离奇的是,他的作品中曾经出现过“从五楼坠亡”的情节,因此有人怀疑他是自杀;但也有人认为赫拉巴尔是为了喂鸽子不幸失足。
赫拉巴尔年近五十才开始系统的文学创作。这本《过于喧嚣的孤独》由他在1976年自行出版,但由于政治审查,1989年才得到正式出版。小说的主人公是一位名叫汉嘉的老人,他在布拉格的一个废纸回收站做打包工,利用职业之便,收集了大量稀有和被禁的书籍。他对知识充满渴望,从书籍中获得了宝贵的精神财富。
书的开头写道:“三十五年了,我置身在废纸堆中,这是我的love story。”整本书也贯彻了开头的风格,浪漫而有诗意。书中用了大量比喻手法,来描述汉嘉读书时的内心感受;比起他读了什么内容,读书这件事本身更为重要。
每个人都会孤独,但孤独绝不代表凄凉。但愿我们每一个人都能像书中的老人一样,在孤独中体会到无尽和永恒的美。
下面是本书的一些节选,供大家欣赏
“Because when I read, I don't really read; I pop a beautiful sentence into my mouth and suck it like a fruit drop, or I sip it like a liqueur until the thought dissolves in me like alcohol, infusing brain and heart and coursing on through the veins to the root of each blood vessel.”
因为我读书的时候不是真的在读,而是把一个美丽的句子含进嘴里,像吃糖果一样吮吸,或像喝烈酒一样啜饮,直到句子中蕴含的思想像酒精一样溶于我的身体,注入我的大脑和心灵,在我的静脉里涌动,最后到达我每根血管的末梢。
“I always loved twilight: it was the only time of day I had the feeling that something important could happen. All things were more beautiful bathed in twilight, all streets, all squares, and all the people walking through them; I even had the feeling that I was a handsome young man, and I liked looking at myself in the mirror, watching myself in the shop windows as I strode along, and even when I touched my face, I felt no wrinkles at my mouth or forehead.”
我一直喜爱黄昏。一天中,只有黄昏让我觉得可能会有重要的事情发生。暮色之下,所有的事物都变美丽了:街道,广场,以及穿行其中的人们;我甚至觉得自己也成了一个帅气的年轻人,喜欢照镜子,大步走在街上时,喜欢看看商店橱窗里的自己;甚至我摸着自己的脸,都觉得嘴边或额头没有了皱纹。
“Lost in my dreams, I somehow cross at the traffic signals, bumping into street lamps or people, yet moving onward, exuding fumes of beer and grime, yet smiling, because my briefcase is full of books and that very night I expect them to tell me things about myself I don't know.”
绿灯亮起,我梦游似的穿过马路,撞上了街灯或行人,却继续前行;我身上散发着酒气、布满灰尘,脸上却带着微笑。因为我的皮包里装满了书,就在那个夜晚,我期待它们能告诉我,那些我自己也不知道的关于自己的事。
“For we are like olives: only when we are crushed do we yield what is best in us.”
因为我们就像橄榄:只有被碾碎的时候,才能产出精华。
“Like a flash of lightning Arthur Schopenhauer appeared to me and said, "The highest law is love, the love that is compassion.”
亚瑟·叔本华就像一道闪电一样出现在我眼前,说:“最高的法律是爱,怜悯的爱。”
“I kept working and...reading The Theory of The Heavens a sentence at a time, savoring each sentence like a cough drop and brimming with a sense of the immensity, grandeur, and infinite beauty streaming at me from all sides.”
我一直在工作……读着《天体论》,一次只读一句,像含止咳糖一样细细品味每一个句子,那种宏大、壮丽的感觉把我淹没,无尽的美从四面八方向我涌来。
“I can be by myself because I'm never lonely; I'm simply alone, living in my heavily populated solitude, a harum-scarum of infinity and eternity, and Infinity and Eternity seem to take a liking to the likes of me.”
我可以孤身一人,因为我从不寂寞;我只是一个人居住在我思想稠密的孤独中,做一个追求无限和永恒的莽夫,而且无限和永恒似乎偏偏喜欢我这样的人。