雙語全文 ● 魯迅 阿Q正傳——第一章　序

The True Story of Ah Q

Chapter 1

Introduction

For several years now I have been meaning to write the true story of Ah Q. But while wanting to write I was in some trepidation too， which goes to show that I am not one of those who achieve glory by writing； for an immor­tal pen has always been required to record the deeds of an immortal man，the man becoming known to posterity through the writing and the writing known to posterity through the man—until finally it is not clear who is mak­ing whom known. But in the end， as though possessed by some fiend， I al­ways came back to the idea of writing the story of Ah Q.

And yet no sooner had I taken up my pen than I became conscious of tremendous difficulties in writing this far-from-immortal work. The first was the question of what to call it. Confucius said， “If the name is not correct， the words will not ring true”； and this axiom should be most scrupulously observed. There are many types of biography： official biographies，autobiographies， unauthorized biographies， legends， supplement biographies，family histories， sketches ... but unfortunately none of these suited my purpose.“Official biography？ ” This account will obviously not be included with those of many eminent people in some authentic history. “Autobiography？” But I am obviously not Ah Q. If I were to call this an “unauthorized biography，”then where is his “authenticated biography？” The use of “legend” is impossible because Ah Q was no legendary figure. “Supplementary biography？ ”But no president has ever ordered the National Historical Institute to write a“standard life”of Ah Q. It is true that although there are no “lives of gamblers”in authentic English history， the well-known author Conan Doyle nevertheless wrote Rodney Stone； but while this is permissible for a well-known author it is not permissible for such as I. Then there is “family history”； but I do not know whether I belong to the same family as Ah Q or not, nor have his children or grandchildren ever entrusted me with such a task. If I were to use “sketch,” it might be objected that Ah Q has no “complete account.” In short, this is really a “life，” but since I write in vulgar vein using the language of hucksters and pedlars， I dare not presume to give it so highsounding a title. So I will take as my title the last two words of stock phrase of the novelist， who are not reckoned among the Three Cults and Nine Schools. “Enough of this digression， and back to the true story”； and if this is reminiscent of the True Story of Calligraphy of the ancients， it cannot be helped.

阿Q正傳

第一章　序

我要給阿Q做正傳，已經(jīng)不止一兩年了。但一面要做，一面又往回想，這足見我不是一個“立言”的人，因為從來不朽之筆，須傳不朽之人，于是人以文傳，文以人傳——究竟誰靠誰傳，漸漸的不甚了然起來，而終于歸結(jié)到傳阿Q，仿佛思想里有鬼似的。

然而要做這一篇速朽的文章，才下筆，便感到萬分的困難了。第一是文章的名目?？鬃釉?，“名不正則言不順”。這原是應(yīng)該極注意的。傳的名目很繁多：列傳，自傳，內(nèi)傳，外傳，別傳，家傳，小傳……，而可惜都不合。“列傳”么，這一篇并非和許多闊人排在“正史”里；“自傳”么，我又并非就是阿Q。說是“外傳”，“內(nèi)傳”在那里呢？倘用“內(nèi)傳”，阿Q又決不是神仙。“別傳”呢，阿Q實在未曾有大總統(tǒng)上諭宣付國史館立“本傳”——雖說英國正史上并無“博徒列傳”，而文豪迭更司也做過《博徒別傳》這一部書，但文豪則可，在我輩卻不可的。其次是“家傳”，則我既不知與阿Q是否同宗，也未曾受他子孫的拜托；或“小傳”，則阿Q又更無別的“大傳”了?？偠灾?，這一篇也便是“本傳”，但從我的文章著想，因為文體卑下，是“引車賣漿者流”所用的話，所以不敢僭稱，便從不入三教九流的小說家所謂“閑話休題言歸正傳”這一句套話里，取出“正傳”兩個字來，作為名目，即使與古人所撰《書法正傳》的“正傳”字面上很相混，也顧不得了。

The second difficulty confronting me was that a biography of this type should start off something like this: “So-and-so， whose other name was soand-so， was a native of such-and-such a place”； but I don’t really know what Ah Q’s surname was. Once， he seemed to be named Zhao， but the next day there was some confusion about the matter again. This was after Mr. Zhao’s son had passed the county examination and， to the sound of gongs， his suc­cess was announced in the village. Ah Q， who had just drunk two bowls of yellow wine， began to prance about declaring that this reflected credit on him too， since he belonged to the same clan as Mr. Zhao and by an exact reckoning was three generations senior to the successful candidate. At the time several bystanders even began to stand slightly in awe of Ah Q. But the next day the bailiff summoned him to Mr. Zhao’s house. When the old gen­tleman set eyes on his face turned crimson with fury and he roared：

“Ah Q， you miserable wretch! Did you say I belonged to the same clan as you？”

Ah Q made no reply.

The more he looked at him the angrier Mr. Zhao became. Advancing menacingly a few steps he said， “How dare you talk such nonsense! How could I have such a relative as you？ Is your surname Zhao？”

Ah Q made no reply and was planning a retreat， when Mr. Zhao darted forward and gave him a slap on the face.

第二，立傳的通例，開首大抵該是“某，字某，某地人也”，而我并不知道阿Q姓什么。有一回，他似乎是姓趙，但第二日便模糊了。那是趙太爺?shù)膬鹤舆M了秀才的時候，鑼聲鏜鏜的報到村里來，阿Q正喝了兩碗黃酒，便手舞足蹈的說，這于他也很光采，因為他和趙太爺原來是本家，細細的排起來他還比秀才長三輩呢。其時幾個旁聽人倒也肅然的有些起敬了。那知道第二天，地保便叫阿Q到趙太爺家里去；太爺一見，滿臉濺朱，喝道：

“阿Q，你這渾小子！你說我是你的本家么？”

阿Q不開口。

趙太爺愈看愈生氣了，搶進幾步說：“你敢胡說！我怎么會有你這樣的本家？你姓趙么？”

阿Q不開口，想往后退了；趙太爺跳過去，給了他一個嘴巴。

“How could you be named Zhao？ Are you worthy of the name Zhao？”

Ah Q made no attempt to defend Ms right to the name Zhao but rub­bing his left cheek went out with the bailiff from whom， once outside， he had to listen to another torrent of abuse. He then by way of atonement paid him two hundred cash. All who heard this said Ah Q was a great fool to ask for a beating like that. Even if his surname were Zhao—which wasn’t like­ly—he should have known better than to boast like that when there was a Mr. Zhao living in the village. Afer this no further mention was made of Ah Q’s ancestry， thus I still have no idea what his surname really was.

The third difficulty I encountered in writing this work was that I don’t know how Ah Q’s personal name should be written either. During his lifetime everybody called him Ah Gui， but after his death not a soul mentioned Ah Gui again； for he was obviously not one of those whose name is “preserved on bamboo tablets and silk. ” If there is any question of preserving his name，this essay must be the first attempt at doing so. Hence I am confronted with this difficulty at the outset. I have given the question careful thought. Ah Gui—would that be the “Gui” meaning fragrant osmanthus or the “Gui”meaning nobility？ If his other name had been Moon Pavilion， or if he had celebrated his birthday in the month of the Moon Festival， then it would certainly be the “Gui” for fragrant osmanthus. But since he had no other name—or if he had， no one knew it—and since he never sent out invitations on his birthday to secure complimentary verses， it would be arbitrary to write Ah Gui （fragrant osmanthus）. Again， if he had had an elder or younger brother called Ah Fu （prosperity）， then he would certainly be called Ah Gui （nobility）. But he was all on his own； thus there is no justification forwriting Ah Gui （nobility）. All the other， unusual characters with the sound Gui are even less suitable. I once put this question to Mr. Zhao’s son， the successful county candidate， but even such a learned man as he was baffled by it. According to him， however， the reason why this name could not be traced was that Chen Duxiu had brought out the magazine New Youth advo­cating the use of the Western alphabet， hence the national culture was going to the dogs. As a last resort， I asked someone from my district to go and look up the legal documents recording Ah Q’s case， but after eight months he sent me a letter saying that there was no name anything like Ah Gui in those records. Although uncertain whether this was the truth or whether my friend had simply done nothing， after failing to trace the name this way I could think of no other means of finding it. Since I am afraid the new system of phonetics has not yet come into common use， there is nothing for it but to use the Western alphabet， writing the name according to the English spelling as Ah Gui and abbreviating it to Ah Q. This approximates to blindly following New Youth， and I am thoroughly ashamed of myself； but since even such a learned man as Mr. Zhao’s son could not solve my problem， what else can I do？

“你怎么會姓趙！——你那里配姓趙！”

阿Q并沒有抗辯他確鑿姓趙，只用手摸著左頰，和地保退出去了；外面又被地保訓斥了一番，謝了地保二百文酒錢。知道的人都說阿Q太荒唐，自己去招打；他大約未必姓趙，即使真姓趙，有趙太爺在這里，也不該如此胡說的。此后便再沒有人提起他的氏族來，所以我終于不知道阿Q究竟什么姓。

第三，我又不知道阿Q的名字是怎么寫的。他活著的時候，人都叫他阿Quei，死了以后，便沒有一個人再叫阿Quei了，那里還會有“著之竹帛”的事。若論“著之竹帛”，這篇文章要算第一次，所以先遇著了這第一個難關(guān)。我曾經(jīng)仔細想：阿Quei，阿桂還是阿貴呢？倘使他號叫月亭，或者在八月間做過生日，那一定是阿桂了；而他既沒有號——也許有號，只是沒有人知道他，——又未嘗散過生日征文的貼子：寫作阿桂，是武斷的。又倘若他有一位老兄或令弟叫阿富，那一定是阿貴了；而他又只是一個人：寫作阿貴，也沒有佐證的。其余音Quei的偏僻字樣，更加湊不上了。先前，我也曾問過趙太爺?shù)膬鹤用畔壬?，誰料博雅如此公，竟也茫然，但據(jù)結(jié)論說，是因為陳獨秀辦了《新青年》提倡洋字，所以國粹淪亡，無可查考了。我的最后的手段，只有托一個同鄉(xiāng)去查阿Q犯事的案卷，八個月之后才有回信，說案卷里并無與阿Quei的聲音相近的人。我雖不知道是真沒有，還是沒有查，然而也再沒有別的方法了。生怕注音字母還未通行，只好用了“洋字”，照英國流行的拼法寫他為阿Quei，略作阿Q。這近于盲從《新青年》，自己也很抱歉，但茂才公尚且不知，我還有什么好辦法呢。

My fourth difficulty was with Ah Q’s place of origin. If his surname were Zhao， then according to the old custom which still prevails of classify­ing people by their district， one might look up the commentary in The Hun­ dred Surnames and find “Native of Tianshui in Gansu.” But unfortunately this surname is open to question， with the result that Ah Q’s place of origin must also remain uncertain. Although he lived for the most part in Weizhuang， he often stayed in other places， so that it would be wrong to call him a native of Weizhuang. It would， in fact， amount to a distortion of history.

The only thing that consoles me is the fact that the character “Ah” is absolutely correct. This is definitely not the result of false analogy， and is well able to stand the test of scholarly criticism. As for the other problems， it is not for such unlearned people as myself to solve them， and I can only hope that disciples of Dr. Hu Shi， who has such “a passion for history and research，” may be able in future to throw new light on them. I am afraid，however， that by that time my “True Story of Ah Q” will have long since passed into oblivion.

The foregoing may be considered as an introduction.

第四，是阿Q的籍貫了。倘他姓趙，則據(jù)現(xiàn)在好稱郡望的老例，可以照《郡名百家姓》上的注解，說是“隴西天水人也”，但可惜這姓是不甚可靠的，因此籍貫也就有些決不定。他雖然多住未莊，然而也常常宿在別處，不能說是未莊人，即使說是“未莊人也”，也仍然有乖史法的。

我所聊以自慰的，是還有一個“阿”字非常正確，絕無附會假借的缺點，頗可以就正于通人。至于其余，卻都非淺學所能穿鑿，只希望有“歷史癖與考據(jù)癖”的胡適之先生的門人們，將來或者能夠?qū)こ鲈S多新端緒來，但是我這《阿Q正傳》到那時卻又怕早經(jīng)消滅了。

以上可以算是序。