旅行的藝術:對旅行的期待-3

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在對旅行的期望和旅行的現(xiàn)實的關系上總會出現(xiàn)一個問題。我碰巧讀到于斯曼 [4] 的小說《逆流》。小說發(fā)表于1884年，主人公德埃桑迪斯公爵是一個衰朽厭世的貴族，正籌算一趟倫敦之旅，他百般思索，分析了對一個地方的想象和實際情形之間令人極度沮喪的差異。

One question revolves around the relationship between the anticipation of travel and its reality. I came upon a copy of J.-K. Huysmans's novel A Rebours , published in 1884, whose effete and misanthropic hero, the aristocratic Duc des Esseintes, anticipated a journey to London and offered in the process an extravagantly pessimistic analysis of the difference between what we imagine of a place and what can occur when we reach it.

在于斯曼的小說中，德埃桑迪斯獨自住在巴黎市郊的一處寬敞的別墅。他幾乎足不出戶，因為這樣，可以使他避免看見他所以為的人之丑陋和愚蠢。他還年輕時，一天下午，冒險到附近的村子去了幾個小時，結(jié)果發(fā)現(xiàn)他對他人的憎惡更甚。從那以后，他決意一個人躺在書房里的床上，閱讀文學經(jīng)典，同時構想自己對人類的一些尖酸刻薄的想法。但有一天清早，德埃桑迪斯突然有一種強烈的意愿，想到倫敦旅行。這變化，連他自己都覺得吃驚。在到倫敦旅行的意念萌生之時，他正坐在火爐邊讀一本狄更斯的小說。這小說引發(fā)了他對英國人的生活情形的種種想象。事實上，對此他之前已冥思良久，只是現(xiàn)在，他熱切地盼望能親眼一睹。興奮已讓他難以自持，所以，他差使仆人打點好行裝，他自己呢，則身著灰色花呢套裝，腳蹬一雙系帶短靴，頭戴一頂圓頂禮帽，還披了件藍色亞麻長斗篷，搭乘最早的一趟火車去了巴黎。離開往倫敦的火車正式出發(fā)還有些時間，他走進了麗弗里街的加里尼涅英文書店，買了一本貝德克爾的《倫敦旅行指南》。書中對倫敦名勝的簡練描述讓他覺得美不勝收。接著，他走到附近的一間英國人常來光顧的酒吧。酒吧里的氛圍活脫脫是狄更斯小說中的場景：他想起了小杜麗，朵拉·科波菲爾和湯姆·品奇的妹妹露絲坐在和這酒吧間相似的溫馨明亮的小屋里的情形。酒吧里的一位顧客有著威克費爾德先生一般的白發(fā)和紅潤膚色，而其分明的面部輪廓、木然的表情和無精打采的眼神又讓人想起塔金霍恩先生。

Huysmans recounts that the Duc des Esseintes lived alone in a vast villa on the outskirts of Paris. He rarely went anywhere to avoid what he took to be the ugliness and stupidity of others. One afternoon in his youth, he had ventured into a nearby village for a few hours and had felt his detestation of people grow fierce. Since then, he had chosen to spend his days alone in bed in his study, reading the classics of literature and moulding acerbic thoughts about humanity. However, early one morning, the Duc surprised himself by an intense wish to travel to London. The desire came upon him as he sat by the fire reading a volume of Dickens. The book evoked visions of English life which he contemplated at length and grew increasingly keen to see. Unable to withhold his excitement, he ordered his servants to pack his bags, dressed himself in a grey tweed suit, a pair of laced ankle boots, a little bowler hat and a flax-blue Inverness cape and took the next train to Paris. Because he had time to spare before the departure of the London train, he went to Galignani's English bookshop on the Rue de Rivoli and there bought a volume of Baedeker's Guide to London . He was thrown into delicious reveries by its terse descriptions of London's attractions. He moved on to a wine bar nearby frequented by a largely English clientele. The atmosphere was out of Dickens: he thought of scenes where Little Dorrit, Dora Copperfield and Tom Pinch's sister Ruth sat in similarly cosy, bright rooms. One customer had Mr Wickfield's white hair and ruddy complexion and the sharp, expressionless features and unfeeling eyes of Mr Tulkinghorn.

德埃桑迪斯覺得有些餓，便到了隔壁的一家英式小餐館。餐館在阿姆斯特丹街，靠近圣拉扎爾火車站。餐館里光線昏暗，煙霧彌漫，柜臺上擺著一長排啤酒，還攤著小提琴般褐色的火腿，以及番茄醬般紅色的大龍蝦。一些小木餐桌旁，坐著健碩的英國女人。她們的長相很男性化，露出碩大的牙齒，有如調(diào)色刀；她們手腳粗長，臉頰像蘋果般紅通通的。德埃桑迪斯找了一個桌子坐下，點了牛尾湯，煙熏鱈魚，還要了一份烤牛肉和土豆，一些艾爾啤酒和一大塊斯提耳頓干酪。

Hungry, Des Esseintes went next to an English tavern in the Rue d'Amsterdam, near the Gare Saint Lazare. It was dark and smoky there, with a line of beer pulls along a counter, which was spread with hams as brown as violins and lobsters the colour of red lead. Seated at small wooden tables were robust Englishwomen with boyish faces, teeth as big as palette knives, cheeks as red as apples and long hands and feet. Des Esseintes found a table and ordered some oxtail soup, a smoked haddock, a helping of roast beef and potatoes, a couple of pints of ale and a chunk of Stilton.

隨著火車離站時刻的迫近，德埃桑迪斯對倫敦的夢想行將變?yōu)楝F(xiàn)實，但就在這個時刻，他忽地變得疲乏和厭倦起來。他開始想象自己若真的去倫敦該是如何的無聊和乏味：他得趕到火車站，搶個腳夫來搬行李，上了車，得睡在陌生的床上，之后還得排隊下車，在貝德克爾已有精到描述的倫敦街景里拖著自己疲憊的身子瑟瑟前行……想及這些，他的倫敦之夢頓時黯然失色：“既然一個人能坐在椅子上優(yōu)哉游哉捧書漫游，又何苦要真的出行？難道他不已置身倫敦了嗎？倫敦的氣味、天氣、市民、食物，甚至倫敦餐館里的刀叉餐具不都已在自己的周遭嗎？如果真到了倫敦，除了新的失望，還能期待什么？”仍然是坐在椅子上，他開始了自我反?。骸拔揖谷徊豢舷嘈盼抑覍嵖尚诺南胂罅Γ揖尤幌窭媳康耙粯酉嘈诺絿饴眯惺潜匾?、有趣和有益的，我一定是有些精神異常了?！?

However, as the moment to board his train approached, along with the chance to turn dreams of London into reality, Des Esseintes was abruptly overcome with lassitude. He thought how wearing it would be actually to go to London, how he would have to run to the station, fight for a porter, board the train, endure an unfamiliar bed, stand in queues, feel cold and move his fragile frame around the sights that Baedeker had so tersely described-and thus soil his dreams: 'What was the good of moving when a person could travel so wonderfully sitting in a chair? Wasn't he already in London, whose smells, weather, citizens, food, and even cutlery were all about him? What could he expect to find over there except fresh disappointments?' Still seated at his table, he reflected, 'I must have been suffering from some mental aberration to have rejected the visions of my obedient imagination and to have believed like any old ninny that it was necessary, interesting and useful to travel abroad.'

結(jié)果自然是，德埃桑迪斯付了賬單，離開餐館，依舊是搭上最早的一趟火車回到了他的別墅。一起回家的當然還有他的行李箱、他的旅行包、他的旅行毛毯、他的雨傘和他的拐杖。自那以后，他再也沒有離開過他的家。

So Des Esseintes paid the bill, left the tavern and took the first train back to his villa, along with his trunks, his packages, his portmanteaux, his rugs, his umbrellas and his sticks-and never left home again.