The Books in My Life　我一生中的書

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2019年06月05日

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The Books in My Life

我一生中的書

Henry Miller

亨利·米勒

作者簡介

亨利·米勒（Henry Miller，1891—1980），美國小說家，20世紀最重要的作家之一。其代表作是自傳性小說三部曲《北回歸線》（Tropic of Cancer）、《黑色的春天》（Black Spring）和《南回歸線》（Tropic of Capricorn）。這些作品一度被出版社認為是淫穢之作而拒絕出版，問世后迅速在文壇上下引起轟動。

米勒被20世紀60年代“反正統(tǒng)文學運動”成員稱為“自由與性解放的預言家”。當代詩歌鼻祖艾茲拉·龐德（Ezra Pound）則將其與文豪詹姆斯·奧古斯丁·阿洛伊修斯·喬伊斯（James Augustine Aloysius Joyce）和弗吉尼亞·伍爾芙（Virginia Woolf）相提并論。

本文選自米勒1952年出版的作品《我一生中的書》（The Books in My Life）。作者饒有趣味地將人們“從未讀過的書”分為三類，并將自己差點“錯失良書”的經(jīng)歷娓娓道來，讓人忍俊不禁。

I think it important to stress at the outset a psychological fact about the reading of books which is rather neglected in most works on the subject. It is this: many of the books one lives with in one's mind are books one has never read. Sometimes these take on amazing importance. There are at least three categories of this order. The first comprises those books which one has every intention of reading some day but in all probability never will; the second comprises those books which one feels he ought to have read, and which, some at least, he undoubtedly will read before he dies; the third comprises the books one hears about, talks about, reads about, but which one is almost certain never to read because nothing, seemingly, can ever break down the wall of prejudice erected against them.

In the first category are those monumental works, classics mostly, which one is usually ashamed to admit he has never read: tomes one nibbles at occasionally, only to push them away, more than ever convinced that they are still unreadable. The list varies with the individual. For myself, to give a few outstanding names, they comprise the works of such celebrated authors as Homer, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Hegel, Rousseau (excepting Emile), Robert Browning, Santayana. In the second category I conclude Arabia Deserta, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, The Hundred and Twenty Days of Sodom, Casanova's Memoirs, Napoleon's Memoirs, Michelet's History of the French Revolution. In the third Pepys' Diary, Tristram Shandy, Wilhelm Meister, The Anatomy of Melancholy, The Red and the Black, Marius the Epicurean, The Education of Henry Adams.

Sometimes a chance reference to an author one has neglected to read or abandoned all thought of ever reading—a passage, say, in the work of an author one admires, or the words of a friend who is also a book lover—is sufficient to make one run for a book, read it with new eyes and claim it as one's very own. In the main, however, the books one neglects, or deliberately spurns, seldom get read. Certain subjects, certain styles, or unfortunate associations connected with the very names of certain books, create a repugnance almost insuperable. Nothing on earth, for example, could induce me to tackle anew Spenser's Faery Queen, which I began in college and fortunately dropped because I left that institution in a hurry. Never again will I look at a line of Edmund Burke, or Addison, or Chaucer, though the last-named I think altogether worthy of reading. Racine and Corneille are two others I doubt if I shall ever look at again, though Corneille intrigues me because of a brilliant essay I read not long ago on Phédre in The Clown's Grail.

On the other hand there are books which lie at the very foundations of literature but which are so remote from one's thinking and experience as to render them “untouchable.”Certain authors, supposed to be the bulwark of our particular Western culture, are more foreign in spirit to me than are the Chinese, the Arabs, or primitive peoples. Some of the most exciting literary works spring from cultures which have not contributed directly to our development. No fairy tales, for example, have exercised a more potent influence over me than those of the Japanese, which I became acquainted with through the work of Lafcadio Hearn, one of the exotic figures in American literature. No stories were more seductive to me as a child than those drawn from the Arabian Nights' Entertainment. American Indian folklore leaves me cold, whereas the folklore of Africa is near and dear to me. And, as I have said repeatedly, whatever I read of Chinese literature (barring Confucius) seems as if written by my immediate ancestors.

I said that sometimes it is an esteemed author who puts one on the track of a buried book. “What! He liked that book?”you say to yourself, and immediately the barriers fall away and the mind becomes not only open and receptive but positively aflame. Often it happens that it is not a friend of similar tastes who revives one's interest in a dead book but a chance acquaintance. Sometimes this individual gives the impression of being a nitwit, and one wonders why he should retain the memory of a book which this person casually recommended, or perhaps did not recommend at all but merely mentioned in the course of conversation as being an “odd”book. In a vacant mood, at loose ends, as we say, suddenly the recollection of this conversation occurs, and we are ready to give the book a trial. Then comes a hock, the shock of discovery.

Wuthering Heights is for me an example of this sort. From having heard it praised so much and so often, I had concluded that it was impossible for an English novel—by a woman!—to be that good. Then one day a friend, whose taste I suspected to be shallow, let drop a few pregnant words about it. Though I promptly proceeded to forget his remarks, the poison sank into me. Without realizing it, I nurtured a secret resolve to have a look at this famous book one day. Finally, just a few years ago, Jean Varda put it in my hands. I read it in one gulp, astounded as is everyone, I suspect, by its amazing power and beauty. Yes, one of the very great novels in the English language. And I, through pride and prejudice, had almost missed reading it.

首先，我認為有必要強調(diào)一個關于讀書的心理學現(xiàn)象，大多談及這個話題的著作都忽略了這個現(xiàn)象——人們心中惦念的往往是未曾讀過的書。有些時候，這些書極其重要。人們惦念的書至少可以分為三類：第一類書你一直想讀，卻很可能永遠不會讀；第二類書你覺得應該讀過，而且在有生之年至少會讀一些；第三類書你聽說過、談論過、看到過相關信息，但幾乎肯定不會去讀這類書，因為你對它們的偏見根深蒂固，似乎難以動搖。

第一類書是不朽之作，大多是經(jīng)典名著。人們通常羞于承認沒讀過這種書。對于這些大部頭，人們偶爾看上一點，然后便擱置一旁，同時更加確信自己還是讀不進去。這種書因人而異。對我來說，如果要舉幾位名家的話，荷馬、亞里士多德、弗蘭西斯·培根、黑格爾、盧梭（《愛彌兒》除外）、羅伯特·布朗寧、桑塔亞那1的作品都屬于此類。第二類書，我列入了《古沙國游記》《羅馬帝國衰亡史》《索多瑪120天》、卡薩諾瓦的《我的一生》、拿破侖的《回憶錄》和米什萊的《法國革命史》。第三類書則包括佩皮斯的《日記》《項狄傳》《威廉·麥斯特》《憂郁的解剖》《紅與黑》《伊壁鳩魯主義者馬里厄斯》和《亨利·亞當斯的教育》。

有時，別人偶然提及某位你沒有讀過，或是根本沒想過要讀他的作品的作者——比如你崇拜的作家有一段文字寫到了他，或是同為愛書人的朋友提到了他——這足以讓你跑去尋找這本書，用全新的眼光審視它，并想馬上據(jù)為己有。但大體而言，人們很少去讀從前忽略或刻意摒棄的書。某些主題、某些文風、與某些書名相關的不幸聯(lián)想，都會引起讓人難以抑制的抵觸情緒。比如，沒有什么能誘使我再讀一遍斯賓塞2的《仙后》。我上大學時開始讀這本書，因為匆匆離校而幸運地中斷了閱讀。至于埃德蒙·伯克3、艾迪生4或喬叟5的作品，盡管最后一位作家我覺得還值得一讀，但我永遠不會再看上一行了。盡管我不久前在《小丑的追求》中看到一篇關于《菲德拉》的精彩文章，對高乃依6產(chǎn)生興趣，但我懷疑自己是不會再看拉辛7和高乃依這兩個人的作品了。

另一方面，有些書雖是文學的奠基之作，但離人們的思想經(jīng)歷太遠，難免讓人覺得“可望而不可即”。某些作家雖是西方獨特文化的精神堡壘，卻比中國人、阿拉伯人甚至原始人更讓我感到陌生。有些最精彩的文學作品誕生于對我們的社會發(fā)展并無直接貢獻的文化。例如，沒有哪種神話比日本神話對我影響更大。通過小泉八云8，這位美國文學中頗具異國色彩的作家，我漸漸熟悉了日本神話。在我還是孩子的時候，沒有哪個故事比《天方夜譚》更吸引我。我對美國印第安傳說毫無興致，卻對非洲神話倍感親近。正如我不止一次地說，我讀的中國文學作品（除了孔子的著作）都像是我的祖先所寫。

我說過，有時你崇拜的作家會將你引向一部湮沒許久的書?！笆裁矗克矚g那本書？”你這么自言自語，心中障礙立刻消失，不僅變得開放寬容，興致也高漲起來。讓人們對某本老書燃起興致的，往往不是志趣相投的好友，而是極其偶然的邂逅。有時那個人給你留下的印象是個笨蛋，你會奇怪自己為什么記得他無意中推薦的一本書；或許他根本沒推薦，不過是談話中提到了一本“怪”書。正如人們所說，在閑散無聊、無事可做時，這次談話會突然從記憶里蹦出來，我們會想試著讀讀這本書。我們會因發(fā)現(xiàn)奇書而驚訝，然后身陷其中。

《呼嘯山莊》對我來說就是這樣。我經(jīng)常聽見人們對此書高度贊譽，但我斷定英國小說——還是出自女人之手！——不可能有那么棒。后來某一天，一個在我看來品位不高的朋友，談到此書時用了幾個意味深長的詞。我很快就忘掉了他的評論，但毒液已滲入我心。我無意中已暗下決心，有朝一日要看看這本著名的書。終于，在幾年之前，讓·瓦爾達給了我這本書。我一口氣讀完了整本書，被它驚人的力量和美所震驚。我猜，所有人都是這樣。是的，它是英語文學中最偉大的小說之一。而我，出于傲慢與偏見，幾乎錯失良書。

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讓人們對某本老書燃起興致的，往往不是志趣相投的好友，而是極其偶然的邂逅。

Henry Miller 亨利·米勒

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1．喬治·桑塔亞那（George Santayana，1863—1952），美國自然主義哲學家、散文家、詩人、小說家。

2．埃德蒙·斯賓塞（Edmund Spenser，1552—1599），英國文藝復興時期的偉大詩人，對后世的彌爾頓、雪萊和濟慈等詩人有深遠影響。

3．埃德蒙·伯克（Edmund Burke，1729—1797），愛爾蘭思想家，常被視為英美保守主義思想的奠基者。

4．約瑟夫·艾迪生（Joseph Addison，1672—1719），英國散文家、詩人。

5．杰弗里·喬叟（Geoffrey Chaucer，1340—1400），英國詩人，被譽為“英國詩歌之父”。

6．皮埃爾·高乃依（Pierre Corneille，1606—1684），法國古典主義悲劇代表作家，17世紀法國“戲劇三杰”之一。

7．讓·拉辛（Jean Racine，1639—1699），法國劇作家、古典悲劇大師。