第四冊第3篇：文學(xué)的感染力

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I will tell you what literature is! No—I only wish I could. But I can’t. No one can. Gleams can be thrown on the secret, inklings given, but no more. I will try to give you an inkling. And, to do so, I will take you back into your own history, or forward into it. That evening when you went for a walk with your faithful friend, the friend from whom you hid nothing—or almost nothing ...! You were, in truth, somewhat inclined to hide from him the particular matter which monopolized your mind that evening, but somehow you contrived to get on to it, drawn by an overpowering fascination. And as your faithful friend was sympathetic and discreet, and flattered you by a respectful curiosity, you proceeded further and further into the said matter, growing more and more confidential, until at last you cried out, in a terrific whisper: “My boy, she is simply miraculous!” At that moment you were in the domain of literature.

我要跟你講講文學(xué)是什么!不…我只是但愿能做到，可實(shí)際上我做不到。對于文學(xué)的奧秘，只能略加闡釋，做點(diǎn)提示而已。我就試圖給諸位做點(diǎn)提示吧。為此，我要引導(dǎo)你回顧一下你的歷史，或者做一番遐想。比如說，哪天夜晚你和你的摯友一道散步，你對他可是無話不談，或者說幾乎無話不談呀…!當(dāng)時(shí)你心頭縈繞著一樁不同尋常的事，真有點(diǎn)想對他保守秘密。可你又像中了邪似的，不知怎么就扯出來了。你的朋友挺會體貼人，也很謹(jǐn)慎，那副急于了解內(nèi)情、洗耳恭聽的樣子，讓你感到不勝高興，于是你越說越來勁兒，越說越推心置腹，最后你激動地低聲嚷道： “好家伙，她真是神奇呀!”這時(shí)候，你就進(jìn)入了文學(xué)的領(lǐng)地。

Let me explain. Of course, in the ordinary acceptation of the word, she was not miraculous. Your faithful friend had never noticed that she was miraculous, nor had about forty thousand other fairly keen observers. She was just a girl. Troy (注：特洛伊城)had not been burnt for her. A girl cannot be called a miracle. If a girl is to be called a miracle, then you might call pretty nearly anything a miracle.... That is just it: you might. You can. You ought. Amid all the miracles of the universe you had just wakened up to one. You were full of your discovery. You were under a divine impulsion to impart that discovery. You had a strong sense of the marvelous beauty of something, and you had to share it. You were in a passion about something, and you had to vent yourself on somebody. You were drawn towards the whole of the rest of the human race. Mark the effect of your mood and utterance on your faithful friend. He knew that she was not a miracle. But you, by the force and sincerity of your own vision of her, and by the fervor of your desire to make him participate in your vision, did for quite a long time cause him to feel that he had been blind to the miracle of that girl.

請讓我解釋一下。當(dāng)然，按照人們對這個(gè)字眼的通常理解來說，她并不神奇。她只不過是一位姑娘。如果一位姑娘可以稱為神奇的話，那你幾乎可以把所有的東西都稱為神奇了…事情正是這樣：你可以，你能夠，你應(yīng)該。在宇宙間的所有奇跡中，你僅僅醒悟到了其中的一個(gè)。你滿腦子里都是這一新奇發(fā)現(xiàn)，于是便產(chǎn)生一種神圣的沖動，非把這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)透露出來不可。你真想向全人類敞開心扉。請注意你的心情和言語在你的摯友身上產(chǎn)生了什么效果。他知道那姑娘并不神奇?？墒悄阊?，憑著你對她那熱烈真摯的印象，以及要讓你的朋友產(chǎn)生同樣看法的愿望，經(jīng)過一段時(shí)間的努力，竟使他覺得自己一直沒有發(fā)現(xiàn)那姑娘的神奇。

You were producing literature. You were alive. Your eyes were unlidded, your ears were unstopped, to some part of the beauty and the strangeness of the world; and a strong instinct within you forced you to tell someone. It was not enough for you that you saw and heard. Others had to see and hear. Others had to be wakened up. And they were! It is quite possible—I am not quite sure—that your faithful friend the very next day, or the next month, looked at some other girl, and suddenly saw that she, too, was miraculous! The influence of literature!

這時(shí)候你就在創(chuàng)造文學(xué)作品。你的感覺靈敏了，你的眼睛睜開來，耳朵開啟了，注意到世界上某個(gè)美麗的、新奇的事物，內(nèi)心有一種強(qiáng)烈的沖動，要找個(gè)人傾訴一番。對于你來說，自己要看到聽到還不夠，非讓別人看到聽到不可。你定要喚醒別人，而別人果真被喚醒了：很有可能——雖然我不敢百分之百地肯定——到了第二天，或是下個(gè)月，你的摯友瞧著另一位姑娘，突然發(fā)現(xiàn)她也很神奇!這就是文學(xué)的感染力!