《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 秋 21

《四季隨筆》是吉辛的散文代表作。其中對(duì)隱士賴克羅夫特醉心于書籍、自然景色與回憶過(guò)去生活的描述，其實(shí)是吉辛的自述，作者以此來(lái)抒發(fā)自己的情感，因而本書是一部富有自傳色彩的小品文集。

吉辛窮困的一生，對(duì)文學(xué)名著的愛(ài)好與追求，以及對(duì)大自然恬靜生活的向往，在書中均有充分的反映。本書分為春、夏、秋、冬四個(gè)部分，文筆優(yōu)美，行文流暢，是英國(guó)文學(xué)中小品文的珍品之一。

以下是由網(wǎng)友分享的《四季隨筆》節(jié)選 - 秋 21的內(nèi)容，讓我們一起來(lái)感受吉辛的四季吧!

I wonder whether it be really true, as I have more than once seen suggested, that the publication of Anthony Trollope40's autobiography in some degree accounts for the neglect into which he and his works fell so soon after his death. I should like to believe it, for such a fact would be, from one point of view, a credit to "the great big stupid public." Only, of course, from one point of view; the notable merits of Trollope's work are unaffected by one's knowledge of how that work was produced; at his best he is an admirable writer of the pedestrian school, and this disappearance of his name does not mean final oblivion. Like every other novelist of note, he had two classes of admirers—those who read him for the sake of that excellence which here and there he achieved, and the undistinguishing crowd which found in him a level entertainment. But it would be a satisfaction to think that "the great big stupid" was really, somewhere in its secret economy, offended by that revelation of mechanical methods which made the autobiography either a disgusting or an amusing book to those who read it more intelligently. A man with a watch before his eyes, penning exactly so many words every quarter of an hour—one imagines that this picture might haunt disagreeably the thoughts even of Mudie41's steadiest subscriber, that it might come between him or her and any Trollopean work that lay upon the counter.

我曾不止一次聽到別人說(shuō)，安東尼·特羅洛普出版的自傳，多少解釋了在他去世后，他本人及作品便很快受到冷落的原因，我不知道這是不是真的。我愿意相信它，因?yàn)閺囊粋€(gè)角度來(lái)說(shuō)，它是對(duì)“愚蠢大眾”的贊許。當(dāng)然了，只是從一個(gè)角度來(lái)說(shuō)；特羅洛普作品的顯著優(yōu)點(diǎn)，不會(huì)因?yàn)樽x者知道了它的創(chuàng)作過(guò)程而受到影響；他是通俗派一位值得欽佩的作家，如今他名聲的消逝并不意味著最終的湮沒(méi)無(wú)聞。和所有知名小說(shuō)家一樣，他有兩類仰慕者——一類人因?yàn)樗髌冯S處可見(jiàn)的卓越而成為他的讀者，另一類沒(méi)有多少辨別力的人則從他的作品中得到某種娛樂(lè)。然而，想到特羅洛普自傳中披露的秘而不宣卻很經(jīng)濟(jì)的機(jī)械創(chuàng)作手法讓“愚蠢大眾”真的受到某種冒犯，還是讓人有種滿足感，對(duì)于那些用智慧來(lái)閱讀這本自傳的人來(lái)說(shuō)，他們或許會(huì)感到厭惡，又或許會(huì)覺(jué)得有趣。一個(gè)人眼前放著一只手表，十五分鐘寫出不多不少的字?jǐn)?shù)——可以想象，這個(gè)畫面也許會(huì)時(shí)時(shí)縈繞在穆迪圖書館最忠實(shí)的借閱者心頭，讓他感覺(jué)不舒服，它也許還會(huì)在讀者與柜臺(tái)上擺放的特羅洛普作品之間造成隔閡。

The surprise was so cynically sprung upon a yet innocent public. At that happy time (already it seems so long ago) the literary news set before ordinary readers mostly had reference to literary work, in a reputable sense of the term, and not, as now, to the processes of "literary" manufacture and the ups and downs of the "literary" market. Trollope himself tells how he surprised the editor of a periodical, who wanted a serial from him, by asking how many thousand words it should run to; an anecdote savouring indeed of good old days. Since then, readers have grown accustomed to revelations of "literary" method, and nothing in that kind can shock them. There has come into existence a school of journalism which would seem to have deliberately set itself the task of degrading authorship and everything connected with it; and these pernicious scribblers (or typists, to be more accurate) have found the authors of a fretful age only too receptive of their mercantile suggestions. Yes, yes; I know as well as any man that reforms were needed in the relations between author and publisher. Who knows better than I that your representative author face to face with your representative publisher was, is, and ever will be, at a ludicrous disadvantage? And there is no reason in the nature and the decency of things why this wrong should not by some contrivance be remedied. A big, blusterous, genial brute of a Trollope could very fairly hold his own, and exact at all events an acceptable share in the profits of his work. A shrewd and vigorous man of business such as Dickens, aided by a lawyer who was his devoted friend, could do even better, and, in reaping sometimes more than his publisher, redress the ancient injustice. But pray, what of Charlotte Bronte? Think of that grey, pinched life, the latter years of which would have been so brightened had Charlotte Bronte received but, let us say, one third of what, in the same space of time, the publisher gained by her books. I know all about this; alas! no man better. None the less do I loathe and sicken at the manifold baseness, the vulgarity unutterable, which, as a result of the new order, is blighting our literary life. It is not easy to see how, in such an atmosphere, great and noble books can ever again come into being. May it, perhaps, be hoped that once again the multitude will be somehow touched with disgust?—that the market for "literary" news of this costermonger sort will some day fail?

這種讓人吃驚的真相，被冷笑著拋到了還很天真的大眾面前。在那個(gè)快樂(lè)年代（似乎已經(jīng)是很久以前了），普通讀者面前的文學(xué)消息大多和文學(xué)作品（在讓人肅然起敬的意義上）相關(guān)，不像現(xiàn)在，都是關(guān)于“文學(xué)”的生產(chǎn)過(guò)程，以及“文學(xué)”市場(chǎng)的沉浮。特羅洛普自己告訴我們，一個(gè)雜志編輯向他約連載文稿，他問(wèn)稿子應(yīng)該寫多少字，讓這位編輯大為驚詫，這件軼事真有昔日好時(shí)光的味道。從那以后，讀者們開始習(xí)慣于“文學(xué)”手法的披露，這方面已經(jīng)沒(méi)什么能讓他們驚訝了。接著一個(gè)新聞流派產(chǎn)生，它的任務(wù)似乎就是刻意貶損作家身份及與之相關(guān)的一切；這些充當(dāng)害群之馬的三流作家（或者稱為打字員更為精確）發(fā)現(xiàn)，這個(gè)浮躁時(shí)代的作家，極易接納他們關(guān)于獲利的建議。是的，是的，我和所有人都清楚，作者和出版商之間的關(guān)系需要改革。誰(shuí)能比我更清楚，當(dāng)代表性的作者和代表性的出版商面對(duì)面坐在一起，前者在過(guò)去、現(xiàn)在以及將來(lái)都在獲利方面處于劣勢(shì)？從事情的本質(zhì)和體面上講，都沒(méi)有理由不對(duì)這個(gè)錯(cuò)誤設(shè)法進(jìn)行補(bǔ)救。像特羅洛普這樣一個(gè)人高馬大、氣勢(shì)洶洶而擅長(zhǎng)交際的厲害人，滿可以維護(hù)自己的權(quán)益，在任何情況下都從他作品的利潤(rùn)中取得合理的份額。像狄更斯那樣頭腦精明、精力旺盛的生意人，又有身為律師的忠誠(chéng)好友幫忙，能做得更好，有時(shí)拿到的比出版商還多，糾正了長(zhǎng)久以來(lái)的不公平。但是，夏洛特·勃朗特又怎么樣呢？想想她昏暗拮據(jù)的生活吧，如果能取得三分之一出版商當(dāng)時(shí)從她的作品得到的利潤(rùn)，那她的晚年生活該多么快活。我了解這些，唉，沒(méi)人比我更清楚了。然而，我仍然對(duì)新秩序的建立而導(dǎo)致的種種卑賤和無(wú)法言說(shuō)的粗俗，感到厭惡和憎恨,它們正在腐蝕我們的文學(xué)生活。在這樣的氛圍中，是不容易看到偉大高尚的作品產(chǎn)生的。也許，我們可以希望大眾再次對(duì)此感到厭惡？——希望有一天這種小販?zhǔn)降摹拔膶W(xué)”新聞的市場(chǎng)會(huì)垮臺(tái)？

Dickens. Why, there too was a disclosure of literary methods. Did not Forster42 make known to all and sundry exactly how Dickens' work was done, and how the bargains for its production were made? The multitudinous public saw him at his desk, learnt how long he sat there, were told that he could not get on without having certain little ornaments before his eyes, and that blue ink and a quill pen were indispensable to his writing; and did all this information ever chill the loyalty of a single reader? There was a difference, in truth, between the picture of Charles Dickens sitting down to a chapter of his current novel, and that of the broad-based Trollope doing his so many words to the fifteen minutes. Trollope, we know, wronged himself by the tone and manner of his reminiscences; but that tone and manner indicated an inferiority of mind, of nature. Dickens—though he died in the endeavour to increase (not for himself) an already ample fortune, disastrous influence of his time and class—wrought with an artistic ingenuousness and fervour such as Trollope could not even conceive. Methodical, of course, he was; no long work of prose fiction was ever brought into existence save by methodical labour; but we know that there was no measuring of so many words to the hour. The picture of him at work which is seen in his own letters is one of the most bracing and inspiring in the history of literature. It has had, and will always have, a great part in maintaining Dickens' place in the love and reverence of those who understand.

狄更斯，他的文學(xué)創(chuàng)作技巧也受到過(guò)披露。福斯特不是讓所有人都確切知道了狄更斯作品的創(chuàng)作過(guò)程，以及他作品的出版進(jìn)行過(guò)怎樣的交易嗎？人們看到他坐在書桌前，知道他坐了多久，也了解到他眼前如果沒(méi)有某些小裝飾物，便無(wú)法工作。他寫作時(shí)，藍(lán)色墨水和羽毛筆是不可或缺的。這些信息讓任何一個(gè)忠實(shí)讀者感到心灰意冷了嗎？查爾斯·狄更斯坐下創(chuàng)作最新小說(shuō)的一章，和高大的特羅洛普十五分鐘寫多少字?jǐn)?shù)，兩個(gè)畫面之間確實(shí)還是有區(qū)別的。我們知道，特羅洛普的形象大跌，是因?yàn)樗趯懟貞涗洉r(shí)使用的語(yǔ)氣和方式，它們顯示了一種比較低級(jí)的思想和性情。狄更斯——雖然他受到所處時(shí)代和階級(jí)的破壞性影響，為努力增加（不是為自己）一筆已經(jīng)很豐厚的財(cái)富而死——他的創(chuàng)作有一種藝術(shù)上的率真和熱情，這是特羅洛普無(wú)法望其項(xiàng)背的。當(dāng)然，他也講求條理，如果缺少有條不紊的筆耕，沒(méi)有一部長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)能夠創(chuàng)作出來(lái)；但是我們知道，他的創(chuàng)作不是用時(shí)間來(lái)計(jì)字?jǐn)?shù)的。從他的書信中能窺見(jiàn)他伏案工作的情景，這是文學(xué)歷史上最鼓舞人心的一個(gè)畫面。它對(duì)維護(hù)狄更斯在那些熱愛(ài)和尊崇他的知音們心目中的地位，曾經(jīng)起到重要作用，將來(lái)也將如此。