The Books in My Life　我一生中的书

所属教程:英语漫读

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2019年06月05日

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The Books in My Life

我一生中的书

Henry Miller

亨利·米勒

作者简介

亨利·米勒（Henry Miller，1891—1980），美国小说家，20世纪最重要的作家之一。其代表作是自传性小说三部曲《北回归线》（Tropic of Cancer）、《黑色的春天》（Black Spring）和《南回归线》（Tropic of Capricorn）。这些作品一度被出版社认为是淫秽之作而拒绝出版，问世后迅速在文坛上下引起轰动。

米勒被20世纪60年代“反正统文学运动”成员称为“自由与性解放的预言家”。当代诗歌鼻祖艾兹拉·庞德（Ezra Pound）则将其与文豪詹姆斯·奥古斯丁·阿洛伊修斯·乔伊斯（James Augustine Aloysius Joyce）和弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙（Virginia Woolf）相提并论。

本文选自米勒1952年出版的作品《我一生中的书》（The Books in My Life）。作者饶有趣味地将人们“从未读过的书”分为三类，并将自己差点“错失良书”的经历娓娓道来，让人忍俊不禁。

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，我认为有必要强调一个关于读书的心理学现象，大多谈及这个话题的著作都忽略了这个现象——人们心中惦念的往往是未曾读过的书。有些时候，这些书极其重要。人们惦念的书至少可以分为三类：第一类书你一直想读，却很可能永远不会读；第二类书你觉得应该读过，而且在有生之年至少会读一些；第三类书你听说过、谈论过、看到过相关信息，但几乎肯定不会去读这类书，因为你对它们的偏见根深蒂固，似乎难以动摇。

第一类书是不朽之作，大多是经典名著。人们通常羞于承认没读过这种书。对于这些大部头，人们偶尔看上一点，然后便搁置一旁，同时更加确信自己还是读不进去。这种书因人而异。对我来说，如果要举几位名家的话，荷马、亚里士多德、弗兰西斯·培根、黑格尔、卢梭（《爱弥儿》除外）、罗伯特·布朗宁、桑塔亚那1的作品都属于此类。第二类书，我列入了《古沙国游记》《罗马帝国衰亡史》《索多玛120天》、卡萨诺瓦的《我的一生》、拿破仑的《回忆录》和米什莱的《法国革命史》。第三类书则包括佩皮斯的《日记》《项狄传》《威廉·麦斯特》《忧郁的解剖》《红与黑》《伊壁鸠鲁主义者马里厄斯》和《亨利·亚当斯的教育》。

有时，别人偶然提及某位你没有读过，或是根本没想过要读他的作品的作者——比如你崇拜的作家有一段文字写到了他，或是同为爱书人的朋友提到了他——这足以让你跑去寻找这本书，用全新的眼光审视它，并想马上据为己有。但大体而言，人们很少去读从前忽略或刻意摒弃的书。某些主题、某些文风、与某些书名相关的不幸联想，都会引起让人难以抑制的抵触情绪。比如，没有什么能诱使我再读一遍斯宾塞2的《仙后》。我上大学时开始读这本书，因为匆匆离校而幸运地中断了阅读。至于埃德蒙·伯克3、艾迪生4或乔叟5的作品，尽管最后一位作家我觉得还值得一读，但我永远不会再看上一行了。尽管我不久前在《小丑的追求》中看到一篇关于《菲德拉》的精彩文章，对高乃依6产生兴趣，但我怀疑自己是不会再看拉辛7和高乃依这两个人的作品了。

另一方面，有些书虽是文学的奠基之作，但离人们的思想经历太远，难免让人觉得“可望而不可即”。某些作家虽是西方独特文化的精神堡垒，却比中国人、阿拉伯人甚至原始人更让我感到陌生。有些最精彩的文学作品诞生于对我们的社会发展并无直接贡献的文化。例如，没有哪种神话比日本神话对我影响更大。通过小泉八云8，这位美国文学中颇具异国色彩的作家，我渐渐熟悉了日本神话。在我还是孩子的时候，没有哪个故事比《天方夜谭》更吸引我。我对美国印第安传说毫无兴致，却对非洲神话倍感亲近。正如我不止一次地说，我读的中国文学作品（除了孔子的著作）都像是我的祖先所写。

我说过，有时你崇拜的作家会将你引向一部湮没许久的书。“什么？他喜欢那本书？”你这么自言自语，心中障碍立刻消失，不仅变得开放宽容，兴致也高涨起来。让人们对某本老书燃起兴致的，往往不是志趣相投的好友，而是极其偶然的邂逅。有时那个人给你留下的印象是个笨蛋，你会奇怪自己为什么记得他无意中推荐的一本书；或许他根本没推荐，不过是谈话中提到了一本“怪”书。正如人们所说，在闲散无聊、无事可做时，这次谈话会突然从记忆里蹦出来，我们会想试着读读这本书。我们会因发现奇书而惊讶，然后身陷其中。

《呼啸山庄》对我来说就是这样。我经常听见人们对此书高度赞誉，但我断定英国小说——还是出自女人之手！——不可能有那么棒。后来某一天，一个在我看来品位不高的朋友，谈到此书时用了几个意味深长的词。我很快就忘掉了他的评论，但毒液已渗入我心。我无意中已暗下决心，有朝一日要看看这本著名的书。终于，在几年之前，让·瓦尔达给了我这本书。我一口气读完了整本书，被它惊人的力量和美所震惊。我猜，所有人都是这样。是的，它是英语文学中最伟大的小说之一。而我，出于傲慢与偏见，几乎错失良书。

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让人们对某本老书燃起兴致的，往往不是志趣相投的好友，而是极其偶然的邂逅。

Henry Miller 亨利·米勒

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1．乔治·桑塔亚那（George Santayana，1863—1952），美国自然主义哲学家、散文家、诗人、小说家。

2．埃德蒙·斯宾塞（Edmund Spenser，1552—1599），英国文艺复兴时期的伟大诗人，对后世的弥尔顿、雪莱和济慈等诗人有深远影响。

3．埃德蒙·伯克（Edmund Burke，1729—1797），爱尔兰思想家，常被视为英美保守主义思想的奠基者。

4．约瑟夫·艾迪生（Joseph Addison，1672—1719），英国散文家、诗人。

5．杰弗里·乔叟（Geoffrey Chaucer，1340—1400），英国诗人，被誉为“英国诗歌之父”。

6．皮埃尔·高乃依（Pierre Corneille，1606—1684），法国古典主义悲剧代表作家，17世纪法国“戏剧三杰”之一。

7．让·拉辛（Jean Racine，1639—1699），法国剧作家、古典悲剧大师。