旅行的艺术:旅行中的特定场所-5

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除了高速公路，没有任何别的道路能通到加油站，连步行的小径也没有。加油站孑然独立，它似乎不属于城市，也不属于乡间，而是属于一种第三空间，即旅行者的领地，就像是独立于海角的灯塔。

There was, apart from the motorway, no road linking the service station to other places, no footpath even; it seemed not to belong to the city, nor to the country either, but rather to some third, travellers' realm, like a lighthouse at the edge of the ocean.

地理意义上的孤立给餐厅以孤单疏离的氛围。灯光有些冷漠，衬出苍白和斑斑渍迹。桌椅颜色鲜艳得予人优雅的感觉，像是假笑的脸上强挤出的欢欣。餐厅里无人交谈，无人表现出丝毫的好奇，无人回应你的感受。无论是在吧台，还是在离开并走进黑暗时，我们彼此擦肩而过，投向对方的都是空洞无神的一瞥。我们坐在那里，视他者若岩石。

This geographical isolation enforced the atmosphere of solitude in the dining area. The lighting was unforgiving, bringing out pallor and blemishes. The chairs and seats, painted in childishly bright colours, had the strained jollity of a fake smile. No one was talking, no one admitting to curiosity or fellow feeling. We gazed blankly past one another at the serving counter or out into the darkness. We might have been seated among rocks.

我坐在餐厅一隅，吃着巧克力条，偶尔喝一口橙汁。孤独，是我此时的心境，然而，这一次，孤单是如此的温柔，竟然让我欣悦，因为此时的孤独不是那种置身于欢笑和群闹中，让我意识到心境和环境之反差并觉得痛苦的那种孤独；它源于陌生的人群，在这里大家都明白，沟通的障碍客观存在，对爱的渴求也难以实现，而这里的建筑和灯光无疑也凸现了此时孤独的氛围。

I remained in one corner, eating fingers of chocolate and taking occasional sips of orange juice. I felt lonely but, for once, this was a gentle, even pleasant kind of loneliness because, rather than unfolding against a backdrop of laughter and fellowship, in which I would suffer from a contrast between my mood and the environment, it had its locus in a place where everyone was a stranger, where the difficulties of communication and the frustrated longing for love seemed to be acknowledged and brutally celebrated by the architecture and lighting.

这种孤独的心境让我想到爱德华·霍珀[9] 的画作：这些画作描绘的景物苍凉，但画作本身看上去却不显苍凉，而是让观者感受到他们内心的忧伤，引发共鸣，因而减轻内心之苦痛，摆脱烦恼的纠缠。也许，心境悲伤时，最好的解药便是阅读伤感的书籍，而当我们觉得周遭无爱可系无情相牵的时候，我们最应当驱车前行的地方便是某一个偏远独立的加油站。

The collective loneliness brought to mind certain canvases by Edward Hopper which, despite the bleakness they depicted, were not themselves bleak to look at, but rather allowed their viewers to witness an echo of their own grief and thereby feel less personally persecuted and beset by it. It is perhaps sad books that best console us when we are sad, and to lonely service stations that we should drive when there is no one for us to hold or love.

1906年，霍珀24岁，他前往巴黎，并在巴黎发现了波德莱尔的诗歌。从那以后，波德莱尔的诗作便成了他终生诵读的对象。我们不难理解他对波德莱尔的迷恋：他们对孤独、都市生活、现代社会，以及他们对夜的宁静和旅行过的地方持有相同的看法。1925年，霍珀买了一辆二手道奇车，这是他一生中买的第一辆车，然后，从他在纽约的家一直开到新墨西哥。这之后，他每年都有几个月的时间在外旅行，不管是在路途中、旅店房间里、汽车后座上，还是在户外和餐厅里，他都留下了大量素描或油画作品。1941至1955年间，他5次穿越美国。他住过西佳、戴尔·哈文、阿拉莫·普拉扎和蓝顶等旅店或汽车旅馆。路边写有“空房，配电视、有独立洗澡间”的霓虹广告牌一闪一烁，常常会吸引他；铺有薄床垫和干爽床单的床，正对着停车场或一块块修剪平整的草地的大窗台；很晚入住却又一大早离开的旅客留下的一丝神秘，接待柜台摆放的当地景点的宣传册子，以及停放在静静的过道上堆满物品的酒店房间整理车等等，这一切都吸引着他。至于每日饭食，霍珀常在各种牛排、热狗快餐店解决。经过有美孚、标准石油、海湾、蓝太阳等标志的加油站时，他也会给车子加油。

In 1906, at the age of twenty-four, Hopper went to Paris and discovered the poetry of Baudelaire, whose work he was to read and recite throughout his life. The attraction is not hard to understand: there was a shared interest in solitude, in city life, in modernity, in the solace of the night and in the places of travel. In 1925, Hopper bought his first car, a second-hand Dodge, and drove from his home in New York to New Mexico, and from then on spent several months on the road every year, sketching and painting on the way, in motel rooms, in the backs of cars, outdoors and in diners. Between 1941 and 1955, he crossed America five times. He stayed in Best Western motels, Del Haven Cabins, Alamo Plaza Courts and Blue Top Lodges. He was drawn to the neon signs that blink 'Vacancy, TV, Bath' from the side of the road, to the beds with their thin mattresses and crisp sheets, to the large windows that give out on to car parks or small patches of manicured lawn, to the mystery of the guests who arrive late and set off at dawn, the brochures for local attractions in the reception area and the laden housekeeping trolleys parked in silent corridors. For meals Hopper would stop at diners, at Hot Shoppe Mighty Mo Drive-Ins, Steak 'N' Shakes or Dog 'N' Sudds-and he would fill up his car at petrol stations displaying the logos of Mobil, Standard Oil, Gulf and Blue Sunoco.

而且，霍珀往往在这些人们忽略甚至不屑一顾的地方发现了诗意，如汽车旅馆之诗和公路旁小餐馆之诗。他的画作（以及和作品内容相一致的标题）表明他对旅行中的五种地方有着持久的兴趣：

And in these ignored, often derided landscapes, Hopper found poetry: the poésie des motels, the poésie des petits restaurants au bord d'une route . His paintings (and their resonant titles) suggest a consistent interest in five different kinds of travelling place:

1.旅馆

1.HOTELS

旅馆房间，1931

Hotel Room , 1931

旅馆大堂，1943

Hotel Lobby , 1943

旅客休息室，1945

Rooms for Tourists , 1945

铁路旁的旅馆，1952

Hotel by a Railroad , 1952

旅馆的窗户，1956

Hotel Window , 1956

西部汽车旅馆，1957

Western Motel , 1957

2.公路和加油站

2.ROADS AND PETROL STATIONS

缅因州的公路，1914

Road in Maine , 1914

加油站，1940

Gas , 1940

东哈姆，第六大道，1941

Route 6, Eastham , 1941

荒僻之地，1944

Solitude , 1944

四车道公路，1956

Four Lane Road , 1956

3.小餐馆和自助餐厅

3.DINERS AND CAFETERIAS

自动贩卖店，1927

Automat , 1927

自助餐厅里的阳光，1958

Sunlight in a Cafeteria , 1958

4.从火车上看到的景观

4.VIEWS FROM TRAINS

铁道旁的房子，1925

House by the Railroad , 1925

纽约、纽黑文和哈特福德，1931

New York, New Haven and Hartford , 1931

铁路路堤，1932

Railroad Embankment , 1932

驶向波士顿，1936

Toward Boston , 1936

驶近一座城市，1946

Approaching a City , 1946

公路和树，1962

Road and Trees , 1962

5.火车内和全部车辆的景观

5.VIEWS INSIDE TRAINS AND OF ROLLING STOCK

在电动火车上的一夜，1920

Night on the El Train , 1920

火车头，1925

Locomotive , 1925

293号车厢C舱，1938

Compartment C, Car 293, 1938

宾夕法尼亚的拂晓，1942

Dawn in Pennsylvania , 1942

豪华列车，1965

Chair Car , 1965

所有这些作品中，孤独是最常出现的主题。霍珀作品中的人物通常看起来都远离家乡；他们孤单地坐着或站着，在旅店床边上读着一封信，或在酒吧独饮；他们在行驶的列车上凝视窗外，或在旅店大堂捧书默读。看上去他们多愁善感，若有所思。他们也许刚刚离开了某个人，或是刚被某人所离弃；他们漂泊四方，居无定所，寻找工作、性和友伴。往往是在夜晚，窗外漆黑一片，人们可以感觉到他们置身开阔的乡村原野或面对一个陌生城市时的恐惧。

Loneliness is the dominant theme. Hopper's figures seem far from home; they sit or stand alone, looking at a letter on the edge of a hotel bed or drinking in a bar, they gaze out of the window of a moving train or read a book in a hotel lobby. Their faces are vulnerable and introspective. They have perhaps just left someone or been left; they are in search of work, sex or company, adrift in transient places. It is often night and through the window lie the darkness and threat of the open country or of a strange city.

在《自动贩卖店》中，一位女士独坐，喝着一杯咖啡。夜深了，从她头上的帽子和身上的大衣看，外面很冷。用餐室看起来很大，空而亮。餐室的布置都比较实用，摆着石面餐桌，结实耐用的黑木椅子，墙壁刷得很白。画中的女士看上去并不习惯一个人坐在一个公共场合，显得有些不自在，还略带不安，似乎有什么事情不对劲。观者会在不知不觉中想象关于她的故事，故事可能同背叛和失落相关。她把咖啡杯送到唇边，尽量不让自己的手颤抖。这也许是美国北部某个大城市，时间大约是2月的某个晚上，11点。

In Automat (1927), a woman sits alone drinking a cup of coffee. It is late and, to judge by her hat and coat, cold outside. The room seems large, brightly lit and empty. The décor is functional, with a stone-topped table, hard-wearing black wooden chairs and white walls. The woman looks self-conscious and slightly afraid, unused to sitting alone in a public place. Something appears to have gone wrong. She unwittingly invites the viewer to imagine stories for her, stories of betrayal or loss. She is trying not to let her hand shake as she moves the coffee cup to her lips. It may be eleven at night in February in a large North American city.

爱德华·霍珀：《自动贩卖店》，1927年

《自动贩卖店》这幅作品所要表现的是一种淡淡的哀愁——但它并不是一幅悲情画。同伟大而伤感的音乐作品一样，《自动贩卖店》有其感人的力量。尽管这家店陈设简单，但它本身似乎并没有让人觉得不舒服。餐室里也许还有别的人，不管是男性还是女性，他们都独坐，喝着咖啡，陷入沉思，和画中的女士一样，同自己所在的社会保持着距离：这是一种常见的隔阂感，对任何独处者，这种感觉有助于减轻他们在孤独状态中的压抑感。在公路旁的小餐馆、午夜时分的自助餐厅、旅店的大堂和火车站的咖啡馆，我们可能不太能感觉到那种在偏僻的公共场所油然而生的孤独和疏离感，反倒重新发现一种同周围人群的强烈认同。家庭气息的缺失、明亮的灯光和毫无特色的陈设把我们从种种所谓家的舒适中解脱出来。同家里挂着相框和贴着墙纸的客厅相比，在这些地方，我们更容易摆脱心中的感伤——这种近乎避难所的装饰更能让我们放松。

Automat is a picture of sadness-and yet it is not a sad picture. It has the power of a great melancholy piece of music. Despite the starkness of the furnishings, the location itself does not seem wretched. Others in the room may be on their own as well, men and women drinking coffee by themselves, similarly lost in thought, similarly distanced from society: a common isolation with the beneficial effect of lessening the oppressive sense within any one person that they are alone in being alone. In roadside diners and late-night cafeterias, hotel lobbies and station cafés, we may dilute a feeling of isolation in a lonely public place and hence rediscover a distinctive sense of community. The lack of domesticity, the bright lights and anonymous furniture may come as a relief from what are often the false comforts of home. It may be easier to give way to sadness here than in a living room with wallpaper and framed photos, the décor of a refuge that has let us down.

霍珀试图让我们同画中独品孤独的女士产生共鸣。她看上去高贵大方，但也许太容易相信别人，过于天真，她似乎在生活中着着实实地碰了一次壁。霍珀让我们将心比心，设想她的处境。霍珀作品中的人物并不反感家本身，只是家似乎以各种各样不容辩驳的方式背叛了他们，这才迫使他们离家出走，步入夜的孤独或漂泊在路上。对那些因为高尚的原因而不能在现实世界里寻找到家园的人，以及那些波德莱尔可能冠以“诗人”称号的人来说，全天候开放的小餐馆、火车站的候车室和汽车旅馆便是他们的避难所。

Hopper invites us to feel empathy with the woman in her isolation. She seems dignified and generous, only perhaps a little too trusting, a little naïve-as if she has knocked against a hard corner of the world. Hopper puts us on her side, the side of the outsider against the insiders. The figures in Hopper's art are not opponents of home per se , it is simply that, in a variety of undefined ways, home appears to have betrayed them, forcing them out into the night or on to the road. The twenty-four-hour diner, the station waiting room and the motel are sanctuaries for those who have, for noble reasons, failed to find a home in the ordinary world, sanctuaries for those whom Baudelaire might have dignified with the honorific 'poets'.