双语全文 ● 鲁迅 阿Q正传——第一章　序

The True Story of Ah Q

Chapter 1

Introduction

For several years now I have been meaning to write the true story of Ah Q. But while wanting to write I was in some trepidation too， which goes to show that I am not one of those who achieve glory by writing； for an immor­tal pen has always been required to record the deeds of an immortal man，the man becoming known to posterity through the writing and the writing known to posterity through the man—until finally it is not clear who is mak­ing whom known. But in the end， as though possessed by some fiend， I al­ways came back to the idea of writing the story of Ah Q.

And yet no sooner had I taken up my pen than I became conscious of tremendous difficulties in writing this far-from-immortal work. The first was the question of what to call it. Confucius said， “If the name is not correct， the words will not ring true”； and this axiom should be most scrupulously observed. There are many types of biography： official biographies，autobiographies， unauthorized biographies， legends， supplement biographies，family histories， sketches ... but unfortunately none of these suited my purpose.“Official biography？ ” This account will obviously not be included with those of many eminent people in some authentic history. “Autobiography？” But I am obviously not Ah Q. If I were to call this an “unauthorized biography，”then where is his “authenticated biography？” The use of “legend” is impossible because Ah Q was no legendary figure. “Supplementary biography？ ”But no president has ever ordered the National Historical Institute to write a“standard life”of Ah Q. It is true that although there are no “lives of gamblers”in authentic English history， the well-known author Conan Doyle nevertheless wrote Rodney Stone； but while this is permissible for a well-known author it is not permissible for such as I. Then there is “family history”； but I do not know whether I belong to the same family as Ah Q or not, nor have his children or grandchildren ever entrusted me with such a task. If I were to use “sketch,” it might be objected that Ah Q has no “complete account.” In short, this is really a “life，” but since I write in vulgar vein using the language of hucksters and pedlars， I dare not presume to give it so highsounding a title. So I will take as my title the last two words of stock phrase of the novelist， who are not reckoned among the Three Cults and Nine Schools. “Enough of this digression， and back to the true story”； and if this is reminiscent of the True Story of Calligraphy of the ancients， it cannot be helped.

阿Q正传

第一章　序

我要给阿Q做正传，已经不止一两年了。但一面要做，一面又往回想，这足见我不是一个“立言”的人，因为从来不朽之笔，须传不朽之人，于是人以文传，文以人传——究竟谁靠谁传，渐渐的不甚了然起来，而终于归结到传阿Q，仿佛思想里有鬼似的。

然而要做这一篇速朽的文章，才下笔，便感到万分的困难了。第一是文章的名目。孔子曰，“名不正则言不顺”。这原是应该极注意的。传的名目很繁多：列传，自传，内传，外传，别传，家传，小传……，而可惜都不合。“列传”么，这一篇并非和许多阔人排在“正史”里；“自传”么，我又并非就是阿Q。说是“外传”，“内传”在那里呢？倘用“内传”，阿Q又决不是神仙。“别传”呢，阿Q实在未曾有大总统上谕宣付国史馆立“本传”——虽说英国正史上并无“博徒列传”，而文豪迭更司也做过《博徒别传》这一部书，但文豪则可，在我辈却不可的。其次是“家传”，则我既不知与阿Q是否同宗，也未曾受他子孙的拜托；或“小传”，则阿Q又更无别的“大传”了。总而言之，这一篇也便是“本传”，但从我的文章着想，因为文体卑下，是“引车卖浆者流”所用的话，所以不敢僭称，便从不入三教九流的小说家所谓“闲话休题言归正传”这一句套话里，取出“正传”两个字来，作为名目，即使与古人所撰《书法正传》的“正传”字面上很相混，也顾不得了。

The second difficulty confronting me was that a biography of this type should start off something like this: “So-and-so， whose other name was soand-so， was a native of such-and-such a place”； but I don’t really know what Ah Q’s surname was. Once， he seemed to be named Zhao， but the next day there was some confusion about the matter again. This was after Mr. Zhao’s son had passed the county examination and， to the sound of gongs， his suc­cess was announced in the village. Ah Q， who had just drunk two bowls of yellow wine， began to prance about declaring that this reflected credit on him too， since he belonged to the same clan as Mr. Zhao and by an exact reckoning was three generations senior to the successful candidate. At the time several bystanders even began to stand slightly in awe of Ah Q. But the next day the bailiff summoned him to Mr. Zhao’s house. When the old gen­tleman set eyes on his face turned crimson with fury and he roared：

“Ah Q， you miserable wretch! Did you say I belonged to the same clan as you？”

Ah Q made no reply.

The more he looked at him the angrier Mr. Zhao became. Advancing menacingly a few steps he said， “How dare you talk such nonsense! How could I have such a relative as you？ Is your surname Zhao？”

Ah Q made no reply and was planning a retreat， when Mr. Zhao darted forward and gave him a slap on the face.

第二，立传的通例，开首大抵该是“某，字某，某地人也”，而我并不知道阿Q姓什么。有一回，他似乎是姓赵，但第二日便模糊了。那是赵太爷的儿子进了秀才的时候，锣声镗镗的报到村里来，阿Q正喝了两碗黄酒，便手舞足蹈的说，这于他也很光采，因为他和赵太爷原来是本家，细细的排起来他还比秀才长三辈呢。其时几个旁听人倒也肃然的有些起敬了。那知道第二天，地保便叫阿Q到赵太爷家里去；太爷一见，满脸溅朱，喝道：

“阿Q，你这浑小子！你说我是你的本家么？”

阿Q不开口。

赵太爷愈看愈生气了，抢进几步说：“你敢胡说！我怎么会有你这样的本家？你姓赵么？”

阿Q不开口，想往后退了；赵太爷跳过去，给了他一个嘴巴。

“How could you be named Zhao？ Are you worthy of the name Zhao？”

Ah Q made no attempt to defend Ms right to the name Zhao but rub­bing his left cheek went out with the bailiff from whom， once outside， he had to listen to another torrent of abuse. He then by way of atonement paid him two hundred cash. All who heard this said Ah Q was a great fool to ask for a beating like that. Even if his surname were Zhao—which wasn’t like­ly—he should have known better than to boast like that when there was a Mr. Zhao living in the village. Afer this no further mention was made of Ah Q’s ancestry， thus I still have no idea what his surname really was.

The third difficulty I encountered in writing this work was that I don’t know how Ah Q’s personal name should be written either. During his lifetime everybody called him Ah Gui， but after his death not a soul mentioned Ah Gui again； for he was obviously not one of those whose name is “preserved on bamboo tablets and silk. ” If there is any question of preserving his name，this essay must be the first attempt at doing so. Hence I am confronted with this difficulty at the outset. I have given the question careful thought. Ah Gui—would that be the “Gui” meaning fragrant osmanthus or the “Gui”meaning nobility？ If his other name had been Moon Pavilion， or if he had celebrated his birthday in the month of the Moon Festival， then it would certainly be the “Gui” for fragrant osmanthus. But since he had no other name—or if he had， no one knew it—and since he never sent out invitations on his birthday to secure complimentary verses， it would be arbitrary to write Ah Gui （fragrant osmanthus）. Again， if he had had an elder or younger brother called Ah Fu （prosperity）， then he would certainly be called Ah Gui （nobility）. But he was all on his own； thus there is no justification forwriting Ah Gui （nobility）. All the other， unusual characters with the sound Gui are even less suitable. I once put this question to Mr. Zhao’s son， the successful county candidate， but even such a learned man as he was baffled by it. According to him， however， the reason why this name could not be traced was that Chen Duxiu had brought out the magazine New Youth advo­cating the use of the Western alphabet， hence the national culture was going to the dogs. As a last resort， I asked someone from my district to go and look up the legal documents recording Ah Q’s case， but after eight months he sent me a letter saying that there was no name anything like Ah Gui in those records. Although uncertain whether this was the truth or whether my friend had simply done nothing， after failing to trace the name this way I could think of no other means of finding it. Since I am afraid the new system of phonetics has not yet come into common use， there is nothing for it but to use the Western alphabet， writing the name according to the English spelling as Ah Gui and abbreviating it to Ah Q. This approximates to blindly following New Youth， and I am thoroughly ashamed of myself； but since even such a learned man as Mr. Zhao’s son could not solve my problem， what else can I do？

“你怎么会姓赵！——你那里配姓赵！”

阿Q并没有抗辩他确凿姓赵，只用手摸着左颊，和地保退出去了；外面又被地保训斥了一番，谢了地保二百文酒钱。知道的人都说阿Q太荒唐，自己去招打；他大约未必姓赵，即使真姓赵，有赵太爷在这里，也不该如此胡说的。此后便再没有人提起他的氏族来，所以我终于不知道阿Q究竟什么姓。

第三，我又不知道阿Q的名字是怎么写的。他活着的时候，人都叫他阿Quei，死了以后，便没有一个人再叫阿Quei了，那里还会有“著之竹帛”的事。若论“著之竹帛”，这篇文章要算第一次，所以先遇着了这第一个难关。我曾经仔细想：阿Quei，阿桂还是阿贵呢？倘使他号叫月亭，或者在八月间做过生日，那一定是阿桂了；而他既没有号——也许有号，只是没有人知道他，——又未尝散过生日征文的贴子：写作阿桂，是武断的。又倘若他有一位老兄或令弟叫阿富，那一定是阿贵了；而他又只是一个人：写作阿贵，也没有佐证的。其余音Quei的偏僻字样，更加凑不上了。先前，我也曾问过赵太爷的儿子茂才先生，谁料博雅如此公，竟也茫然，但据结论说，是因为陈独秀办了《新青年》提倡洋字，所以国粹沦亡，无可查考了。我的最后的手段，只有托一个同乡去查阿Q犯事的案卷，八个月之后才有回信，说案卷里并无与阿Quei的声音相近的人。我虽不知道是真没有，还是没有查，然而也再没有别的方法了。生怕注音字母还未通行，只好用了“洋字”，照英国流行的拼法写他为阿Quei，略作阿Q。这近于盲从《新青年》，自己也很抱歉，但茂才公尚且不知，我还有什么好办法呢。

My fourth difficulty was with Ah Q’s place of origin. If his surname were Zhao， then according to the old custom which still prevails of classify­ing people by their district， one might look up the commentary in The Hun­ dred Surnames and find “Native of Tianshui in Gansu.” But unfortunately this surname is open to question， with the result that Ah Q’s place of origin must also remain uncertain. Although he lived for the most part in Weizhuang， he often stayed in other places， so that it would be wrong to call him a native of Weizhuang. It would， in fact， amount to a distortion of history.

The only thing that consoles me is the fact that the character “Ah” is absolutely correct. This is definitely not the result of false analogy， and is well able to stand the test of scholarly criticism. As for the other problems， it is not for such unlearned people as myself to solve them， and I can only hope that disciples of Dr. Hu Shi， who has such “a passion for history and research，” may be able in future to throw new light on them. I am afraid，however， that by that time my “True Story of Ah Q” will have long since passed into oblivion.

The foregoing may be considered as an introduction.

第四，是阿Q的籍贯了。倘他姓赵，则据现在好称郡望的老例，可以照《郡名百家姓》上的注解，说是“陇西天水人也”，但可惜这姓是不甚可靠的，因此籍贯也就有些决不定。他虽然多住未庄，然而也常常宿在别处，不能说是未庄人，即使说是“未庄人也”，也仍然有乖史法的。

我所聊以自慰的，是还有一个“阿”字非常正确，绝无附会假借的缺点，颇可以就正于通人。至于其余，却都非浅学所能穿凿，只希望有“历史癖与考据癖”的胡适之先生的门人们，将来或者能够寻出许多新端绪来，但是我这《阿Q正传》到那时却又怕早经消灭了。

以上可以算是序。