第7章 On Accepting the Nobel Prize——William Faulkner
内容导读
战争是造成人性丧失、文明损毁、个体创伤的最极端形式之一。两次世界大战给人类造成了不可磨灭的恐怖记忆。只有人的精神——即存在于人类心底“古老的普遍真理”——才能重铸文明的荣光。1950年威廉·福克纳在获得诺贝尔文学奖的感言致辞中谈到了战争问题，呼吁年轻作家承担起神圣的职业责任，重建战争造成的精神废墟。
英文正文
Our tragedy today is ageneral and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it.There are no longer problems of the spirit.There is only the question:When will Ibe blown up?Because of this,the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about,worth the agony and the sweat.
He must learn them again.He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid;and,teaching himself that,forget it forever,leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart,the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.Until he does so,he labors under acurse.He writes not of love but of lust,of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value,of victories without hope and,worst of all,without pity or compassion.His griefs grieve on no universal bones,leaving no scars.He writes not of the heart but of the glands.
Until he relearns these things,he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man.I decline to accept the end of man.It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure:that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening,that even then there will still be one more sound:that of his puny inexhaustible voice,still talking.I refuse to accept this.I believe that man will not merely endure:he will prevail.He is immortal,not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice,but because he has asoul,a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
The poet's,the writer's,duty is to write about these things.It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart,by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past.The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man,it can be one of the props,the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
中文译文
诺贝尔获奖致辞——威廉·福克纳
我们今天的悲剧是人们普遍存在一种生理上的恐惧，这种恐惧存在已久，以致我们都可以忍受了。再也不存在精神层面的问题了。唯一的问题是：我什么时候会被炸得粉身碎骨？正因为如此，今天从事写作的男女青年已经忘记了人类内心的冲突，而只有接触到这种内心冲突才能写出好作品，因为这是唯一值得写，值得呕心沥血地去写的。
他一定要重新认识这些问题。他必须使自己明白，世间最可鄙的事情莫过于恐惧；必须使自己永远忘却恐惧，在工作室里除了心底古老的真理之外，不允许任何别的东西有容身之地。缺了这古老的普遍真理，任何小说都只能昙花一现，注定要失败——这些真理就是爱情、荣誉、怜悯、自尊、同情、牺牲。若是他做不到这样，他的力气终归白费。他不是写爱情而是写情欲；他写的失败是没有人感到失去可贵东西的失败；他写的胜利是没有希望，甚至没有怜悯或同情的胜利。他不是为有普遍意义的死亡而悲伤，所以留不下深刻的痕迹。他不是在写心灵而是在写器官。
在他重新懂得这些之前，他写作时就像站在面临末日的人类中间去观察最终的灭亡。我不接受人类末日的说法。我们容易认为人类因为忍耐而不朽；也容易认为人类微弱的说话声会一直持续，哪怕末日的钟声已经敲响，并已消失在海上那再也没有潮水冲刷、映在落日余晖中的最后一块无用礁石旁。但是我不能接受这种说法。我相信人类不仅能忍耐，更能战胜一切。人之不朽不是因为在动物中唯独他能永远发出声音，而是因为他有灵魂、有同情心、有牺牲和忍耐精神。
诗人和作家的责任就是把这些写出来。诗人和作家的特殊光荣就是去鼓舞人的斗志，使人记住曾经的荣光——勇气、荣誉、希望、自尊、同情、怜悯与牺牲精神，帮助人继续忍耐。诗人的声音不应只是人类的记录，而应是帮助人类忍耐并胜利的支柱和栋梁。
词汇速记
sustain v. 保持，蒙受
clang v. 叮当作响
puny adj. 微弱的
prop n. 支柱，支撑
美句欣赏
① He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid;and,teaching himself that,forget it forever,leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart,the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed—love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice.他一定要重新认识这些问题。他必须使自己明白，世间最可鄙的事情莫过于恐惧；必须使自己永远忘却恐惧，在工作室里除了心底古老的真理之外，不允许任何别的东西有容身之地。缺了这古老的普遍真理，任何小说都只能昙花一现，注定要失败——这些真理就是爱情、荣誉、怜悯、自尊、同情、牺牲。
② I believe that man will not merely endure:he will prevail.He is immortal,not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice,but because he has asoul,a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.我相信人类不仅能忍耐，更能战胜一切。人之不朽不是因为在动物中唯独他能永远发出声音，而是因为他有灵魂、有同情心、有牺牲和忍耐精神。