威廉�？思{在接受諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)時(shí)的演講
人物簡(jiǎn)介
威廉�？思{在接受諾貝爾獎(jiǎng)時(shí)的演講：威廉�？思{(1897—1962)，美國(guó)作家，先后創(chuàng)作了十幾篇長(zhǎng)篇小說(shuō)和幾十篇短篇小說(shuō)，描述了以美國(guó)南方200年來(lái)南北戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)為中心事件的社會(huì)變遷，各種家族的興衰，各種人物的沉浮。他的小說(shuō)常描寫(xiě)美國(guó)的黑暗面，1949年獲得諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。本篇是他在接受該獎(jiǎng)時(shí)所發(fā)表的演講。
演講全文
I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work -- a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.
我認(rèn)為這個(gè)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)不是授給我個(gè)人而是授給我的工作---------一項(xiàng)艱辛而痛苦的畢生投入的人類(lèi)精神的工作,既不為名也不土利,而是要從人類(lèi)的精神原材料中創(chuàng)造一些前所未有的東西。因此這個(gè)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)我只是代為保管。要該獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)的款項(xiàng)按照最初的目的和意義并不難。但我更歡迎這樣做，利用這一時(shí)機(jī)，把它作為一個(gè)頂點(diǎn)，向聽(tīng)我話的有志于此的年輕人發(fā)出號(hào)召，他們中必定有人會(huì)站在我今天的位置。
Our tragedy today is a general 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 I be 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.
我們的悲劇在于長(zhǎng)期與來(lái)我們一直承受著肉體上的恐懼，不再有任何精神方面的問(wèn)題。有的只是一個(gè)問(wèn)題，我什么時(shí)候會(huì)被炸的粉身碎骨?因此，如今年輕人的作品已經(jīng)忘記了處于矛盾沖突中的人類(lèi)心靈問(wèn)題，而這本身就能夠創(chuàng)造出好作品，因?yàn)檫@值得去寫(xiě)，值得為此辛勞。
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 a curse. 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.
人們一定要了解這些，一定要叫自己認(rèn)識(shí)到最可鄙莫過(guò)于害怕，一定告戒自己永遠(yuǎn)不要忘記，工作中除了心靈的正直誠(chéng)實(shí)不要給任何東西留有空間，過(guò)去的那些正直誠(chéng)實(shí)的普遍品質(zhì)包括愛(ài)情、榮譽(yù)、憐憫、尊嚴(yán)、同情和犧牲，缺乏了它們?nèi)魏巫髌范际嵌虝旱暮妥⒍ㄒ〉�。把情欲而不是把�?ài)情當(dāng)作寫(xiě)作題材，把失敗當(dāng)作寫(xiě)作題材，描寫(xiě)的是沒(méi)有任何人損失任何價(jià)值東西的微不足到的失敗，把勝利當(dāng)作題材時(shí)，描寫(xiě)的是沒(méi)有任何希望的勝利，而最糟糕的'是沒(méi)有憐憫和同情。悲傷不是刻骨銘心的，而是清淡描寫(xiě)。寫(xiě)的不是心靈而是分泌腺體的器官。
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 a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
在人們從新了解這些之前，他們的寫(xiě)作態(tài)度就像無(wú)可奈何看著世界的末日到來(lái)。我拒絕接受世界末日的觀點(diǎn)。不是簡(jiǎn)單地說(shuō)人類(lèi)能夠持續(xù)就說(shuō)人類(lèi)是永恒的;當(dāng)命運(yùn)的最后鐘聲敲響，當(dāng)傍晚的最后一抹紅色從平靜無(wú)浪的礁石退去，甚至不在有其他聲音，人類(lèi)的無(wú)盡的不倦聲音還在爭(zhēng)鳴，我不認(rèn)輸。我認(rèn)為人類(lèi)不僅會(huì)延續(xù)還會(huì)勝利。他是永生的，不是因?yàn)橹挥兴谌f(wàn)物生靈中擁有不倦的聲音，而在于他有靈魂，能夠同情、犧牲和忍受的靈魂。
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.
詩(shī)人和作家的職責(zé)就是歌頌這些。通過(guò)提升人類(lèi)的心靈，提醒他們牢記勇敢、榮譽(yù)、希望、尊嚴(yán)和同情這些昔日的光榮，來(lái)幫助人類(lèi)生存下去，這是作家的榮幸。詩(shī)人的聲音不僅是人類(lèi)的簡(jiǎn)單記錄，而且還是能夠幫助人類(lèi)持續(xù)和獲勝的支柱之一。