为什么伟大的写作需要良好的礼数
Why great writing needs good etiquette
礼貌得体
Decorum as a concept
意为“不冒犯” “好品味”等等
means ‘not offending’, ‘good taste’ and all that.
而写作中的“得体”是完全不同的概念
And decorum in writing is a completely different concept.
它的意思是
And all it means is
内容要适合 ——
that the content should suit ——
写作风格应该适合内容
the style should suit the content.
它与好品味没有关系
It has nothing to do with good taste.
没有哪个作家会因为任何好品味的东西而烦恼
No writer worth anything is bothered by good taste.
什么是好品味？
What is good taste?
它是个体或群体某种正确思维的
It’s a shallow consensus of a certain kind of
浅层共识
right thinking individual or group of individuals.
它权衡了你要表达的内容以及如何表达
It’s measuring what you’re saying to how you’re saying it
而且它还是写作的基本准则
and tremendously foundational principle for writing.
当然 体验型作家
And the experimental writer will, of course,
会本能地违反这些规则
instinctively transgress against these rules.
但是你要知道
But you’ve got to realise
你丢弃了所有的准绳
that all your guide ropes are being jettisoned,
可读者的善意期待并不是无限的
and the goodwill of the reader is not infinite,
你读一本小说时 通常都有很高的期待
it’s usually very high as you open a novel.
但如果你任性地愚弄读者
But if you mess around with the reader at your whim,
那份期待很快就会被耗尽
that goodwill is very quickly used up.
我们都理解
Um…you know,
说起意识流文学 连乔伊斯的成功率都很低
stream of consciousness—even Joyce has a very low success rate with it.
想写好意识流作品 你必须是位天才
You have to be a genius to write stream of consciousness,
即使是最高级别的天才 乔伊斯
and even the supreme genius, Joyce,
花了十五年的时间才写完他的长篇小说
wrote his long novel —— he spent 15 years
《芬尼根的守灵夜》人们却完全看不懂
on Finnegan’s Wake, which is flat out unreadable.
即使是《尤利西斯》也只有百分之二十五的部分效果不错
And even Ulysses, only about 25 percent ofUlysses works.
我越来越多地得出了这样的结论：
And I’ve come more and more to the conclusion
如果你写的是社会现实主义
that if it’s social realism, your writing,
那么它要遵循礼数 —- 意味着这部小说是社交的形式
and it obeys —- it means the novel is a sociable form.
作者就像主人 而读者就像客人
And the writer is like a host and the reader is like a guest.
如果你拜读一部纳博科夫的小说
And if you, when you visit a Nabokov novel
就好像 他已经给了你最好的 离壁炉最近的椅子
it is as if he has given you his best chair nearest to the fire
还给了你最好的红酒
and given you his best wine
并且还以最善解人意和最得体的方式给了你他全部的关注
and given you his full attention in the most tactful and sensitive way.
如果你去乔伊斯的家
If you went around to Joyce’s house,
你会发现地址不存在
you’d find the address didn’t exist.
然后你会发现乔伊斯住的地方好像是某种附属建筑
then you would find some sort of outbuilding where Joyce lives,
很显然他不在那里
and then he wouldn’t be in apparently.
然后你会喊他
And then you would shout for him and
然后一个人影最终出现了
eventually, a figure would appear,
他用一种你从未听说过的语言和你说话
and he would talk to you in a language you’d never heard of before.
也不像纳博科夫那样给你准备一份美味的晚餐
And instead of giving you a delicious dinner as Nabokov does,
而是给你一块康吉鳗配两厚块泥炭
Joyce would give you two slabs of peat around a conger eel and
还有一些他自己做的 让人生厌的饮品
It would be some repulsive drink he’d made himself.
我以前也尝试过脱离社会现实主义
To leave social realism—and I’ve done it,
而且大多数作家在他们的职业生涯中都会尝试几次
and most writers do it a couple of times in their career,
它是傲慢与内向的极大表现
is a great statement of arrogance and introversion,
而且 离开社会现实主义道路 存在巨大风险
and there are huge risks involved in leaving the path of social realism.
作家会时不时地尝试
And writers will be tempted to do it every now and then,
而有时候 你也是可以做到的
and sometimes you can bring it off.
但是 和一切
But you say goodbye to
社交礼数说再见
all the etiquette of social intercourse
会影响你的小说 正如同它影响着我们现实生活一样
which governs the novel, as it governs all our dealings.
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