经济学人73:局外旁观 On the Outside Looking in

 　　Books and Arts; Book Review;William Carlos Williams, American poet;On the outside looking in;

　　文艺；书评；威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯，美国诗人；局外旁观；

　　“Something Urgent I Have to Say to You”: The Life and Works of William Carlos Williams. By Herbert Leibowitz.

　　《我有要事相告》：威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯生平及作品集。作者：赫伯特·莱博维茨。

　　To his patients in Rutherford, New Jersey¹, William Carlos Williams was just the local boy who had become their local doctor. And yet, as he made house calls, administered vaccinations² or listened to their complaints, he heard not just what they said, but how they said it. A doctor but also a poet, Williams spent his life trying to capture the “infinite variety” of American speech, and to use it to create a uniquely American form of poetic³ verse.

　　对于他的病人来说，威廉·卡洛斯·威廉姆斯只是新泽西州卢瑟福镇一位成长为本地医生的本地男孩。可是，当他出诊、注射疫苗或者倾听病人抱怨的时候，他所听到的不只是病人说话的内容，而是他们说话的方式。身为医生却更是位诗人，威廉姆斯花费一生时间尝试捕捉美国大众语言中的“无限可能”，并以此创作一种美国独有的诗歌体裁。

　　It was not an easy task. As Herbert Leibowitz's new biography shows, Williams remained on the periphery⁴ of 20th-century literature as he spent a lifetime in the “grey-brown landscapes” of suburbia. He was disgruntled, with a severe dislike of many of his fellow poets, especially T.S. Eliot (Williams was both admiring and disdainful of “The Waste Land”), but his poems are now held up as some of the most daring examples of modern American poetry, and he was posthumously⁵ awarded the Pulitzer prize in 1963.

　　此非易事。根据赫伯特·莱博维茨新的传记作品所述，威廉徘徊于20世纪的文学边缘地带，因为他在郊区“灰褐色的风景”中度过了一生。他心怀不满，对同时期的许多诗人报以一种强烈的厌恶之情，尤其是T.S.艾略特（威廉姆斯对《荒原》既钦佩不已又嗤之以鼻），但如今他的诗歌被奉为现代美国诗歌中最大胆的典范，并且在死后他被授予1963年的普利策奖。

　　During his lifetime, however, Williams was “lil Bill” to his bigger, more successful friend Ezra Pound, who laughed at his insistence⁶ on staying in Rutherford. The son of immigrants who never naturalised, Williams's dedication⁷ to America did not flag, though it was a country that often disappointed him. Peopling his poems with “nurses and prostitutes, policemen and religious fanatics⁸, farmers and fish peddlers, drunkards…blues singers and barbers”, Williams wanted to pin down the whole messy country with his short, punchy lines of poetry. Sometimes he succeeded, as when he describes the euphoric crowds at a baseball game, or when he catches a glimpse of “A big young bareheaded woman/in an apron” on the pavement, bending down to remove a nail from her shoe. With the eyes of a doctor, he recorded the quotidian⁹ and the overlooked. He coined the maxim¹⁰ “no ideas but in things”. To his critics, the saying exposed him as an anti-intellectual, or as a poet who could only create “American speech barking at song.”

　　然而究其一生，在比威廉姆斯年长、事业更成功的朋友艾泽拉·庞德看来，威廉姆斯永远都只是“小比尔”。庞德嘲笑他留在卢瑟福镇的执着。作为从未加入美国国籍的移民者之子，威廉姆斯对美国的衷心从未减退，尽管这个国家一再地令他失望。充斥在他的诗歌间的是“护士和妓女，警察和宗教狂热分子，农夫和鱼贩，醉鬼…布鲁斯歌手和理发师”，威廉姆斯意图用他简短有力的诗句来描绘整个国家的世间百态。有时他成功了，比如他描写棒球比赛上的欢快人群，或者当他瞥见“一位硕大的年轻女子不戴帽子/穿着围裙”，在人行道上俯身擦去她鞋子上的一片指甲。他以医生的视角记录那些平凡的事和被忽视的人。他首创了“文中无意，寓境于物”的格言。对威廉姆斯的批评家来说，这个说法暴露了他不是一位智者，或者说，他只不过是一位开创了“美语吠叫诗歌”的诗人。

　　Mr Leibowitz, a New York literary editor, is keen to defend Williams against these charges, and focuses instead on the radical¹¹ aspects of Williams's work. Banned in 1952 from being poetry consultant¹² to the Library of Congress for his left-leaning views, Williams wrote poems in which the Rosenbergs appeared next to Geoffrey Chaucer. As a young doctor just starting out, he had mainly served the Italian, Greek and Polish communities around Rutherford, or attended to bruised¹³ prostitutes or addicts¹⁴ at the French Hospital of New York. As an elderly man with a respected practice, he still preferred the company of the socially marginalised: “I have known the unsuccessful, [and think them] far better persons than their more lucky brothers”.

　　莱博维茨是一位纽约的文学编辑，对于这些攻击，他不仅积极为威廉姆斯辩护，还转而关注威廉姆斯作品中极端的部分。1952年，因为其左倾观点而被赶出国会图书馆的诗歌顾问职位，威廉姆斯写了一首诗，在诗中罗森博格姐弟与杰弗里·乔叟*一同出现。作为一位刚出师的年轻医生，他主要为在卢瑟福镇附近的意大利，希腊和波兰人的社区服务，要么就去纽约的法国医院医治受伤的妓女或瘾君子。作为一位事业体面的长者，他仍然更愿意以社会边缘群体为伴：“我认识那些失意者，并认为他们是]比他们走运的兄弟们要好得多的人。”

　　However, in emphasising this side of Williams Mr Leibowitz skates over the less palatable¹⁵ aspects of his subject's character. A serial¹⁶ philanderer¹⁷ who publicly described his wife as “no Venus de Milo”, his poetry is occasionally voyeuristic¹⁸ and antagonistic¹⁹ towards women: “What I got out of women/was difficult/to assess.” Bitter from his lack of success in America or abroad, and obsessed²⁰ with what he saw as the “European virus” in poetry, the Williams of this biography is not easy company. His poems, composed of short lines like “be a song—made of/particulars”, often resist Mr Leibowitz's lengthy²¹ analysis. Just as he preferred the quiet meadowlands around Rutherford to the glamour²² of literary New York, so too Williams manages to evade²³ his biographer's gaze. Like a figure in one of his poems, he remains²⁴ on the sidelines, looking in.

　　然而，莱博维茨在着重描写威廉姆斯上述方面的同时，一笔略过了他的主角品格中不太值得称道的方面。公然比喻自己妻子是“米罗的维纳斯”却到处寻花问柳，他的诗歌偶尔透露出对女性的窥私欲和轻视：“我从女人中得到的/很难/评价”。苦于他在美国或国外都缺乏成功，并且执迷于诗歌中他所谓的“欧洲病毒”，该传记中的威廉姆斯并不是惬意的阅读伴侣。他的诗歌由像这样的短句组成：“一首歌——到处是/细节”，常常与莱博维茨冗长的分析矛盾。就如同他喜爱卢瑟福镇周边的安静草地甚于纽约文坛的魅力，威廉姆斯同样也设法避开其传记作者的注视。就如同他诗歌中的一位人物一般，他在局外逗留，旁观。

1 jersey   

n.运动衫

参考例句：

• He wears a cotton jersey when he plays football.他穿运动衫踢足球。
• They were dressed alike in blue jersey and knickers.他们穿着一致，都是蓝色的运动衫和灯笼短裤。

2 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 poetic   

adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的

参考例句：

• His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
• His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。

4 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

5 posthumously   

adv.于死后，于身后；于著作者死后出版地

参考例句：

• He was confirmed posthumously as a member of the Chinese Communist Party. 他被追认为中国共产党党员。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Her last book was published posthumously in 1948. 她最后的一本书在她死后于1948 年出版了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 insistence   

n.坚持；强调；坚决主张

参考例句：

• They were united in their insistence that she should go to college.他们一致坚持她应上大学。
• His insistence upon strict obedience is correct.他坚持绝对服从是对的。

7 dedication   

n.奉献，献身，致力，题献，献辞

参考例句：

• We admire her courage,compassion and dedication.我们钦佩她的勇气、爱心和奉献精神。
• Her dedication to her work was admirable.她对工作的奉献精神可钦可佩。

8 fanatics   

狂热者，入迷者( fanatic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The heathen temple was torn down by a crowd of religions fanatics. 异教徒的神殿被一群宗教狂热分子拆除了。
• Placing nukes in the hands of baby-faced fanatics? 把核弹交给一些宗教狂热者手里？

9 quotidian   

adj.每日的，平凡的

参考例句：

• Television has become part of our quotidian existence.电视已成为我们日常生活的一部分。
• Most solutions to the problem of global warming are tediousl,almost oppressively,quotidian.大多数应对全球变暖的措施都是冗长乏味，几近压制，以及司空见惯的。

10 maxim   

n.格言，箴言

参考例句：

• Please lay the maxim to your heart.请把此格言记在心里。
• "Waste not,want not" is her favourite maxim.“不浪费则不匮乏”是她喜爱的格言。

11 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

12 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

13 bruised   

[医]青肿的，瘀紫的

参考例句：

• his bruised and bloodied nose 他沾满血的青肿的鼻子
• She had slipped and badly bruised her face. 她滑了一跤，摔得鼻青脸肿。

14 addicts   

有…瘾的人( addict的名词复数 )； 入迷的人

参考例句：

• a unit for rehabilitating drug addicts 帮助吸毒者恢复正常生活的机构
• There is counseling to help Internet addicts?even online. 有咨询机构帮助网络沉迷者。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

15 palatable   

adj.可口的，美味的；惬意的

参考例句：

• The truth is not always very palatable.事实真相并非尽如人意。
• This wine is palatable and not very expensive.这种酒味道不错，价钱也不算贵。

16 serial   

n.连本影片，连本电视节目；adj.连续的

参考例句：

• A new serial is starting on television tonight.今晚电视开播一部新的电视连续剧。
• Can you account for the serial failures in our experiment?你能解释我们实验屡屡失败的原因吗？

17 philanderer   

n.爱和女人调情的男人，玩弄女性的男人

参考例句：

• He's a bit of a philanderer -- don' t take him too seriously ! 他这个人有点轻薄--别跟他太认真！ 来自辞典例句
• D. Edison Chen is a goddamned rich philanderer. 陈冠希是一个有钱的花心大萝卜。 来自互联网

18 voyeuristic   

adj.喜好窥阴的

参考例句：

• On the other hand, perhaps the author of the spyware just has voyeuristic tendencies. 不过，也可能程序作者只是有窥阴癖而已。 来自互联网
• Hitchcock also a perverse thrill out of taking audiences on a voyeuristic roller-coaster ride. 希区柯克也有有害刺激的考虑受众的偷窥过山车旅程。 来自互联网

19 antagonistic   

adj.敌对的

参考例句：

• He is always antagonistic towards new ideas.他对新思想总是持反对态度。
• They merely stirred in a nervous and wholly antagonistic way.他们只是神经质地，带着完全敌对情绪地骚动了一下。

20 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

21 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

22 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

23 evade   

vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避

参考例句：

• He tried to evade the embarrassing question.他企图回避这令人难堪的问题。
• You are in charge of the job.How could you evade the issue?你是负责人，你怎么能对这个问题不置可否？

24 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。