经济学人162:看似自传 畅所欲言 实则小说

　　New fiction
新小说
The self stripped
自我剖析
A novel masquerading as a tell-all memoir¹
看似自传，畅所欲言；实则小说
How Should a Person Be? By Sheila Heti.
应该如何做人？》作者：希拉·海蒂。
THE confessional tale of depravity redeemed² goes back at least to St Augustine. Sheila Heti, a Canadian writer, plays with this legacy³ in “How Should a Person Be?” out now in Britain following a rapturous reception in America. A novel masquerading as memoir, it is a sharp and unsentimental chronicle of what it is like to be 20-something now.
自我救赎的忏悔故事至少可以追溯到圣奥古斯汀时代。加拿大作家希拉·海蒂的《应该如何做人？》戏谑地沿用此法。之前该书在美国受到狂热追捧，现已在英国上市。表面上它是一部自传，实则编年体小说，以犀利而冷静的文风，讲述了现在二十出头的人是何处境。
The story spans a year in the life of Sheila, a blocked playwright⁴ in Toronto. She is recently divorced and unable to finish a commissioned play. Convinced that other people “do not feel like they were raised by wolves”, Sheila sets out to probe the “ugliness” she feels inside. She feels she should seek fame, yet she finds relief shampooing clients in a hair salon⁵. “It was work I could believe in: making people look and feel their best.” The flat tone is at once sincere and disingenuous⁶: Ms Heti's deadpan⁷, naked voice is what makes Sheila's journey so engaging.
故事讲述了郁郁不得志的多伦多剧作家希拉的一年生活。她刚刚离婚，又无法完成受人委托的剧本。希拉确信其他人“不会认为自己是被狼带大的”，所以决定从自身出发，探索内心体会到的“丑陋”。她觉得自己应该追名逐利，然而她却在美发店给顾客洗头中得到解脱。“工作就是我的信仰：我在美发店的工作能让别人容光焕发，精神抖擞。”这种平淡的语调立刻就产生一种既真挚诚恳、又惺惺作态的感觉：正是因为海蒂女士故作冷酷、毫无感情色彩的语调，希拉之旅才会让人如此着迷。
Ms Heti also captures the malaise of young, creative types. Again and again Sheila asks if making art is merely narcissistic⁸. But just as self-absorption threatens to swamp the tale, a crisis causes her to look squarely at her own sexual and debased life. Her friendship with Margaux, a painter, provides redemption of a kind. Throughout, the reader is beguiled⁹ by blunt, sly observations: “Smiling only encourages men to bore you and waste your time.” “The world is full to brimming with its own shit. A little more from me won't even make a difference.”
海蒂女士也捕捉到了富有创意的那一类年轻人身上莫名的不安。希拉总是在思考一个问题：艺术创作是否只是一种自恋？但是，正当她过于自我投入、故事几乎要失控时，一场危机让她开始正视性的问题和自己堕落的生活。她和画家马尔戈的友谊就给她带来了某种救赎。纵观全文，读者会始终陶醉在坦率而狡黠的文字描写之中：“浅浅一笑只会招蜂引蝶，浪费自己的时间。”“这个世界充斥着自己的胡言乱语，都快装不下了。所以，多我一句不多，少我一句不少。”
Written sometimes in the first person, sometimes in the third, this novel can make for uncomfortable reading. Yet Ms Heti's mordant¹⁰ take on modernity encourages introspection. It is easy to see why a book on the anxiety of celebrity¹¹ has turned the author into one herself.
小说有时候用第一人称、有时候又转为第三人称，读起来并不畅快。然而，海蒂对现代生活的尖酸调侃却引人反思。不难看出，为什么一本讲述成名带来的焦虑的书却让作者自己出了名。

1 memoir   

n.[pl.]回忆录，自传；记事录

参考例句：

• He has just published a memoir in honour of his captain.他刚刚出了一本传记来纪念他的队长。
• In her memoir,the actress wrote about the bittersweet memories of her first love.在那个女演员的自传中，她写到了自己苦乐掺半的初恋。

2 redeemed   

adj. 可赎回的，可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。
• He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's. 他从当铺赎回手表。

3 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

4 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

5 salon   

n.[法]沙龙；客厅；营业性的高级服务室

参考例句：

• Do you go to the hairdresser or beauty salon more than twice a week?你每周去美容院或美容沙龙多过两次吗？
• You can hear a lot of dirt at a salon.你在沙龙上会听到很多流言蜚语。

6 disingenuous   

adj.不诚恳的，虚伪的

参考例句：

• It is disingenuous of him to flatter me.他对我阿谀奉承，是居心叵测。
• His brother Shura with staring disingenuous eyes was plotting to master the world.他那长着一对狡诈眼睛的哥哥瑞拉，处心积虑图谋征服整个世界。

7 deadpan   

n. 无表情的

参考例句：

• Some people don't catch his deadpan humor,that makes it even funnier.有些人不能了解他那种无表情的幽默，因此更有趣。
• She put the letter on the desk in front of me,her face deadpan,not a flicker of a smile.她把那封信放在我面前的桌子上，故意一 脸严肃，没有一丝的笑容。

8 narcissistic   

adj.自我陶醉的，自恋的，自我崇拜的

参考例句：

• In the modern vocabulary, it was narcissistic. 用时髦话说，这是一种自我陶醉狂。 来自辞典例句
• This is our Nielaoshi, a dwarf has also grown narcissistic teachers. 这就是我们的倪老师，一个长得又矮又自恋的老师。 来自互联网

9 beguiled   

v.欺骗( beguile的过去式和过去分词 )；使陶醉；使高兴；消磨（时间等）

参考例句：

• She beguiled them into believing her version of events. 她哄骗他们相信了她叙述的事情。
• He beguiled me into signing this contract. 他诱骗我签订了这项合同。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 mordant   

adj.讽刺的；尖酸的

参考例句：

• Actors feared the critic's mordant pen.演员都惧怕这位批评家辛辣尖刻的笔调。
• His mordant wit appealed to students.他那尖刻的妙语受到学生们的欢迎。

11 celebrity   

n.名人，名流；著名，名声，名望

参考例句：

• Tom found himself something of a celebrity. 汤姆意识到自己已小有名气了。
• He haunted famous men, hoping to get celebrity for himself. 他常和名人在一起, 希望借此使自己获得名气。