历史英雄名人演讲 第110期:村上春树在耶路撒冷文学奖上的演讲:小说家编造的谎言

 　　7.The Lies Made by Novelists

　　7.小说家编造的谎言

　　I have come to Jerusalem today as a novelist, which is to say as a professional spinner of lies.

　　今天我作为一个小说家来到耶路撒冷，也就是说，作为一个职业撒谎者。

　　Of course, novelists are not the only ones who tell lies. Politicians do it, too, as we all know. Diplomats¹ and generals tell their own kinds of lies on occasion, as do used car salesmen, butchers and builders. The lies of novelists differ from others, however, in that no one criticizes the novelist as immoral² for telling lies. Indeed, the bigger and better his lies and the more ingeniously he creates them, the more he is likely to be praised by the public and the critics. Why should that be?

　　当然，并不只有小说家才撒谎。政治家也做这个，我们都知道。外交官和军人有时也说他们自己的那种说，二手车销售员、肉贩和建筑商也是。但小说家的谎言与其他人的不同，因为没有人会批评小说家说谎不道德。甚至，他说的谎言越好、越大、制造谎言的方式越有独创性，他就越有可能受到公众和评论家的表扬。为什么会这样呢？

　　My answer would be this: namely, that by telling skilful³ lies-which is to say by making up fictions that appear to be true---the novelist can bring a truth out to a new place and shine a new light on it. In most cases, it is virtually impossible to grasp a truth in its original form and depict⁴ it accurately⁵. This is why we try to grab its tail by luring⁶ the truth from its hiding place, transferring it to a fictional⁷ location, and replacing it with a fictional form. In order to accomplish this, however, we first have to clarify where the truth-lies within us, within ourselves. This is an important qualification for making up good lies.

　　我的回答会是这样：即，通过讲述精巧的谎言——也就是说，通过编造看起来是真实的虚构故事——小说家能够把一种真实带到新的地方，赋予它新的见解。在多数情况下，要以原初的形态领会一个事实并准确描绘它，几乎是不可能的。因此我们把事实从它的藏身之处诱出，将之转移到虚构之地，用虚构的形式取而代之，以试图抓住它的尾巴。然而，为了完成这点，我们必须首先理清在我们之中真实在哪儿。要编造优秀的谎言，这是一种重要的资质。

　　I truly believe it is the novelist's job to keep trying to clarify the uniqueness of each individual soul by writing stories---stories of life and death, stories of love, stories that make people cry and quake with fear and shake with laughter. This is why we go on, day after day, concocting⁸ fictions with utter seriousness.

　　我完全相信，小说家的任务是通过写故事来不断试图理清每个个体灵魂的独特性——生与死的故事，爱的故事，使人哭泣、使人害怕得发抖和捧腹大笑的故事。这就是为什么我们日复一日，以极其严肃的态度编造着虚构故事的原因。

1 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。

3 skilful   

(=skillful)adj.灵巧的，熟练的

参考例句：

• The more you practise,the more skilful you'll become.练习的次数越多，熟练的程度越高。
• He's not very skilful with his chopsticks.他用筷子不大熟练。

4 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

5 accurately   

adv.准确地，精确地

参考例句：

• It is hard to hit the ball accurately.准确地击中球很难。
• Now scientists can forecast the weather accurately.现在科学家们能准确地预报天气。

6 luring   

吸引，引诱（lure的现在分词形式）

参考例句：

• Cheese is very good for luring a mouse into a trap. 奶酪是引诱老鼠上钩的极好的东西。
• Her training warned her of peril and of the wrong, subtle, mysterious, luring. 她的教养警告她：有危险，要出错儿，这是微妙、神秘而又诱人的。

7 fictional   

adj.小说的，虚构的

参考例句：

• The names of the shops are entirely fictional.那些商店的名字完全是虚构的。
• The two authors represent the opposite poles of fictional genius.这两位作者代表了天才小说家两个极端。

8 concocting   

v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的现在分词 )；调制；编造；捏造

参考例句：

• I judged that he was concocting a particularly knotty editorial. 我估计他是在拼凑一篇特别伤脑筋的社论。 来自辞典例句
• 'And you,' returned Sydney, busy concocting the punch, 'are such a sensitive and poetical spirit.' “可你呢，”西德尼一边忙着调五味酒，一边回答，“你却是这样一个敏感而有诗意的精灵。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记