2023年经济学人 《李尔王》揭示悲剧艺术的意义所在

 

    Culture

    文艺版块

    This great stage of fools

    这满是傻瓜的偌大舞台

    Sir Kenneth Branagh’s bold production of "King Lear" makes the case for tragic¹ art.

    肯尼思·布拉纳爵士大胆突破的《李尔王》证明了悲剧艺术的意义所在。

    Murder on the television, agony on the radio; lies and hatred² on the internet, plus snuff videos that you click on before realising your mistake.

    电视上的谋杀剧情，收音机上的痛苦故事，互联网上的谎言和仇恨，还有你点开后才反应过来的下流视频。

    The planet is a boiling cauldron in which you are the complacent³ frog.

    地球就像一个沸腾的大锅，而你是身处其中但满不在乎的一只青蛙。

    When the real world feels like a charnel house, why spend an evening and a chunk⁴ of cash watching bodies pile up on stage?

    当现实世界就像是一个停尸房，为什么还要花一晚上的时间和一大笔钱来看堆满尸体的舞台呢？

    And in “King Lear”, Shakespeare piles them high.

    在《李尔王》中，莎士比亚让尸体高高堆起。

    “That’s but a trifle here,” a character says of another’s demise⁵ during the final die-in.

    “这只是一件小事”--众多人物最后相继死去，一个角色谈起另一个角色的死亡时这样说道。

    But the play—and Sir Kenneth Branagh’s ingenious new production in London—make a powerful case for subjecting yourself to tragic art, even at a time of surround-sound horror.

    但这部戏剧--以及肯尼思·布拉纳爵士在伦敦上演的制作精巧的新版《李尔王》--有力地证明了为什么在有环绕立体声恐怖片的时代，依然要让自己置身悲剧艺术中。

    These days “King Lear” is performed less often than “Hamlet”, with its startlingly acute psychology⁶, or “Othello” and “Macbeth”, with their overtly⁷ modern themes of race, misogyny and the corrupting⁸ effects of power.

    如今，《李尔王》的上演次数比《哈姆雷特》和《奥赛罗》《麦克白》少，《哈姆雷特》敏锐地刻画了人物心理，《奥赛罗》《麦克白》则讨论了种族、厌女症、权力的腐败等具有鲜明现代色彩的主题。

    Critics have frequently regarded “Lear” as a triumph of philosophical⁹ poetry but impractical¹⁰ as a play.

    评论家们经常认为《李尔王》是哲学诗歌的典范，但作为一部戏剧有些脱离实际。

    There is just too much of it, and too much in it: too many ideas and emotions, too many stories and, above all, too much desolation and despair.

    剧中包含的内容太多了，不忍卒读：太多的想法和情感，太多的故事，最重要的是，还有太多的孤寂和绝望。

    The evil characters destroy one another, but they take the good down with them.

    邪恶的角色互相毁灭，并拉来善良的角色与他们陪葬。

    Love kills; man is nothing but a “poor, bare, forked animal”.

    爱是致命的，人只不过是一只“寒伧、赤裸的两脚动物”。

    Throughout the 18th century this bleakness¹¹ seemed so shocking, even immoral¹², that “Lear” was staged with a revised happy ending.

    在整个18世纪，这种阴暗色调如此令人震惊，甚至是不道德的，以至于《李尔王》在上演时被改成了大团圆结局。

    Audiences still struggle with emotional overload¹³.

    如今，观众仍不能适应剧中的沉重情感。

    A decade ago, at another vaunted production in London, people sniggered when they were meant to weep.

    十年前，在伦敦上演的另一版备受吹捧的《李尔王》中，当人们应该哭泣的时候，他们却暗自发笑。

    Sir Kenneth, a British actor and director, stars in and directs the version that opened at the Wyndham’s Theatre on October 31st.

    肯尼思爵士是一位英国演员兼导演，他主演并执导了10月31日在温德姆剧院上映的《李尔王》。

    (It goes to the Shed in New York in 2024.)(将于2024年于纽约“棚屋”艺术中心上演。)

    Part of his response to the play’s scale is to cut lots of it.

    肯尼思对该剧体量的处理方式是削减大量内容。

    Running with no interval¹⁴ for ice-cream and gossip, this is two hours of neat tragedy—set, boldly, in Neolithic¹⁵ Britain.

    其中没有吃冰淇淋和聊八卦的休息时间，就是干净利落的长达两小时的悲剧，大胆地设定在新石器时代的英国。

    Wearing animal skins and wielding¹⁶ spears, the cast hulks around a stark¹⁷ set that recalls Stonehenge, their faces intermittently¹⁸ looming¹⁹ on the stones in un-Neolithic projections²⁰.

    演员们穿着兽皮、挥舞着长矛，脚步沉重地在一个巨石阵般的荒凉布景中行走，非新石器时代的机器投影出石头影像，他们的脸庞在其中若隐若现。

    Above them hangs an orb²¹ resembling both a planet and an eyeball, which sometimes seems to bleed.

    在演员们的上方悬挂着一个既像行星又像眼球的球体，有时看起来像是在流血。

    Here the power struggle that follows Lear’s division of his kingdom is less a clash of armies than a scrap²² for a bauble²³ in the mud.

    在这个版本中，李尔王划分王国之后的权力斗争与其说是一场军事冲突，不如说是为了争夺小玩意儿而在泥地里打架。

    Yet the absence of pomp also makes the family drama at the story’s heart seem movingly intimate and familiar.

    然而，因为没有华丽的场面，所以处于故事核心的家庭剧情显得非常亲密和熟悉。

    Captured by his foes²⁴, arms bound behind his back, Sir Kenneth’s Lear uses his beard to dry the tears of his beloved daughter Cordelia (Jessica Revell).

    肯尼思爵士饰演的李尔王被敌人俘虏，双臂被绑在背后，他用胡须擦去了心爱的女儿考狄利娅(杰西卡·雷维尔饰)的眼泪。

    Soon he heaves her corpse²⁵ onto the stage, howling in grief; this time, nobody laughed.

    紧接着，他把女儿的尸体抬到舞台上，悲痛地怒吼着，这一次，没有人发笑。

    They chuckled²⁶ at other moments though, as Sir Kenneth judiciously²⁷ keeps and hones the funny bits to help the philosophy go down.

    但观众们在其他时刻笑出了声，肯尼思爵士明智地保留并打磨了剧中有趣的部分，让人们更好地接受其中的哲学。

    It is not just the humour of absurdist madness and slapstick torment²⁸ that hovers²⁹ between pathos³⁰ and ridicule³¹, often called the “comedy of the grotesque”.

    在哀婉和讥笑之余不仅仅有荒诞疯狂和打闹戏弄带来的幽默，这些通常被称为“怪诞喜剧”。

    There is also the comedy of charismatic devilment and gullibility³², of champion wordplay and some of Shakespeare’s most colourful insults.

    还有妙趣横生的恶作剧和上当受骗、巧妙高级的文字游戏和莎士比亚最精彩的一些嬉笑怒骂。

    As for the purpose of tragedy: Edgar (Doug Colling) implies one as he drags his blind and suicidal father Gloucester (Joseph Kloska) across ancient Britain.

    至于悲剧的意义：爱德加(道格·科林饰)拉着他那双目失明且一心求死的父亲葛罗斯特(约瑟夫·克罗斯卡饰)穿行在古代英国时，暗示了其中一个意义。

    “Men must endure/Their going hence, even as their coming hither,” he preaches. “Ripeness is all.”

    “人必须忍受离开世间，如忍受来到世间。”爱德加说道，“成熟落地才是最终归属。”

    Life, in other words, is an endurance test.

    换句话说，人生就是一场耐力测试。

    It follows that, for viewers, tragic art is a kind of practice in grinning and bearing it.

    因此，对于观众来说，悲剧艺术就是一种苦笑着忍受磨难的练习。

    We have had quite enough practice in that, today’s punters may think; and a homily on stoicism makes a priggish sort of moral.

    现在的观众可能会认为，我们练习吃苦已经够多了，这种斯多葛主义的说教是一种有些清高死板的教益。

    Edgar’s conclusion, however, is not the play’s.

    然而，爱德加的结论并不是该剧的结论。

    The rationale it offers for its spectacle of pain is more than a lesson in patience, more even than the sense of solidarity³³ in suffering that acting³⁴ as fine as Sir Kenneth’s can provide.

    这部剧呈现痛苦的理由不仅仅是教导人们要有耐心，甚至也不只是面对苦难时要相互扶持，肯尼思爵士精妙的演绎表明了这一点。

    “King Lear” is full of audiences: characters who witness folly³⁵, misery³⁶ or cruelty and must choose what to do about them.

    《李尔王》中有很多观众：他们目睹了愚蠢、痛苦、残忍，必须选择如何应对这些。

    Some weigh their interests and join in.

    一些人权衡了自己的利益，并加入了进来。

    Some wring³⁷ their hands.

    一些人扭着双手不知所措。

    A few resist, such as the heroic servant who objects as Cornwall (a sinister³⁸ Hughie O’Donnell) rips out Gloucester’s eyes in a spasm³⁹ of bloodlust and impunity⁴⁰.

    还有一些人奋起反抗，比如那位英勇的仆人，当康华尔(邪恶版休吉·奥唐奈饰)忽然燃起了嗜血欲且无需为恶行受罚，因此挖去了葛罗斯特的双眼时，仆人表示了反对。

    It is hard to imagine yourself as Lear, even one as denuded⁴¹ as Sir Kenneth’s.

    我们很难想象自己是李尔王，即使是像肯尼思爵士饰演的不加修饰的李尔王。

    But maybe you could, just about, be like the unheralded minor⁴² figures who opt⁴³ to act instead of merely watching.

    但也许你可以像那些出其不意的小人物一样，选择采取行动，而不仅仅是袖手旁观。

    “O, you are men of stones,” the king cries at the close, demanding greater compassion⁴⁴ for injustice⁴⁵ from the surviving characters—and from the audience, too.

    “啊，你们是铁石心肠的人。”国王在结束时喊道，要求幸存的人物--以及观众--对遭受非正义的人表现出更大的同情。

    Don’t just sit there, the play urges. Do something.

    这出戏敦促人们，不要只是坐在那里，做些什么吧。

 

1 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

2 hatred   

n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨

参考例句：

• He looked at me with hatred in his eyes.他以憎恨的眼光望着我。
• The old man was seized with burning hatred for the fascists.老人对法西斯主义者充满了仇恨。

3 complacent   

adj.自满的；自鸣得意的

参考例句：

• We must not become complacent the moment we have some success.我们决不能一见成绩就自满起来。
• She was complacent about her achievements.她对自己的成绩沾沾自喜。

4 chunk   

n.厚片，大块，相当大的部分（数量）

参考例句：

• They had to be careful of floating chunks of ice.他们必须当心大块浮冰。
• The company owns a chunk of farmland near Gatwick Airport.该公司拥有盖特威克机场周边的大片农田。

5 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

6 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

7 overtly   

ad.公开地

参考例句：

• There were some overtly erotic scenes in the film. 影片中有一些公开色情场面。
• Nietzsche rejected God's law and wrote some overtly blasphemous things. 尼采拒绝上帝的律法，并且写了一些渎神的作品。

8 corrupting   

（使）败坏( corrupt的现在分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏

参考例句：

• It would be corrupting discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏风纪。
• It would be corrupting military discipline to leave him unpunished. 不惩治他会败坏军纪。

9 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

10 impractical   

adj.不现实的，不实用的，不切实际的

参考例句：

• He was hopelessly impractical when it came to planning new projects.一到规划新项目，他就完全没有了实际操作的能力。
• An entirely rigid system is impractical.一套完全死板的体制是不实际的。

11 bleakness   

adj. 萧瑟的, 严寒的, 阴郁的

参考例句：

• It forgoes the bleakness of protest and dissent for the energizing confidence of constructive solutions. 它放弃了bleakness抗议和持不同政见者的信心，激发建设性的解决办法。
• Bertha was looking out of the window at the bleakness of the day. 伯莎望着窗外晦暗的天色。

12 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。

13 overload   

vt.使超载；n.超载

参考例句：

• Don't overload the boat or it will sink.别超载，否则船会沉。
• Large meals overload the digestive system.吃得太饱会加重消化系统的负担。

14 interval   

n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息

参考例句：

• The interval between the two trees measures 40 feet.这两棵树的间隔是40英尺。
• There was a long interval before he anwsered the telephone.隔了好久他才回了电话。

15 neolithic   

adj.新石器时代的

参考例句：

• Cattle were first domesticated in Neolithic times.新石器时代有人开始驯养牛。
• The monument was Stone Age or Neolithic.该纪念碑是属于石器时代或新石器时代的。

16 wielding   

手持着使用（武器、工具等）( wield的现在分词 )； 具有； 运用（权力）； 施加（影响）

参考例句：

• The rebels were wielding sticks of dynamite. 叛乱分子舞动着棒状炸药。
• He is wielding a knife. 他在挥舞着一把刀。

17 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

18 intermittently   

adv.间歇地；断断续续

参考例句：

• Winston could not intermittently remember why the pain was happening. 温斯顿只能断断续续地记得为什么这么痛。 来自英汉文学
• The resin moves intermittently down and out of the bed. 树脂周期地向下移动和移出床层。 来自辞典例句

19 looming   

n.上现蜃景（光通过低层大气发生异常折射形成的一种海市蜃楼）v.隐约出现，阴森地逼近( loom的现在分词 )；隐约出现，阴森地逼近

参考例句：

• The foothills were looming ahead through the haze. 丘陵地带透过薄雾朦胧地出现在眼前。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Then they looked up. Looming above them was Mount Proteome. 接着他们往上看，在其上隐约看到的是蛋白质组山。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望

20 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

21 orb   

n.太阳；星球；v.弄圆；成球形

参考例句：

• The blue heaven,holding its one golden orb,poured down a crystal wash of warm light.蓝蓝的天空托着金色的太阳，洒下一片水晶般明亮温暖的光辉。
• It is an emanation from the distant orb of immortal light.它是从远处那个发出不灭之光的天体上放射出来的。

22 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

23 bauble   

n.美观而无价值的饰物

参考例句：

• That little bauble is not to be compared with this enormous jewel.那个小摆设不能与这个大宝石相比较。
• A bauble is a showy ornament of little value.廉价珠宝是华而不实的装饰品。

24 foes   

敌人，仇敌( foe的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They steadily pushed their foes before them. 他们不停地追击敌人。
• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。

25 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

26 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

27 judiciously   

adv.明断地，明智而审慎地

参考例句：

• Let's use these intelligence tests judiciously. 让我们好好利用这些智力测试题吧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• His ideas were quaint and fantastic. She brought him judiciously to earth. 他的看法荒廖古怪，她颇有见识地劝他面对现实。 来自辞典例句

28 torment   

n.折磨；令人痛苦的东西(人)；vt.折磨；纠缠

参考例句：

• He has never suffered the torment of rejection.他从未经受过遭人拒绝的痛苦。
• Now nothing aggravates me more than when people torment each other.没有什么东西比人们的互相折磨更使我愤怒。

29 hovers   

鸟( hover的第三人称单数 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫

参考例句：

• A hawk hovers in the sky. 一只老鹰在天空盘旋。
• A hen hovers her chicks. 一只母鸡在孵小鸡。

30 pathos   

n.哀婉，悲怆

参考例句：

• The pathos of the situation brought tears to our eyes.情况令人怜悯，看得我们不禁流泪。
• There is abundant pathos in her words.她的话里富有动人哀怜的力量。

31 ridicule   

v.讥讽，挖苦；n.嘲弄

参考例句：

• You mustn't ridicule unfortunate people.你不该嘲笑不幸的人。
• Silly mistakes and queer clothes often arouse ridicule.荒谬的错误和古怪的服装常会引起人们的讪笑。

32 gullibility   

n.易受骗，易上当，轻信

参考例句：

• Gullibility: Measure of speed of paper adhesive bonding and its strength. 胶粘性能：胶粘剂对纸品的粘合速度和强度的能力。 来自互联网
• Open-mindedness can often be treated as gullibility and therefore as a tool to manipulate people's beliefs. 思想开明容易像轻信一样被对待，因此会被用作一种操纵人们观念的工具。 来自互联网

33 solidarity   

n.团结；休戚相关

参考例句：

• They must preserve their solidarity.他们必须维护他们的团结。
• The solidarity among China's various nationalities is as firm as a rock.中国各族人民之间的团结坚如磐石。

34 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

35 folly   

n.愚笨，愚蠢，蠢事，蠢行，傻话

参考例句：

• Learn wisdom by the folly of others.从别人的愚蠢行动中学到智慧。
• Events proved the folly of such calculations.事情的进展证明了这种估计是愚蠢的。

36 misery   

n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦

参考例句：

• Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
• He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。

37 wring   

n.扭绞；v.拧，绞出，扭

参考例句：

• My socks were so wet that I had to wring them.我的袜子很湿，我不得不拧干它们。
• I'll wring your neck if you don't behave!你要是不规矩，我就拧断你的脖子。

38 sinister   

adj.不吉利的，凶恶的，左边的

参考例句：

• There is something sinister at the back of that series of crimes.在这一系列罪行背后有险恶的阴谋。
• Their proposals are all worthless and designed out of sinister motives.他们的建议不仅一钱不值，而且包藏祸心。

39 spasm   

n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作

参考例句：

• When the spasm passed,it left him weak and sweating.一阵痉挛之后，他虚弱无力，一直冒汗。
• He kicked the chair in a spasm of impatience.他突然变得不耐烦，一脚踢向椅子。

40 impunity   

n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除

参考例句：

• You will not escape with impunity.你不可能逃脱惩罚。
• The impunity what compulsory insurance sets does not include escapement.交强险规定的免责范围不包括逃逸。

41 denuded   

adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物

参考例句：

• hillsides denuded of trees 光秃秃没有树的山坡
• In such areas we see villages denuded of young people. 在这些地区，我们在村子里根本看不到年轻人。 来自辞典例句

42 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

43 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

44 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

45 injustice   

n.非正义，不公正，不公平，侵犯（别人的）权利

参考例句：

• They complained of injustice in the way they had been treated.他们抱怨受到不公平的对待。
• All his life he has been struggling against injustice.他一生都在与不公正现象作斗争。