託賓 希望自己是《尤利西斯》裏的那個男人
The author, most recently, of “Nora Webster” and “Brooklyn,” soon to be adapted to film, wishes he were Leopold Bloom: “I envy all the fun he had when he went to Nighttown and got involved in gender-bendering.”
科爾姆·託賓最近的作品是《諾拉·韋伯斯特》(Nora Webster)和即將改編成電影的《布魯克林》(Brooklyn)，這位作家希望自己是列奧波德·布魯姆：“我羨慕他去“夜城”玩得那麼開心，嫉妒他參與的變裝遊戲。”
What books are currently on your night stand?
問：你的牀頭櫃上現在放着什麼書？
“Torpor,” by Chris Kraus; “Selected Poems of Fulke Greville,” edited by Thom Gunn; “A Journey With Two Maps,” by Eavan Boland; Toni Morrison’s “God Help the Child.” Tessa Hadley’s “Married Love,” Patrick McGrath’s “Constance” and Lynne Tillman’s “What Would Lynne Tillman Do?”
答：克里斯·克勞斯(Chris Kraus)的《麻痹》(Torpor)；託姆·岡恩(Thom Gunn)編的《福爾克·格雷維爾詩選》(Selected Poems of Fulke Greville)；伊溫·博蘭(Eavan Boland)的《帶着兩張地圖的旅程》(A Journey With Two Maps)；託妮·莫里森(Toni Morrison)的《上帝保佑孩子》(God Help the Child)；特莎·哈德莉(Tessa Hadley)的《婚後的愛》(Married Love)；帕特里克·麥克格拉斯(Patrick McGrath)的《康絲坦斯》(Constance)和琳恩·提爾曼(Lynne Tillman)的《琳恩·提爾曼怎麼辦？》(What Would Lynne Tillman Do?)。
Who is your favorite novelist of all time?
問：你一直以來最喜歡的小說家是誰？
Henry James, for the range of his sympathy and the quality of his prose. For the way in which he dramatizes moral issues while all the time attending to sensuous and stylish questions. For his seriousness about form in his fiction and the way in which he refuses to allow the reader to make easy judgments, for his insisting on nuance, half-light and suggestion, and for his deep understanding of the strangeness and the wavering nature of motive and feeling in human relationships.
答：亨利·詹姆斯，因爲他有寬廣的同情心，卓越的文采。我喜歡他戲劇化地表現道德話題，但同時又關注感官和時髦的問題。我喜歡他對小說形式的嚴肅態度，以及他拒絕讓讀者妄下判斷的方式。我喜歡他在寫作中堅持微言大義、晦暗含蓄。我喜歡他對人類關係中動機和情感的奇特性、搖擺性的深刻理解。
Whom do you consider the best writers — novelists, essayists, critics, journalists, poets — working today?
問：你認爲現在仍在寫作的作家（小說家、散文家、批評家、新聞記者、詩人）中誰最好？
Novelists: Laszlo Krasznahorkai, Don DeLillo, Marilynne Robinson, John Banville, Javier Marías.
答：小說家是拉斯洛·卡撒茲納霍凱(Laszlo Krasznahorkai)、唐·德里羅(Don DeLillo)、瑪麗蓮·羅賓遜(Marilynne Robinson)、約翰·班維爾(John Banville)、哈維爾·馬里亞斯(Javier Marías)。
Essayists: Richard Rodriguez, Joan Didion, Pankaj Mishra.
散文家是理查德·羅德里格斯(Richard Rodriguez)、瓊·迪迪恩(Joan Didion)、潘卡吉·米舍爾(Pankaj Mishra)。
Critics: Denis Donoghue, Marjorie Perloff, Helen Vendler, Christopher Ricks, Stephen Burt.
批評家是丹尼斯·多諾霍(Denis Donoghue)、瑪喬瑞·帕洛夫(Marjorie Perloff)、海倫·文德勒(Helen Vendler)、克里斯托弗·裏克斯(Christopher Ricks)和斯蒂芬·伯特(Stephen Burt)。
Journalists: Perry Anderson, Jane Kramer, Fintan O’Toole.
新聞記者是佩裏·安德森(Perry Anderson)、簡·克萊默(Jane Kramer)、芬坦·奧圖爾(Fintan O’Toole)。
Poets: John Ashbery, Yves Bonnefoy, Louise Glück, Adam Zagajewski, Paul Muldoon.
詩人是約翰·阿什貝利(John Ashbery)、伊夫·博納富瓦(Yves Bonnefoy)、路易斯·格呂克(Louise Glück)、亞當·扎加耶夫斯基(Adam Zagajewski)、保羅·馬爾登(Paul Muldoon)。
What genres do you especially enjoy reading? And which do you avoid?
問：你特別喜歡讀什麼體裁？不讀什麼樣的書？
I am normal. I read poetry and fiction and biography and history and books about landscape and painting. I avoid crime novels and thrillers and spy books and books about philosophy (especially metaphysics and ethics), self-help books or books that might have happy endings, or books that are long-winded.
答：我就是正常口味。我讀詩歌、小說、傳記、歷史以及關於風景與繪畫的書。我不讀犯罪小說、驚悚小說、間諜小說、與哲學有關的書（尤其是形而上學和倫理學）、自學類書籍以及那些可能是大團圓結尾或嘮嘮叨叨的書。
What’s the last book that made you laugh?
問：上一本讓你發笑的書是什麼？
In Princeton a few years ago I was lying in bed alone on a Monday night reading Leo Bersani’s “Is the Rectum a Grave?” Outside was the deep dark New Jersey night. It was winter. I gazed around my sublet bedroom; I looked at the title of the book. Then I stood up and went to the full-length mirror and peered into it. I thought: You are one sad man. And I laughed so much at that thought that I began to cry.
答：幾年前在普林斯頓，有個禮拜一的晚上，我躺在牀上讀里奧·博薩尼(Leo Bersani)的《直腸是墳墓嗎？》(Is the Rectum a Grave?)。屋外是新澤西沉沉的黑夜。那時是冬天。我環顧自己從別人手中轉租的這間臥室；我看着書的標題。然後，我站起身，走向穿衣鏡，照了照鏡子。我當時想：你是一個悲傷的男人。然後，我就爲這個想法而笑得哭了起來。
The last book that made you cry?
問：上一本讓你哭的書？
See above.
答：參見上文。
The last book that made you furious?
問：上一本讓你憤怒的書？
I don’t do fury. (I mean, where would it end?) But I do wonder was George Eliot wise to spell out what happened later to the main characters in the afterword of her novel “Middlemarch.”
答：我不會憤怒。（我的意思是，那樣就沒完沒了了。）但是我確實有些懷疑喬治·艾略特在其小說《米德爾馬契》後記中的做法是否明智，她將主要人物日後的遭遇都一一說了出來。
Whom do you consider the most underrated or unappreciated writers, past and present?
問：你認爲過去和現在最被低估或最不受重視的作家是誰？
George Moore from the past (“Esther Waters” is his masterpiece); Eugene McCabe from the present (“Death and Nightingales” is his masterpiece).
答：過去是喬治·摩爾(George Moore)，最好的作品是《伊斯特·沃特斯》(Esther Waters)；現在是尤金·麥克卡比(Eugene McCabe)，最好的作品是《死亡和夜鶯》(Death and Nightingales)。
Do you read different kinds of books depending on where you are living at the time?
問：你會因爲居住在不同地方而讀不同的書嗎？
In the summer I try and finish one long story or short novel a day, usually ones I have read before. For example: Tolstoy’s “Hadji Murad,” James’s “The Turn of the Screw,” Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness,” Joyce’s “The Dead,” Samuel Beckett’s “Company,” Nadine Gordimer’s “The Late Bourgeois World,” Juan Goytisolo’s “The Blind Rider,” Philip Roth’s “Everyman,” John McGahern’s “The Country Funeral,” David Malouf’s “The Valley of Lagoons,” Tobias Wolff’s “Old School,” Richard Ford’s “Rock Springs,” Don DeLillo’s “Cosmopolis.”
答：今年夏天我嘗試每天讀完一個長的短篇小說或短的長篇小說，通常都是我以前讀過的。比如說：托爾斯泰的《哈吉穆拉特》(Hadji Murad)、詹姆斯的《螺絲在擰緊》、康拉德的《黑暗的心》、喬伊斯的《死者》、薩繆爾·貝克特的《陪伴》(Company)、納丁·戈迪默(Nadine Gordimer)的《資產階級世界的末日》(The Late Bourgeois Word)、胡安·戈伊蒂索洛(Juan Goytisolo)的《盲騎手》(The Blind Rider)、菲利普·羅斯的《凡人》(Everyman)、約翰·麥克葛漢(John McGahern)的《鄉村葬禮》(The Country Funeral)、大衛·馬洛夫(David Malouf)的《環礁湖河谷》(The Valley of Lagoons)、託拜厄斯·沃爾夫(Tobias Wolff)的《老學校》(Old School)、理查德·福特(Richard Ford)的《石泉城》(Rock Springs)和唐·德里羅的《大都會》(Cosmopolis)。
Who are your favorite Irish writers? And what are the best books about Ireland?
問：你最喜歡的愛爾蘭作家是誰？關於愛爾蘭最好的書有哪些？
I love Tim Robinson’s books on the Irish landscape and heritage — especially “Stones of Aran” and his trilogy of books about Connemara — for the depth of his knowledge and the way he makes sentences. The other books I would suggest to anyone who wanted to make sense of Ireland over the past hundred years or so are the poems of Paul Durcan, the plays of Tom Murphy, the novels of Anne Enright and Roy Foster’s two-volume biography of Yeats.
答：我喜歡提姆·羅賓遜(Tim Robinson)寫的關於愛爾蘭風景和歷史的書——尤其是《阿蘭羣島的石頭》(Stones of Aran)，以及他關於康尼馬拉(Connemara)的三部曲——因爲他知識淵博，句子優美。對那些想了解愛爾蘭近百年曆史的人，我推薦另一些書，它們是保羅·德爾坎(Paul Durcan)的詩，湯姆·墨菲(Tom Murphy)的戲劇，安妮·恩萊特(Anne Enright)的小說，以及羅伊·福斯特(Roy Foster)的兩卷本葉芝傳。
Who’s your favorite fictional hero or heroine? Your favorite antihero or villain?
問：你最喜歡的小說男女主人公是誰？你最喜歡的反英雄角色或壞人角色是誰？
I wish I was Leopold Bloom, the man who wanders Dublin in “Ulysses.” I love the way he notices and registers things, his wit, his sensuous good humor. I envy all the fun he had when he went to Nighttown and got involved in gender-bendering. The villain I like best is Casaubon in “Middlemarch.” Since I am aging, solitary and bookish myself, I feel real sympathy for him and am sure that Dorothea, whom he marries, could not have been a bundle of laughs. Casaubon is given a raw deal in the book, and readers like to dislike him, but the older I get the more sympathy I have for him as he tries to finish an unfinishable book and then is brave enough to get married to a young woman. I feel sorry when he dies.
答：我希望自己是列奧波德·布魯姆，那個在《尤利西斯》中漫遊都柏林的男人。我喜歡他留意和觀察事物的方式，喜歡他的機智，以及他誘人的幽默感。我羨慕他去“夜城”玩得那麼開心，嫉妒他參與的變裝遊戲。我最喜歡的反面角色是《米德爾馬契》中的卡蘇朋。因爲我自己也上了年紀，是個孤單的書呆子，所以我挺同情他的，也確信他娶的多蘿西婭不可能是個幽默風趣之人。卡蘇朋在書裏被描寫得不太公正，讀者都討厭他，但當我年歲越大，就愈發同情他，因爲他試圖去完成一本不可能完成的書，然後又勇敢地和一個年輕女子結婚。我對他的死感到難受。
What kind of reader were you as a child? Which childhood books and authors stick with you most?
問：你小時候是一個什麼樣的讀者？你印象最深的童年讀物和作家有哪些？
I could not read until I was 9, by which time I had developed a serious stammer. Although my mother once warned me that being a dimwit was likely to have dire consequences, my parents were sweet enough not to mention my stammer or my non-reading much and were smart enough not to seek professional help. They left me to myself. Thus I have no childhood books or authors, but I had plenty of time to think and also to study things and people. I did then learn to read, and I think I disturbed the folks more when I became addicted to poetry and, as a teenager, learned Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” by heart. It took me a bit longer to get rid of the stammer. Even still, in leading a mystery of the rosary, I have no problem with “Our Father” since it begins with a vowel, or “Hail Mary” since it starts with a soft H, but I have to do a hell of a lot of light and heavy breathing as I approach the hard consonant start of “Glory be to the Father.”
答：我9歲纔會閱讀，那時我有嚴重的口吃。雖然我媽媽曾警告我，當個傻子可能會有嚴重的後果，但我父母人很好，並不是總提我口吃或閱讀障礙這些事，而且他們很聰明的一點是，沒有去尋求專業人士的幫助。他們就讓我一個人呆着。所以，我沒有喜歡的童年讀物或作家，但我有很多時間去思考，去學習人和事。我後來才學會了閱讀，可當我開始沉迷於詩歌，並且十幾歲時就會背誦希薇亞·普拉斯(Sylvia Plath)的那首《爸爸》時，家人反而更替我擔心了。我又花了更長一點的時間才克服了口吃。即便如此，在領頌《玫瑰經的奧跡》時，我讀“我們的天父”並不費力，因爲第一個音節是元音，或者讀“萬福瑪利亞”也沒問題，因爲它開頭是一個輕讀的/h/。但當我開始讀那個需要硬輔音開頭的“願光榮歸於父”時，就需要大動干戈地調整一番呼吸。
If you had to name one book that made you who you are today, what would it be?
問：如果讓你說出一本書，正是它讓你成爲了現在的你，那會是哪本？
“Hamlet” gave me permission to mourn my father’s death, to make smart remarks to teachers, to make fun of my betters, to procrastinate, to keep my best lines for my conversations with myself, to enjoy the theater, to do whatever I pleased, to view all forms of authority with sourness. I would never have been able to do any of these things with the same intensity had I not read that book when I was 15.
答：《哈姆萊特》讓我可以去哀悼父親的死，對老師做出俏皮的點評，揶揄那些比我好的人，拖延時間，把最好的臺詞留給與自己的對話，享受戲劇，做我任何喜歡的事情，蔑視一切的權威。假如我沒有在15歲那年讀這本書，就不可能如此激烈地做出所有這些事。
If you could require the president to read one book, what would it be?
問：假如你能讓總統讀一本書，你想是哪一本？
Anyone in power, including the president, would benefit from Jaroslav Hasek’s “The Good Soldier Svejk,” which is set during the First World War in Austria-Hungary. First because it would make them laugh, and then because it is the best antiwar novel I know, hilariously dramatizing the pointlessness of empires and the foolishness of military goals and the sheer absurdity and cruelty of people waging war on each other.
答：任何當權者，包括總統，都會從雅洛斯拉夫·哈謝克(Jaroslav Hasek)寫的《好兵帥克》中受益。這本書背景是第一次世界大戰期間的奧匈帝國。首先，這本書會逗樂他們，而且這是我所知道的最佳反戰小說，風趣幽默地表現了帝國的無意義，軍事目標的愚蠢，以及交戰各方純粹的荒謬和殘忍。
You’re hosting a literary dinner party. Which three writers are invited?
問：假如你要舉辦一個文學晚餐派對。會邀請哪三個作家？
James Baldwin, Robert Louis Stevenson, Christopher Marlowe. After dinner we would do a spliced reading of Baldwin’s “Giovanni’s Room,” Stevenson’s “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” and Marlowe’s “Edward II.” We would also have fun, I hope, making sly and suggestive comments to Stevenson about his sexuality. I would also enjoy listening to Marlowe reading aloud his poem “Hero and Leander,” which is one of my favorite poems. And I bet Baldwin would enjoy the reading too, not to speak of Stevenson.
答：詹姆斯·鮑德溫(James Baldwin)、羅伯特·路易斯·史蒂文森(Robert Louis Stevenson)、克里斯托弗·馬洛(Christopher Marlowe)。晚餐之後，我們會做一次串讀，讀鮑德溫的《喬萬尼的房間》(Giovanni’s Room)，史蒂文森的《化身博士》(Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde)和馬洛的《愛德華二世》(Edward II)。我希望能含沙射影談談史蒂文森的性取向，讓大夥兒逗逗樂。我還會喜歡聽馬洛高聲朗讀他的詩《希洛與勒安得耳》(Hero and Leander)，這是我最喜歡的一首詩。我相信鮑德溫也會喜歡這種朗讀活動，史蒂文森就更不用說了。
Disappointing, overrated, just not good: What book did you feel you were supposed to like, and didn’t? Do you remember the last book you put down without finishing?
問：令人失望，評價過高，根本就不好：什麼書是你覺得應該喜歡，但卻並不喜歡的？你還記得上一本無法卒讀的書嗎？
Oh yes, I do remember the last book I put down without finishing it. It was the Old Testament. I wonder if I am alone in thinking it slightly overrated, or “just not good,” as you phrase it? Some of it is nice, but very little of it seems to be true, at least to me, and much of it is repetitive and overwritten, and some of it is plain dumb and quite foolish and offensive. (I like the New Testament, however, or most of it, especially St. John’s Gospel, and finish it regularly.)
答：哦，是的，我的確記得上一本沒讀完就放下的書。那是《舊約》。我懷疑是不是隻有我一個人覺得這本書有些被擡得太高了，或者正如你說的，它“根本就不好”？這本書有些地方還行，但大部分都不足信，至少對我而言是如此，很多地方重複、誇張，有些地方乾脆就又傻又蠢，讓人不舒服。（但是我喜歡《新約》，或者說，大部分章節都喜歡，尤其是《約翰福音》，我經常會重讀。）
Whom would you want to write your life story?
問：你想讓誰來寫你的傳記？
Lyndall Gordon or maybe Janet Malcolm.
答：林德爾·戈登(Lyndall Gordon)，或者珍妮特·馬爾科姆(Janet Malcolm)也可以。
What books do you find yourself returning to again and again?
問：有哪些書是你會不斷重讀的？
At Columbia, I teach books that I care about, and always reread them in the week before the class. This means that every year I get to revisit 19th-century novels such as “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Portrait of a Lady” and “Middlemarch,” and then Irish classics such as “The Tain,” “Dubliners,” Elizabeth Bowen’s “The Last September,” Flann O’Brien’s “At Swim-Two-Birds” and Beckett’s “Molloy.”
答：我在哥倫比亞教的都是我喜歡的書，並且在上課前一週總會重讀一遍。這意味着每年我都會重返那些19世紀的小說，比如《傲慢與偏見》、《貴婦畫像》、《米德爾馬契》，然後就是愛爾蘭文學經典，比如《奪牛記》(The Tain)、《都柏林人》(Dubliners)、伊麗莎白·鮑恩(Elizabeth Bowen)的《最後的九月》(The Last September)、弗蘭恩·奧布萊恩(Flann O’Brien)的《雙鳥戲水》(At Swim-Two-Birds)、貝克特的《莫洛伊》(Molloy)。
What books are you embarrassed not to have read yet?
問：你爲自己尚未讀過哪些書而感到難爲情？
I still have not read Thomas Mann’s tetralogy “Joseph and His Brothers.”
答：我還沒讀過托馬斯·曼的四部曲《約瑟夫和他的兄弟們》。
What do you plan to read next?
問：你接下來打算讀什麼？
Gary Indiana’s new memoir, “I Can Give You Anything but Love.”
答：嘉裏·印迪安納(Gary Indiana)的最新自傳，《我能給你除了愛的一切》(I Can Give You Anything but Love)。
