通译双语文库:聪明的消遣：毛姆谈英国文学查尔斯·狄更斯与《大卫·科波菲尔》 2|Charles Dickens and David Copperfield 2

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聪明的消遣：毛姆谈英国文学

查尔斯·狄更斯与《大卫·科波菲尔》 2|Charles Dickens and David Copperfield 2

属类：双语小说【分类】其他读物 -[作者: 毛姆] 阅读：[11925] 登录会员即可添加到文库收藏夹，方便以后查看

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在下议院的旁听席上干了大约一年后，狄更斯开始写一系列伦敦生活的随笔。这些随笔的最初篇目发表在《月刊》上，后来的篇目发表在《晨报纪事》上。他写这些东西时没有报酬，但却引起了一个名叫马克隆的出版商的注意。于是在狄更斯二十四岁生日的时候，这些文字分两卷出版成书了，名叫“博兹札记”，并由克里克山克绘制插图。第一版问世时，马克隆付给了狄更斯一百五十镑。这本书反响很好，很快就给他带来了再写的邀请。当时有种风潮，就是把幽默的逸事型小说配上滑稽插图，分期连载在月刊上，每期卖一先令。它们是我们现在滑稽连环漫画的远祖，也和我们的连环漫画一样非常受欢迎。有一天，查普曼出版社的一个合伙人登门拜访，邀请狄更斯写一个业余运动员俱乐部的故事，并由一位著名画家绘制插图。这个计划共有二十期，查普曼每期会出十四镑，买下我们现在叫作连载权的东西，以后出了书还会继续付钱。狄更斯说自己对运动一无所知，不认为自己能按要求写得出书来，但“报酬实在难以抗拒”。不用说，结果就产生了《匹克威克外传》。开头的五期不算成功，但是山姆·维勒这个人物一出现，发行量就立刻开始激增。到了出书的时候，狄更斯就出名了。虽然评论家们还有所保留，但狄更斯的声名已然确立无疑。不妨看看《评论季刊》是如何说他的：“无须预言的神力就可测知他的命运——他已然像火箭一样飞升，也将像棍子一样跌落。”的确，终其一生，虽然公众都在贪婪捧读狄更斯的书，评论家们却一直对他挑剔不断。

When he had been working for a year or so in the Gallery of the House of Commons, Dickens began to write a series of sketches of London life; the first were published in The Monthly Magazine, and later ones in The Morning Chronicle; he was paid nothing for them, but they attracted the attention of a publisher named Macrone, and on the author’s twenty-fourth birthday they were issued in two volumes, with illustrations by Cruickshank, under the title Sketches by Boz. Macrone paid him one hundred and fifty pounds for the first edition. The book was well reviewed, and within a short time brought him an offer of further work. There was a vogue at the time for anecdotic novels of a humorous character, which were issued in monthly parts at a shilling, with comic illustrations. They were the remote ancestors of the funnies of our own time, and they had the same prodigious popularity. One day a partner in the firm of Chapman and Hall called upon Dickens to ask him to write a narrative about a club of amateur sportsmen to serve as a vehicle for the illustrations of a well-known artist. There were to be twenty numbers, and he offered fourteen pounds a month for what we should now call the serial rights, with further payments when later they were published as a book. Dickens protested that he knew nothing about sport and did not think he could write to order, but“the emolument was too tempting to resist.”I need hardly say that the result was The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. The first five numbers had no great success, but with the introduction of Sam Weller the circulation leaped up. By the time the work appeared in book-form, Charles Dickens was famous. Though the critics made their reservations, his reputation was made. It is well to record that The Quarterly Review, speaking of him, said that“it required no gift of prophecy to foretell his fate—he has risen like a rocket and he will come down like a stick.”But indeed, throughout his career, while the public devoured his books, the critics carped.

一八三六年，《匹克威克外传》第一期出版前几天，狄更斯和他在《晨报纪事》的同事乔治·贺加斯的大女儿凯特结婚了。乔治·贺加斯是六子八女之父，女儿们都是蓝眼睛、娇小丰满、健康明艳的长相。凯特是唯一到了适婚年龄的女儿，这似乎是狄更斯娶她而不是别人的原因。短暂的蜜月期后，他们在弗尼沃旅社安顿下来，并且邀请凯特的漂亮妹妹、十六岁的玛丽和他们同住。狄更斯签了合同要再写一部小说《雾都孤儿》，《匹克威克外传》还在进行中时他就开始了《雾都孤儿》的创作。两本书都是连载，于是他半个月写这本，半个月写那本。大多数小说家都会情不自禁地沉浸于他正在写的人物当中，还会有意控制，不让脑子里产生其他文学想法，狄更斯却明显可以在两个故事中自由转换，这实在是个了不起的本事。

A couple of days before the appearance of the first number of The Pickwick Papers, in 1836, Dickens married Kate, the eldest daughter of George Hogarth, a colleague of Dickens on The Morning Chronicle. George Hogarth was the father of six sons and eight daughters. The daughters were small, plump, fresh-coloured and blue-eyed. Kate was the only one of marriageable age. That seems to have been the reason why Dickens married her rather than one of the others. After a short honeymoon, they settled down in Furnival’s Inn and invited Kate’s pretty sister, Mary Hogarth, a girl of sixteen, to live with them. Dickens accepted a contract to write another novel, Oliver Twist, and he started it while still at work on The Pickwick Papers. This also was to appear in monthly numbers, and he devoted a fortnight to one and a fortnight to the other. Most novelists are so absorbed in the characters which are at the moment engaging their attention that, by no effort of will, they thrust back into their unconscious what other literary ideas they have had in mind; and that Dickens should have been able to switch, apparently with ease, from one story to another is an amazing feat.

他喜欢上了玛丽。当凯特发现自己怀了孕，不能陪狄更斯到处走动的时候，玛丽就成了他形影不离的人。凯特的孩子出生了，因为她还会再生几个，因此他们把家从弗尼沃旅社搬到了道提街的一处寓所。一天天过去了，玛丽越长越可爱，越长越讨人喜欢。五月的一个晚上，狄更斯带凯特和玛丽去看戏，他们看得高兴，回来时也兴致勃勃。可是突然间玛丽就病倒了，医生来了，可是几小时后玛丽还是死了。狄更斯把她手上的戒指摘下来戴在自己手上，并且至死都戴着这枚戒指。他悲痛难抑。不久后他在日记中写道：“如果现在她还和我们在一起，还是那个迷人、快乐、亲切的伴侣，比任何我知道的人——不管是过去还是将来——都更理解我一切的思想和感情，那么只要这样的幸福继续下去，我将一无所求。可是她走了，我祈求上帝用他的仁慈，有朝一日可以让我与她重聚。”这些话很重要，昭示的意义深远。他还计划死后与她合葬一处。我想他无疑是深深爱上了玛丽，但我们无法得知他自己是否意识到了这一点。

He took a fancy to Mary Hogarth, and when Kate found herself with child and, could not go about with him, Mary became his constant companion. Kate’s baby was born, and as she might be expected to have several more, a move was made from Furnival’s Inn to a house in Doughty Street. Mary grew every day more lovely and more delightful. One May evening, Dickens took Kate and Mary to a play; they enjoyed themselves and came home in high spirits. Mary was taken ill. A doctor was sent for. In a few hours she was dead. Dickens took the ring from her finger and put it on his own. He wore it till his death. He was prostrated with grief. Not long after, he wrote in his diary: “If she were with us now, the same winning, happy, amiable companion, sympathizing with all my thoughts and feelings more than anyone I know ever did or will, I think I should have nothing to wish for but a continuance of such happiness. But she is gone, and pray God I may one day, through his mercy, rejoin her.”These are significant words, and they tell us a great deal. He arranged to be buried by Mary’s side. I think there can be no doubt that he had fallen deeply in love with her. We shall never know whether he was aware of it.

玛丽死时，凯特又怀孕了，妹妹的死使她受了打击，以致流产了。当她身体康复后，狄更斯带着她出国短期旅行，为的是两个人都能恢复精神。无论如何，到了夏天的时候，他就好得很了，可以跟一位埃莉诺·P．肆意调情了。

At the time of Mary’s death, Kate was once more pregnant, and the shock brought on a miscarriage. When she was well enough, Charles took her for a short trip abroad so that they might both recover their spirits. By the summer he, at all events, had sufficiently done so to have a boisterous flirtation with a certain Eleanor P.

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	Commons [’kɒmənz]	n.英国国会下院(the House of Common)
	humorous [’hjuːmərəs]	adj.幽默的;诙谐的
	shill [ʃɪl]	n.托儿;雇佣骗子
	Chapman [’tʃæpmən]	n.叫卖小贩;商人
	amateur [’æmətə(r)]	n.外行;业余爱好者
	sportsman [’spɔːtsmən]	n.运动员
	serial [’sɪəriəl]	n.连载小说
	circulation [ˌsɜːkjə’leɪʃn]	n.流通;循环
	Quarterly [’kwɔːtəli]	adj.季度的
	devour [dɪ’vaʊə(r)]	v.吞食;毁灭;贪婪地阅读
	carp [kɑːp]	n.鲤鱼
	novelist [’nɒvəlɪst]	n.小说家
	thrust [θrʌst]	v.刺;插入;推挤
	amaze [ə’meɪz]	vt.使吃惊;使惊异
	fancy [’fænsi]	n. 【C】设想；幻想；空想;
	prostrate [’prɒstreɪt]	a. 俯卧的；平卧的；卧倒的;
	sympathize [’sɪmpəθaɪz]	vi.同情;同感;赞成
	continuance [kən’tɪnjuəns]	n.继续;停留;持续;【律】延期审理
	mercy [’mɜːsi]	n.仁慈;怜悯;恩惠;宽恕
	Eleanor [ˈelɪnə]	埃莉诺(女子名)
	miscarriage [’mɪskærɪdʒ]	n.流产;失败;误审误判;误投
	boisterous [’bɔɪstərəs]	adj.喧闹的;狂暴的
	flirtation [flɜː’teɪʃn]	n.调情;挑逗;调戏;不认真考虑