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聪明的消遣：毛姆谈英国文学

亨利·菲尔丁与《汤姆·琼斯》 2|Henry Fielding and Tom Jones 2

属类： 双语小说 【分类】其他读物 -[作者: 毛姆] 阅读：[14159]
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以上我依据不完整的材料简略介绍了菲尔丁的生平。当我思考菲尔丁的人生时，我心头涌起了一种独特的情感。他是个男人。很少有小说家在书中比他投入的自我更多，因此当你读他的小说时，你会感受到一种感情，就像你对相熟多年的某个人所感受到的那种感情一样。他身上有一种他那个时代的时代感，有种英国人的特质，直到最近这种人还很普遍。你会在伦敦遇见他，在赛马中心纽马克特遇见他，在莱斯特郡的打猎季节遇见他，八月在疗养地考兹遇见他，仲冬时节在戛纳和蒙特卡洛遇见他。他是个绅士，他有教养，长得好，性情好，对人和善，容易相处。他并不特别文雅，但他能宽容那些文雅之士。他喜欢姑娘，却经常发现自己被列为离婚诉讼中涉嫌通奸的共同被告。他不是这个世界上最勤劳的那种人，但他也看不出他为什么要成为这样的人。他虽然不做事，但也绝不懒散。他有一份适当的收入，花得也大方。如果战争爆发，他会参军，他的勇敢将有目共睹。他绝对无害，人人都喜欢他。然而时光荏苒，年华不再，他不再有钱，生活也不再似往昔容易。他只得放弃打猎，但他还是打得一手好高尔夫，你也会永远高兴地看见他出现在俱乐部的棋牌室里。他会娶个老情人，一个有钱的寡妇，于是在中年的时候安定下来，做她的好丈夫。可是今天的世界容不下他了，不消几年他这类人就要绝种了。这样一个人，我觉得就是菲尔丁。但他恰巧有一份伟大的天赋使他成了作家。当他想努力工作时，他就能努力工作。他也喜欢醇酒和女人。人们一讨论道德，脑子里主要想的就是贞洁，但贞洁只是道德中很小的一部分，还可能不是最主要的部分。菲尔丁欲望强烈，并且毫不犹豫地屈从于此，可他也能爱得温柔。注意，是性爱，不是爱情。性爱和爱情不同，性爱是植根于性的，但是没有爱也可以有性。拒绝承认这点只能说明虚伪或无知。性欲是一种动物本能，不比饥和渴更丢人，也不比饥和渴更有理由不应得到满足。如果菲尔丁享受了性之乐趣，哪怕有些滥交，他也没比大多数男人坏到哪去。他就像我们中的大多数人那样后悔“犯罪”（如果能说这是罪的话），但是机会来临的时候还会再犯。他急躁易怒，但是心地善良且慷慨大方，是个腐败时代里的实诚人。他是个深情的丈夫，慈爱的父亲。他勇敢真诚，对朋友好，朋友们也对他至死不渝。他虽然宽容别人的缺点，但痛恨野蛮和欺诈。他不因成功膨胀，有两只松鸡和一瓶葡萄酒就可以坚强地对抗逆境。他对生活来者不拒，兴致勃勃，愉快接受，并且尽情享受。事实上，他非常像他的汤姆·琼斯，与他的比利·布斯也并无不同。他是个真正的男人。

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When I consider Fielding’s life, which from inadequate material I have briefly sketched, I am seized with a singular emotion. He was a man. As you read his novels, and few novelists have put more of themselves into their books than he, you feel the same sort of affection as you feel for someone with whom you have been for years intimate. There is something contemporary about him. There is a sort of Englishman that till recently was far from uncommon. You might meet him in London, at Newmarket, in Leicestershire during the hunting season, at Cowes in August, at Cannes or Monte Carlo in midwinter. He is a gentleman, and he has good manners. He is good-looking, good-natured, friendly and easy to get on with. He is not particularly cultured, but he is tolerant of those who are. He is fond of the girls and is apt to find himself cited as a co-respondent. He is not one of the world’s workers, but he sees no reason why he should be. Though he does nothing, he is far from idle. He has an adequate income and is free with his money. If war breaks out, he joins up and his gallantry is conspicuous. There is absolutely no harm in him and everyone likes him. The years pass and youth is over, he is not so well-off any more and life is not so easy as it was. He has had to give up hunting, but he still plays a good game of golf and you are always glad to see him in the card-room of your club. He marries an old flame, a widow with money, and, settling down to middle age, makes her a very good husband. The world to-day has no room for him and, in a few years, his type will be extinct. Such a man, I fancy, was Fielding. But he happened to have the great gift which made him the writer he was and, when he wanted to, he could work hard. He was fond of the bottle and he liked women. When people speak of virtue, it is generally sex they have in mind, but chastity is only a small part of virtue, and perhaps not the chief one. Fielding had strong passions, and he had no hesitation in yielding to them. He was capable of loving tenderly. Now love, not affection, which is a different thing, is rooted in sex, but there can be sexual desire without love. It is only hypocrisy or ignorance that denies it. Sexual desire is an animal instinct, and there is nothing more shameful in it than in thirst or hunger, and no more reason not to satisfy it. If Fielding enjoyed, somewhat promiscuously, the pleasures of sex, he was not worse than most men. Like most of us, he regretted his sins, if sins they are, but when opportunity occurred, committed them again. He was hot-tempered, but kind-hearted, generous and, in a corrupt age honest; an affectionate husband and father; courageous and truthful, and a good friend to his friends, who till his death remained faithful to him. Though tolerant to the faults of others, he hated brutality and double-dealing. He was not puffed up by success and, with the help of a brace of partridges and a bottle of claret, bore adversity with fortitude. He took life as it came, with high spirits and good humour, and enjoyed it to the full. In fact he was very like his own Tom Jones, and not unlike his own Billy Booth. He was a very proper man.

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但是，我应该告诉读者，我所描述的菲尔丁和我上文经常提到的牛津大学彭布罗克学院的院长（霍姆斯·达顿博士）在他的巨著中所描述的菲尔丁并不吻合，虽然我从那部著作中获得了很多有用信息。“直到最近，”达顿博士写道，“一般人心目中的菲尔丁是个天才，‘心眼儿好’，有很多亲切的品质，但是放浪不羁，不负责任，犯过令人遗憾的错误，甚至更严重的过错也不是没有犯过。”他想尽力说服读者，让他们相信菲尔丁过去是被严重中伤了。

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I should, however, tell the reader that the picture I have drawn of Henry Fielding does not at all accord with that drawn by the Master of Pembroke in the monumental work to which I have often referred, and to which I owe much useful information.“Until comparatively recently, ”he writes, “the conception of Fielding which prevailed in the popular imagination was that of a man of brilliant genius, endowed with what is called‘a good heart’ and many amiable qualities, but dissipated and irresponsible, guilty of regrettable follies, and not wholly unstained even by graver vices.”And he has done his best to persuade his readers that Fielding has been grossly maligned.

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但是达顿博士极力否认的这个形象其实就是菲尔丁生前最常见的样子，熟悉他的人就是这样看他的。他生前确实遭到过政敌和文敌的痛击，他们也确有可能夸大了对他的指责。但是如果指责能伤人，那指责就必须合理。例如，已经作古的斯塔福德·克里普斯爵士有很多死敌，他们恨不得往他身上扔泥巴，说他是个两面派，背叛了他所在的阶级，但他们绝不会说他是个色鬼或酒鬼，因为众所周知，斯塔福德爵士为人品德高尚，极有节制。他们如果说他是酒鬼、色鬼，只能让他们自己显得荒谬。同样，围绕一个名人的诸多传奇固然未必全真，但是假如传奇只是似是而非，一样也不会让人相信。墨非讲过一个故事，说某次菲尔丁需要交税，让出版商预付给他一笔款子，可是当他拿钱回家时遇见了一个境遇更差的朋友，菲尔丁就把钱给了这人。收税官来了，菲尔丁带信给他说：“友谊已经召唤走了金钱，请阁下下次再来吧。”达顿博士认为此逸闻不真。可这事如果是编的，那也是因为它是可信的。菲尔丁被指责挥霍无度，他可能确实如此。但这是因为他总是开朗豪爽，对人友好，喜好宴饮交际，并且对金钱满不在乎。他经常欠债，可能有时还被“讨债者和法警”纠缠。他缺钱到无法可想的地步时，无疑会找朋友帮忙，他们也会借钱给他。思想高尚如埃德蒙·伯克(12)也是如此。作为剧作家，菲尔丁在戏剧圈厮混了多年。不管是过去还是现在，没有一个国家的戏剧圈会被认为是一个能教会年轻人禁欲的好地方。帮菲尔丁上演他第一部戏剧的安妮·奥德菲尔德死后葬在威斯敏斯特教堂，但是因为她曾被两位绅士包养，育有两名私生子，因此为她立碑纪念的请求被拒绝了。当年她要是没向年轻英俊的菲尔丁施爱就怪了。而如果她曾用恩客的钱资助过当时一文不名的菲尔丁，那也没什么好奇怪的。屈服的可能只是他的贫穷而不是他的意愿。如果他年轻时经常在女人堆里厮混，那只能说明他和他那个时代（还有我们这个时代）那些有机会、有优势的年轻人无甚不同。他无疑“曾在很多个夜晚在酒馆里喝得酩酊大醉”。但是不管哲学家们怎么坚称，常识都一致认为年轻人的道德和老年人的道德不同，道德准则也因人的身份不同而不同。神学博士滥交应受谴责，年轻人滥交却合乎常情。一个大学里的院长喝醉了不可原谅，虽然偶尔喝醉也在意料之中，但是一个本科生喝醉则无甚关碍。

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But this conception, which Dr. Dudden tries to refute, is that which prevailed in Fielding’s lifetime. It was held by persons who knew him well. It is true that he was violently attacked in his own day by his political and literary enemies, and it is very likely that the charges that were brought against him were exaggerated; but if charges are to be damaging they must be plausible. For example: the late Sir Stafford Cripps had many bitter enemies who were only too anxious to throw mud at him; they said that he was a turncoat and a traitor to his class; but it would never have occurred to them to say that he was a lecher and a drunkard, since he was well-known to be a man of high moral character and fiercely abstemious. It would only have made them absurd. In the same way, the legends that gather round a famous man may not be true, but they will not be believed unless they are specious. Arthur Murphy relates that on one occasion Fielding, in order to pay the tax-collector, got his publisher to give him an advance and, while taking the money home, met a friend who was in even worse case than himself; so he gave him the money and, when the tax-collector called, sent him the message: “Friendship has called for the money and had it; let the collector call again.”Dr. Dudden shows that there can be no truth in the anecdote; but if it was invented, it is because it was credible. Fielding was accused of being a spendthrift; he probably was; it went with his insouciance, his high spirits, his friendliness, conviviality and indifference to money. He was thus often in debt and probably on occasion haunted by“duns and bumbailiffs”; there is little doubt that when he was at his wit’s end for money he applied to his friends for help and they gave it. So did the noble-minded Edmund Burke. As a playwright, Fielding had lived for years in theatrical circles, and the theatre has in no country, either in the past or the present, been regarded as a favourable place to teach the young a rigid continence. Anne Oldfield, by whose influence Fielding had his first play produced, was buried in Westminster Abbey; but since she had been kept by two gentlemen, and had had two illegitimate children, permission to honour her with a monument was refused. It would be strange if she did not grant her favours to the handsome youth that Fielding then was; and, since he was pretty well penniless, it would not be surprising if she had helped him with some of the funds she received from her protectors. It may be that his poverty, but not his will, consented. If in his youth he was much given to wenching, he was no different from most young men in his day (and ours) who had his opportunities and advantages. And, doubtless, he spent“many anight drinking deep in taverns.”Whatever philosophers may aver, common sense is pretty well agreed that there is a different morality for youth and age, and a different one according to the station in life. It would be reprehensible for a doctor of divinity to engage in promiscuous fornication, but natural for a young man to do so; and it would be unpardonable for the master of a college to get drunk, but to be expected on occasion, and not really disapproved, in an undergraduate.

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菲尔丁的敌人攻击他在政治上有奶就是娘，他确实如此。他很乐意用他的伟大才干为沃波尔效劳，但当他发现人家根本不需要时，他也同样乐意投靠沃波尔的反对者。这并不要求牺牲什么原则，因为当时的执政党和反对党唯一真正的区别就在于执政党掌握着官职任命、有薪水，而反对党则没有。腐败无处不在。只要有好处，居高位者一样乐意换边站，就像菲尔丁为了糊口可以变脸一样。但是菲尔丁有一件事值得称赞，那就是当沃波尔发现他很危险，向他提出只要他离开反对党就答应他的条件时，菲尔丁却拒绝了。菲尔丁这样做也很聪明，因为不久沃波尔就倒台了。菲尔丁在上层社会有朋友，在文艺界有朋友，但从他的作品中看，似乎可以肯定他很享受和底层人以及声名狼藉者交往。为此他曾遭到严厉指责。但是在我看来，他如果没有体验过并很享受底层生活的话，他是不可能如此生动美妙地写出那些所谓的底层生活场景的。菲尔丁活着时，别人普遍把他看成一个放荡挥霍之徒。这方面的证据太强大，无法忽视。可是，如果他真是彭布罗克院长希望我们相信的那么体面、正派、节制的话，他就不可能写出《汤姆·琼斯》这种书了。达顿博士非要洗白菲尔丁可能自有其用，但我想有一点误导了博士，即他没想到矛盾的甚至相互排斥的品质是可以同时并存于一个人身上的，而且不知怎的还会造成一种相当合理的和谐。对一个一直过着安逸的学院生活的人而言，被如此误导是很自然的。在院长看来，因为菲尔丁慷慨善良、正直温和、亲切诚实，他就不可能同时还是个败家子，会从阔朋友那儿乞食要钱；就不可能出入酒馆，痛饮到毁了自己的健康的地步；就不可能一有机会就狂嫖滥交。院长宣称，菲尔丁在第一任妻子活着期间都绝对忠实于她。他怎么知道？菲尔丁当然爱他妻子，爱得热烈，但他绝不是第一个只要机会合适，就会暗地里冒一把险的丈夫，尽管他钟爱妻子。他极有可能像他笔下的布斯上尉一样，虽然犯错后无比悔恨，但仍然控制不了下次一有机会还会再犯。

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Fielding’s enemies accuse him of being a political hireling. He was. He was quite ready to put his great gifts at the service of Sir Robert Walpole and, when he found they were not wanted, he was equally ready to put them at the service of his enemies. That demanded no particular sacrifice of principle, since at that time the only real difference between the Government and the Opposition was that the Government enjoyed the emoluments of office and the Opposition did not. Corruption was universal, and great lords were as willing to change sides when it was to their advantage as was Fielding when it was a question of bread and butter. It should be said to his credit that when Walpole discovered he was dangerous, and offered to give him his own terms if he would desert the Opposition, he refused. It was also intelligent of him, for not so long afterwards Walpole fell! Fielding had a number of friends in the higher ranks of society, and friends eminent in the arts, but from his writings it seems certain that he enjoyed the company of the low and disreputable. He was severely censured for this, but it seems to me that he could not have described with such wonderful vivacity scenes of what is called low-life unless he had himself taken part in them, and enjoyed it. Common opinion in his own day decided that Fielding was licentious and profligate. The evidence that he was is too great to be ignored. If he had been the respectable, chaste, abstemious creature that the Master of Pembroke would have us believe, it is surely very unlikely that he would have written Tom Jones. I think what has misled Dr. Dudden, in his perhaps meritorious attempt to whitewash Fielding, is that it has not occurred to him that contradictory, and even mutually exclusive, qualities may exist in the same man and somehow or other form a tolerably plausible harmony. That is natural enough in one who has led a sheltered, academic life. Because Fielding was generous, good-hearted, upright, kindly, affectionate and honest, it has seemed to the Master impossible that he should have been at the same time a spendthrift who would cadge a dinner and a guinea from his rich friends, who would haunt taverns and drink to the ruin of his health, and who would engage in sexual congress whenever he had the chance. Dr. Dudden states that, as long as his first wife lived, Fielding was absolutely faithful to her. How does he know? Certainly Fielding loved her, he loved her passionately, but he would not have been the first loving husband who, when the circumstances were propitious, had a flutter on the side; and it is very probable that after such an occurrence, like his own Captain Booth in similar circumstances, he bitterly regretted it; but that did not prevent him from transgressing again when the opportunity offered.

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玛丽·沃特利—蒙太古夫人曾在一封信里说：“我对亨利·菲尔丁的死感到难过，不仅是因为我将再也读不到他的作品了，还因为我相信他的损失比别人都大，因为没有人比他更享受生活，虽然很多人比他更有理由享受生活。他最高级的爱好无非是在最低级的堕落和苦恼中放荡。我认为当个夜间婚礼的主持人(13)都比他这份营生更高尚，更不那么令人恶心。当他面对一份鹿肉馅饼或一瓶香槟时，他欢乐的天性会使他忘了一切，虽然他后来把这份天性毁掉了大半。我相信他比这世界上的任何一个王孙公子享受过的欢乐时光都更多。”

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In one of her letters Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu wrote: “I am sorry for H. Fielding’s death, not only as I shall read no more of his writings, but I believe he lost more than others, as no man enjoyed life more than he did, though few had less reason to do so, the highest of his preferment being raking in the lowest sinks of vice and misery. I should think it a nobler and less nauseous employment to be one of the staff officers that conduct the nocturnal weddings. His happy constitution (even when he had, with great pains, half demolished it) made him forget everything when he was before a venison pasty, or over a flask of champagne; and I am persuaded he has known more happy moments than any prince upon earth.”

序号 英文/音标 中文解释 更多操作

inadequate

[ɪn’ædɪkwət]

adj.不适当的;不充分的

singular

[’sɪŋɡjələ(r)]

a. 非凡的；卓越的;

novelist

[’nɒvəlɪst]

n.小说家

uncommon

[ʌn’kɒmən]

adj.不寻常的;不常见的;极度的

hunting

[’hʌntɪŋ]

n.打猎;搜寻【电子学】速度偏差.

Monte

[’mɒntɪ]

n.(西班牙的)纸牌赌博游戏

tolerant

[’tɒlərənt]

adj.宽容的;容忍的

conspicuous

[kən’spɪkjuəs]

adj.显著的;显眼的;显而易见的

well-off

[’wel’ɔːf]

adj.顺利的;走运的;手头宽裕的;繁荣昌盛的

extinct

[ɪk’stɪŋkt]

adj.灭绝的;熄灭的;消亡的

fancy

[’fænsi]

n. 【C】设想；幻想；空想;

ignorance

[’ɪɡnərəns]

n.无知;愚昧

thirst

[θɜːst]

vi.渴望;渴求;口渴

promiscuous

[prə’mɪskjuəs]

adj.杂乱的;(指性)随便的;不规则的

corrupt

[kə’rʌpt]

adj.腐败的;堕落的;讹误的

truthful

[’truːθfl]

adj.诚实的;真实的

brace

[breɪs]

v.防备;支撑;绷紧;振作

partridge

[’pɑːtrɪdʒ]

n.鹧鸪

adversity

[əd’vɜːsəti]

n.不幸;灾难;逆境

Billy

[’bɪli]

n.棍棒;警棍;【英纺】粗纱机

monumental

[ˌmɒnju’mentl]

adj.纪念碑的;作为纪念的;不朽的

comparative

[kəm’pærətɪv]

adj.比较的;相当的

endow

[ɪn’daʊ]

vt.捐助;赋予;使具有某种品质

irresponsible

[ˌɪrɪ’spɒnsəbl]

adj.不负责任的;不可靠的;没有承担能力的

wholly

[’həʊlli]

adv.完全地;全部地;一概

malign

[mə’laɪn]

adj.有害的;恶性的;有恶意的

indifference

[ɪn’dɪfrəns]

n.不重视;无兴趣;漠不关心

haunt

[hɔːnt]

vt. 常去，常到(某地);

dun

[dʌn]

vt.讨债

theatrical

[θi’ætrɪkl]

adj.剧场的;夸张的

theatre

[ˈθɪətə]

n.戏院,剧场,电影院

past

[pɑːst]

a. 过去的;

rigid

[’rɪdʒɪd]

adj.坚硬的;严格的;固执的

Westminster

[’westmɪnstə(r)]

威斯敏斯特

Abbey

[’æbi]

n.修道院;修道院教堂

honour

[ˈɒnə]

n.光荣;

tavern

[’tævən]

n.酒馆;客栈

morality

[mə’ræləti]

n.道德;美德;品行;道德观

disapprove

[ˌdɪsə’pruːv]

v.不赞成

emolument

[ɪ’mɒljumənt]

n.薪资;报酬;优势

eminent

[’emɪnənt]

adj.著名的;卓越的

upright

[’ʌpraɪt]

adj.直立的;垂直的;正直的

kindly

[’kaɪndli]

adj.和蔼的;温和的;爽快的

passionate

[’pæʃənət]

adj.热情的;激情的;易怒的

occurrence

[ə’kʌrəns]

n.发生

transgress

[trænz’ɡres]

v.违背;越界;违法

vice

[vaɪs]

adj.副的;代理的

nocturnal

[nɒk’tɜːnl]

adj.在夜间的;(指生物)夜间活动的

demolish

[dɪ’mɒlɪʃ]

v.拆毁;破坏

flask

[flɑːsk]

n.细颈瓶;烧瓶;小水瓶

preferment

[prɪ’fɜːmənt]

n.晋升;升迁;大官

rake

[reɪk]

n.耙子;耙状物

nauseous

[’nɔːziəs]

adj.令人作呕的;令人恶心的

venison

[’venɪsn]

n.鹿肉;野味

pasty

[’pæsti]

adj.浆糊的;苍白的

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