威廉福克納在接受諾貝爾獎時的演講
人物簡介
威廉�？思{在接受諾貝爾獎時的演講：威廉�？思{(1897—1962)，美國作家，先后創(chuàng)作了十幾篇長篇小說和幾十篇短篇小說，描述了以美國南方200年來南北戰(zhàn)爭為中心事件的社會變遷，各種家族的興衰，各種人物的沉浮。他的小說常描寫美國的黑暗面，1949年獲得諾貝爾文學獎。本篇是他在接受該獎時所發(fā)表的演講。
演講全文
I feel that this award was not made to me as a man, but to my work -- a life’s work in the agony and sweat of the human spirit, not for glory and least of all for profit, but to create out of the materials of the human spirit something which did not exist before. So this award is only mine in trust. It will not be difficult to find a dedication for the money part of it commensurate with the purpose and significance of its origin. But I would like to do the same with the acclaim too, by using this moment as a pinnacle from which I might be listened to by the young men and women already dedicated to the same anguish and travail, among whom is already that one who will some day stand here where I am standing.
我認為這個獎項不是授給我個人而是授給我的工作---------一項艱辛而痛苦的畢生投入的人類精神的工作,既不為名也不土利,而是要從人類的精神原材料中創(chuàng)造一些前所未有的東西。因此這個獎項我只是代為保管。要該獎項的款項按照最初的目的和意義并不難。但我更歡迎這樣做，利用這一時機，把它作為一個頂點，向聽我話的有志于此的年輕人發(fā)出號召，他們中必定有人會站在我今天的位置。
Our tragedy today is a general and universal physical fear so long sustained by now that we can even bear it. There are no longer problems of the spirit. There is only the question: When will I be blown up? Because of this, the young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat.
我們的悲劇在于長期與來我們一直承受著肉體上的恐懼，不再有任何精神方面的問題。有的只是一個問題，我什么時候會被炸的粉身碎骨?因此，如今年輕人的作品已經(jīng)忘記了處于矛盾沖突中的人類心靈問題，而這本身就能夠創(chuàng)造出好作品，因為這值得去寫，值得為此辛勞。
He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemeral and doomed -- love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve on no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands.
人們一定要了解這些，一定要叫自己認識到最可鄙莫過于害怕，一定告戒自己永遠不要忘記，工作中除了心靈的正直誠實不要給任何東西留有空間，過去的那些正直誠實的普遍品質(zhì)包括愛情、榮譽、憐憫、尊嚴、同情和犧牲，缺乏了它們?nèi)魏巫髌范际嵌虝旱暮妥⒍ㄒ〉摹０亚橛皇前褠矍楫斪鲗懽黝}材，把失敗當作寫作題材，描寫的是沒有任何人損失任何價值東西的微不足到的失敗，把勝利當作題材時，描寫的是沒有任何希望的勝利，而最糟糕的'是沒有憐憫和同情。悲傷不是刻骨銘心的，而是清淡描寫。寫的不是心靈而是分泌腺體的器官。
Until he relearns these things, he will write as though he stood among and watched the end of man. I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.
在人們從新了解這些之前，他們的寫作態(tài)度就像無可奈何看著世界的末日到來。我拒絕接受世界末日的觀點。不是簡單地說人類能夠持續(xù)就說人類是永恒的;當命運的最后鐘聲敲響，當傍晚的最后一抹紅色從平靜無浪的礁石退去，甚至不在有其他聲音，人類的無盡的不倦聲音還在爭鳴，我不認輸。我認為人類不僅會延續(xù)還會勝利。他是永生的，不是因為只有他在萬物生靈中擁有不倦的聲音，而在于他有靈魂，能夠同情、犧牲和忍受的靈魂。
The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.
詩人和作家的職責就是歌頌這些。通過提升人類的心靈，提醒他們牢記勇敢、榮譽、希望、尊嚴和同情這些昔日的光榮，來幫助人類生存下去，這是作家的榮幸。詩人的聲音不僅是人類的簡單記錄，而且還是能夠幫助人類持續(xù)和獲勝的支柱之一。