Robert Darnton
羅伯特·達恩頓
作者簡介
羅伯特·達恩頓（Robert Darnton，1939— ），美國曆史學家、普林斯頓大學教授、歐洲文化史專家。他的作品曾獲多項學術獎和圖書獎，包括麥克阿瑟獎（MacArthur Prize）、美國國家圖書評論獎（National Book Critics Circle Award）等。
他的代表作《屠貓記：法國文化史鉤沉》（Great Cat Massacre, and Other Episodes in French Cultural History）利用民間故事和警探檔案記載了工人暴動事件，確立了他在全球文化史領域的重要地位。他還著有《啟蒙運動的生意：百科全書出版史》（Business of Enlightenment: A Publishing History of the Encyclopèdie 1775—1800）、《拉莫萊特之吻：有關文化史的思考》（Kiss of Lamourette:Reflections in Cultural History）等書。
本文節選自1996年6月《紐約時報》（The New York Times）書評版上的文章。作者借本文對文學的消亡發出了一聲哀歎。他提出，後現代的解構無疑是文學的災難，隻有重新閱讀經典名著，才能延續文學的傳統。
Sitting, last winter, among my books, and walled round with all the comfort and protection which they and my fire-side could afford me; to wit, a table of high-piled books at my back, my writing-desk on one side of me, some shelves on the other, and the feeling of the warm fire at my feet, I began to consider how I loved the authors of those books; how I loved them, too, not only for the imaginative pleasures they afforded me, but for their making me love the very books themselves, and delight to be in contact with them. I looked sideways at my Spenser, my Theocritus, and my Arabian Nights; then above them at my Italian poets; then behind me at my Dryden and Pope, my romances, and my Boccaccio; then on my left side at my Chaucer, who lay on a writing-desk; and thought how natural it was in C. L. to give a kiss to an old folio, as I once saw him do to Chapman’s Homer. At the same time I wondered how he could sit in that front room of his with nothing but a few unfeeling tables and chairs, or at best a few engravings in trim frames, instead of putting a couple of arm-chairs into the back-room with the books in it, where there is but one window. Would I were there, with both the chairs properly filled, and one or two more besides! “We had talk, Sir,”—the only talk capable of making one forget the books. 去年冬天，我坐在一堆書中間，被書與爐火帶來的舒適感與安全感團團包圍。也就是說，我背後是一桌摞得高高的書，寫字台在我的一邊，另一邊是幾個書架。我一邊把腳烤得暖暖的，一邊想著我有多愛這些書的作者，多愛這些書——不僅因為它們給我帶來了想象的愉悅，還因為它們讓我愛上了這些書本身，讓我與它們接觸時感到快樂。
我看看身邊的斯賓塞1 、忒奧克裏托斯2和《一千零一夜》，以及它們上麵的意大利詩人；又看看我身後的德萊頓、蒲柏、浪漫小說和薄伽丘；再看著我左手邊寫字台上的喬叟。我想著，查爾斯·蘭姆親吻一冊古舊的對開本其實是多麼自然的事，因為我見過他親吻查普曼譯的《荷馬史詩》。同時我又想知道，他怎麼能做到一直坐在那麼簡陋的前廳（那裏隻有幾張冷冰冰的桌椅，最多還有幾幅鑲框的版畫），而不是在藏書的後室裏擺幾把扶手椅（那裏起碼還有一扇窗戶）。如果是我的話，不僅會在兩間房裏都擺上扶手椅，而且還會多放一兩張！“我們可以聊天，先生。”——這是唯一能讓人忘記書的話。
I entrench myself in my books equally against sorrow and the weather. If the wind comes through a passage, I look about to see how I can fence it off by a better disposition of my moveables; if a melancholy thought is importunate, I give another glance at my Spenser. When I speak of being in contact with my books, I mean it literally. I like to lean my head against them. Living in a southern climate, though in a part sufficiently northern to feel the winter, I was obliged, during that season, to take some of the books out of the study, and hang them up near the fireplace in the sitting-room, which is the only room that has such a convenience.
I therefore walled myself in, as well I could, in the manner above-mentioned. I took a walk every day, to the astonishment of the Genoese, who used to huddle against a bit of sunny wall, like flies on a chimney-piece; but I did this only that I might so much the more enjoy my English evening. The fire was a wood fire instead of a coal; but I imagined myself in the country. I remembered at the very worst, that one end of my native land was not nearer the other than England is to Italy.
我躲進書堆抵禦悲傷和壞天氣。如果穿廊風刮來，我便四下看看，換個好位置躲避穿廊風；如果愁思揮不去，我便再看一眼我的斯賓塞。我說的“與書接觸”，指的是字麵意思。我喜歡把頭斜靠在書上。雖然我住在南方，但這裏離北方很近，能感覺到冬天的氣息。每當冬天來臨，我就得把一些書從書房搬出來，高高地堆在起居室的壁爐旁，因為隻有起居室裏有壁爐。因此，我用剛才說過的方法，盡量把自己包圍起來。我每天都散步，這種習慣讓熱那亞人震驚。他們習慣於倚在灑著陽光的牆上，就像蒼蠅停在煙囪上一樣。但我這麼做，隻是為了更好地享受我的英式夜晚。雖然壁爐裏燒的不是煤塊，而是木柴；但我想象自己身處鄉村。我想到了最壞的情況：從我祖國的一端到另一端，不會比從英格蘭到意大利更近。